Family Hierarchy

Federal Declassified Files

Bridges is run by four legitimized criminal organizations known as Families, which currently control one quadrant each.

General information:

Members of a Family often (but not always) are either blood relatives or related through marriage. Occasionally, servants or other outsiders may gain the trust of their Family, and are inducted into the lower levels of the organization. 

The Families are funded through monthly extortion called "Family fees," in the city proper, based partially on income, partially on the street number a person lives on. Countryside "Family fees" are income based only.

Most Families use peer pressure, intimidation, and extortion to keep their members in line. However, in later years, some of the Families have become normalized, even welcomed. Many people, whether blood related or not, now feel warmly towards their Family, hindering efforts by Federal Agents to rid Bridges of the threat. The fact that the Families have taken on the names of the Holy Cards to further legitimize their rule only intensifies the effect.

Please note the skillful use of the Bridges Daily newspaper as pro-Family propaganda.

Structure:

The Families are run as semi-military patriarchal organizations, each member knowing his place and giving ninety percent of his "take" as tribute to the level above him. Women are seen as secondary helpers to their husband or father, and are neither allowed to vote nor work outside the home, with the exception of widows and servants.

These Families collude to control election results, bribe police and judicial officials, and swiftly remove anyone who challenges their authority.

Leader:

Known as the Patriarch, or Family Head, this man has complete, unquestioned control of his quadrant. Orders and directives come from him and go down the line to the rest of the organization, with funds rising up to him. Defiance or disobedience of the Patriarch generally results in death.

Second in command:

Called the Patriarch's "Right Hand man," no one gets to this level without being entirely trusted by their Patriarch. The Right Hand man is almost always a blood relative (or, in a few historical cases, a childhood friend) who handles the day to day work of running the quadrant. He collects funds from the Main men, tallies it, and pays tribute to the Patriarch. He also counsels the Patriarch, tempering any rash moves.

Main men:

The Main men are almost always blood relations of the Patriarch, and are hand-picked by the Patriarch from among the Button men to manage a certain area of the quadrant. They are responsible for collecting funds from their area's monthly "Family fees" and presenting their tribute to the Right Hand man. They also handle disputes that their underlings are unable to.

Button men:

These men are usually blood relations of the Patriarch, and are recommended by the Main men, who submit applications to the Right Hand man for approval. Button men are then inducted into the Family hierarchy and may not be injured or killed by those within their Family (or even by another one) without his Patriarch's leave. 

Button men supervise a portion of the main man's designated area. The Button men are responsible for collecting funds, tallying them, and passing along tribute to their main man. They also handle disputes that their underlings are unable to.

Associates:

Associates are usually not blood related to the Family, unless very young. Their job is to patrol a street or neighborhood controlled by their button man, collect Family fees door to door, remit the tribute to their button man, and aid anyone on their street in need of assistance.

It is rare for an Associate who is not blood-related to the Patriarch to become a Button man.

Para-Family gangs:

Some Families employ gangs of troublesome or overly violent youth (who would otherwise disrupt things) for the purposes of intimidation, vandalism, and/or murder. They might also be used for shock troops in the case of an uprising against the Family. The Spadros Family gang known as the "Acey-Deuceys" is one such example.

 

Get more behind the scenes action!