A Sixth Family is a

crime family A crime family is a unit of an organized crime syndicate, particularly in the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia, often operating within a specific geographic territory or a specific set of activities. In its strictest sense, a ''family'' ...

or criminal organization, usually an

Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

or Italian-Canadian crime group, that has become powerful or notable enough to rise to a level comparable to that of the

Five Families The Five Families refer to five American Mafia, Italian American Mafia Crime family, crime families that operate in New York City. In 1931, the five families were Organized crime, organized by Salvatore Maranzano following his victory in the C ...

of the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Italian-American Mafia. A criminal organization deemed a "Sixth Family" may rival the Five Families or, alternatively, may work closely enough with the Five Families that it appears to be a peer or near coequal of the families.

Criminal organizations deemed "Sixth Family"

Various criminal organizations have been deemed the "Sixth Family", often by

the press ''The Press'' () is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand, owned by media business Stuff (company), Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday t ...

or the criminal underworld. One organization to receive the designation is the Rizzuto crime family based in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada, though the Rizzuto family does not refer to itself as the "Sixth Family". The Rizzuto family has allegedly worked closely with the Bonanno crime family out of all five New York Five Families. The DeCavalcante crime family, which is based in North Jersey, across the Hudson River from the Five Families, and famously served as the inspiration for the hit TV show ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

'', are at times also referred to as the “Sixth Family.” Other criminal organizations referred to as the "Sixth Family" include: * East Harlem Purple Gang, a gang of

hitmen and

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

dealers who dominated heroin distribution in East Harlem and

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

during the late 1970s and early 1980s in

. The East Harlem Purple Gang was semi-independent of but closely connected to (and at times feuded with) the Italian-American Mafia. * The Gallo crew, officially part of the

Colombo crime family The Colombo crime family (, ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City within the criminal organization known as the American Mafia. It was during ...

and led by mobster Joe Gallo. The crew eventually waged war against their own crime family and considered themselves as an independent structure. * Rudaj Organization, an Albanian mafia family in New York City.

References

{{Canadian gangs category:American Mafia category:Five Families category:Italian-Canadian crime families category:organized crime in Montreal