The Family Tree¶

The Corleone family across four generations, plus the organization that surrounds it.

The bloodline¶

graph TD
    ANDOLINI["Antonio Andolini<br/><i>d. 1901, Corleone</i>"] --> VITO
    ANDOLINI --> PAOLO["Paolo Andolini<br/><i>d. 1901</i>"]
    SIGNORA["Signora Andolini<br/><i>d. 1901</i>"] --- ANDOLINI

    VITO["<b>Vito Corleone</b><br/>b. Vito Andolini, 1891<br/><i>d. 1955</i>"] --- CARMELA["Carmela Corleone<br/><i>d. 1959</i>"]

    VITO --> SONNY["<b>Sonny</b><br/>1917–1948"]
    VITO --> FREDO["<b>Fredo</b><br/>1919–1959"]
    VITO --> MICHAEL["<b>Michael</b><br/>1920–1997"]
    VITO --> CONNIE["<b>Connie</b><br/>b. 1927"]
    VITO -.adopted.-> TOM["<b>Tom Hagen</b><br/>d. before 1979"]

    SONNY --- SANDRA["Sandra Corleone"]
    SONNY -.affair.- LUCY["Lucy Mancini"]
    SANDRA --> FRANCESCA["Francesca &<br/>Kathryn (twins)"]
    SANDRA --> SONNYJR["Santino Jr.<br/>+ 1 more"]
    LUCY --> VINCENT["<b>Vincent Mancini</b><br/>b. 1948"]

    MICHAEL --- APOLLONIA["Apollonia Vitelli<br/><i>m. 1949, d. 1949</i>"]
    MICHAEL --- KAY["<b>Kay Adams</b><br/><i>m. 1951, div. 1959</i>"]
    KAY --> ANTHONY["Anthony<br/>b. 1955"]
    KAY --> MARY["<b>Mary</b><br/>1958–1980"]

    CONNIE --- CARLO["Carlo Rizzi<br/><i>d. 1955</i>"]
    CARLO --> MICHAELJR["Michael Francis Rizzi<br/><i>baptized 1955</i>"]
    CARLO --> VICTOR["Victor Rizzi"]

    VINCENT -.affair.- MARY

    style VITO fill:#c8992e,stroke:#7d1d1d,color:#1a1714
    style MICHAEL fill:#c8992e,stroke:#7d1d1d,color:#1a1714
    style FREDO fill:#e8e0d2,stroke:#7d1d1d,color:#1a1714
    style SONNY fill:#e8e0d2,stroke:#7d1d1d,color:#1a1714
    style MARY fill:#e8e0d2,stroke:#7d1d1d,color:#1a1714

Dates are approximate and reconstructed from the films; the novel and the continuation novels sometimes disagree. See Timeline.

Reading it¶

The solid lines are blood or marriage. The dotted line to Tom Hagen is the whole point of Tom Hagen: he is raised as a son, functions as the most trusted man in the organization, and is never once considered for the succession, because he isn't Sicilian.

The dotted line between Vincent and Mary is Part III's most uncomfortable thread — first cousins, and the affair Michael ends as the price of handing over the family.

Vito's own line ends at nine years old. Everything above him on the tree was killed in the space of a week in 1901, and the surname he carries is a clerical error made at Ellis Island by a man writing down the name of a town.

The succession¶

Don	Period	How it ended
Vito Corleone	1920s–1945	Shot; survived; semi-retired
Sonny Corleone	1945–1948 (acting)	Murdered at a tollbooth
Vito Corleone	1948–1955	Retired to the garden; died there
Michael Corleone	1955–1980	Abdicated after Mary's death
Vincent Corleone	1980–	(Unrecorded — no fourth film)

Note what the table hides: Michael is Don for twenty-five years, and the films show us four of them.

The organization¶

graph TD
    DON["<b>The Don</b><br/>Vito → Sonny → Vito → Michael → Vincent"]
    CONS["<b>Consigliere</b><br/>Genco Abbandando → Tom Hagen<br/><i>(Part III: Connie, informally)</i>"]
    UNDER["<b>Underboss</b><br/>Sonny → Fredo → Al Neri"]

    DON --- CONS
    DON --> UNDER

    UNDER --> CAP1["<b>Clemenza</b><br/>Bronx / Long Island<br/><i>→ Frank Pentangeli</i>"]
    UNDER --> CAP2["<b>Tessio</b><br/>Brooklyn<br/><i>d. 1955</i>"]
    UNDER --> CAP3["<b>Rocco Lampone</b><br/>Nevada<br/><i>d. 1959</i>"]

    CAP1 --> S1["Paulie Gatto †<br/>Willi Cicci<br/>Rosato brothers"]
    CAP2 --> S2["Brooklyn crew"]
    CAP3 --> S3["Al Neri<br/>Nevada crew"]

    DON -.enforcer.-> LUCA["<b>Luca Brasi</b><br/><i>d. 1945</i>"]

    style DON fill:#c8992e,stroke:#7d1d1d,color:#1a1714

Consigliere is the counselor — not in the chain of command, reports only to the Don. Underboss is second in command. Caporegime ("capo") runs a crew of soldiers in a territory. Terms are defined on the Glossary.

The Five Families of New York¶

Family	Boss	Territory / business	Fate
Corleone	Vito → Michael	Olive oil, gambling, unions, politicians	Moves to Nevada, 1955
Tattaglia	Philip Tattaglia	Prostitution, narcotics	Boss killed 1955
Barzini	Emilio Barzini	The most powerful; backed Sollozzo	Boss killed 1955
Cuneo	Carmine Cuneo	Milk / trucking, upstate	Boss killed 1955
Stracci	Victor Stracci	New Jersey, gambling	Boss killed 1955

Plus the out-of-town powers: Hyman Roth (Miami/Havana), Moe Greene (Las Vegas), the Rosato brothers (Bronx, under Roth), and in Part III Joey Zasa and Don Altobello.

Full detail: Barzini & the Five Families.

The continuation novels¶

Winegardner and Falco add relatives the films don't:

Francesca Corleone — Sonny's daughter, a major viewpoint character in The Godfather Returns
Sandra Corleone — Sonny's widow, given far more presence
Nick Geraci — not family, but the most consequential invented character in the sequence
A child of Fredo's, revealed in the last pages of The Godfather's Revenge

None of these appear in any film. See Continuity.