Which Real-Life Gangster Marlon Brando's The Godfather Character Is Based On

Summary The Godfather trilogy, spanning from 1972 to 1990, has left a significant impact on movies and popular culture.

Don Vito Corleone is a composite character based on real-life mob bosses such as Frank Costello and Carlo Gambino.

The Five Families in The Godfather were inspired by the real-life mafia families that held immense power in New York City.

Considered one of the greatest movies of all time, The Godfather has had a significant impact on movies and popular culture, and among The Godfather's cast of characters, no one has been more influential than the patriarch of the Corleone family, Don Vito Corleone, a fictional mafioso who is based on a variety of real life mob bosses. As The Godfather became an iconic trilogy spanning from 1972 to 1990, Corleone appeared in the first two films, portrayed by Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, and Oreste Baldini. Notably, Brando won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.

Although Brando and De Niro truly embody Vito Corleone on-screen, and the character has a significant and undeniable presence about him, this is not all due to movie magic or incredible acting. Corleone was first devised by Italian American author Mario Puzo, who wrote the source material for The Godfather, a 1969 novel of the same name. But even aside from that, Don Vito Corleone was not created out of thin air. In order for his character to feel genuine and accurate to his circumstances, Corleone was inspired by and based on several real life criminals and mob bosses.

Every The Godfather Movie Release Year The Godfather 1972 The Godfather II 1974 The Godfather III 1990

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The Godfather's Vito Corleone Is Based On Several Real-Life Gangsters

Frank Costello is Corleone's main inspiration

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The Godfather's Don Vito Corleone is a fictional character based on a handful of real life gangsters and mob bosses. In this way, he is what is known as a composite character. Despite being entirely fictionalized, aspects of his personality, appearance, and character are loosely based on real people.

Some of the men who Corleone is based on include Frank Costello, Carlo Gambino, Joe Bonanno, and Joe Profaci.

Unsurprisingly, all four of these men were notable Italian-American crime bosses during the early to mid 1900s. Each of them provided a different aspect to what ended up being Don Vito Corleone.

Corleone's backstory aligns with Carlo Gambino, who emigrated from Sicily and, through his own labor, rose to the top of the mob. Joe Bonanno has a similar story, although his closest connection to Corleone is the fact that he urged his son to avoid the family business. When it comes to Corleone's olive oil business, this is directly inspired by that of Joe Profaci. But the biggest inspiration for the Don was Frank Costello, who Marlon Brando studied when preparing for his performance. Costello was notably averse to violence, which is a trait carried on through Vito.

Mario Puzo noted that the iconic lines Vito Corleone says all come from his mother.

Who Were The Real Five Families Of New York?

The fictional Corleones were part of The Godfather's Five Families

In The Godfather, Vito Corleone and his family are part of the Five Families, which are the five biggest and most powerful crime families in New York City. Although the Corleones are fictionalized, the idea of the Five Families is not. And though they certainly have lessened their criminal activity over the years, during the era of The Godfather, they held immense power over the city of New York. In real life, the Five Families originally included the Maranzano, Profaci, Mangano, Luciano, and Gagliano families. However, now they are known as the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese families.

As depicted in The Godfather, the Five Families have held their own territory and followed their own hierarchies since 1931. Each family has its own boss, like Don Vito Corleone, and each boss is part of The Commission, which is a group meant to lead and manage the crime families. The Commission also includes the crime families of Chicago and Buffalo. In 1963, the existence of the Five Families was revealed at the Valachi hearings, and since then their power has arguably diminished.

Notably, two of the bosses revealed during this hearing, Joe Bonnano and Carlo Gambino, were Corleone inspirations.

Other The Godfather Characters Were Based On Real People

Johnny Fontane and Moe Greene were inspired by real life

Vito Corleone wasn't the only character from The Godfather who is based on real people. In fact, some of Puzo's inspirations became angry over his use of their stories. For example, Vito Corleone's actual god son, Johnny Fontane, is inspired by iconic singer Frank Sinatra. Fontane seeks Corleone's help to get his career as a singer back on track. Though Sinatra remains a beloved artist, the most controversial aspect of his life was his connections to the Italian mob. With Sinatra and Fontane both having a rough patch in the middle of their careers, the connection is hard to deny.

Another The Godfather character inspired by real life is Moe Greene. Greene is a Jewish mobster with significant power in Las Vegas. Greene works with Vito and takes Fredo Corleone under his wing. As it turns out, Greene is inspired by Bugsy Siegel, a real life Jewish mob boss who was behind the creation of the Las Vegas strip and Murder, Inc. All in all, Mario Puzo infused characters big and small with aspects of real life in his iconic book, The Godfather.