Van Graffs

"That's business, after all."

The Van Graffs are a major family-based organized crime syndicate operating in the Core Region and the Mojave Wasteland in 2281.

History
A powerful caravan family operating out of Redding, the van Graffs are one of the primary reasons why NCR has difficulty expanding north. While the Wright family of New Reno trades in drugs and prostitution (the spoils of their successful bid for power in the wake of the Chosen One's passing), the van Graffs trade gold and weapons. Much like the Wrights, the van Graffs are a huge family. The mother, Tiaret van Graff, has ten children, all from different fathers. All of her children are intensely loyal to both her and each other. The caravan's symbol is a lion's head.

Organization
The Van Graff family has a history of ruthless behavior when it comes to rivals muscling in on their territory, and it seems old habits die hard; two of the Van Graffs have set up shop in a bedraggled old casino called the Silver Rush, where they specialize in Energy Weapons, and the maximizing of profits. Run by Gloria Van Graff and her elder half-brother Jean-Baptiste Cutting, their stronghold is heavily-defended with their Thugs armed with the latest in weapons technology. Gloria is in charge of general operations at the Silver Rush. She is the person responsible for the New Vegas Van Graffs' general strategy, including possible under-the-counter deals to wipe out the competition. The muscle of the van Graff operation, Jean-Baptiste personally handles all of Gloria's dirty work. He is a nasty, mean-spirited son-of-a-bitch. Despite the family's tendency to deal in energy weapons, Jean-Baptiste is a connoisseur of big guns and explosives. He threatens people for looking at him the wrong way and is far from all talk; he will go from zero-to-murder in the blink of an eye. His father is the only husband Tiaret really liked so she let Jean keep the name after he died.

Relations with the outside
The Van Graffs generally oppose and outright kill anyone that competes with them in the same market. While the Van Graffs originally started out selling weapons and gold they have moved onto the profitable market of energy weapons, becoming the biggest contender the Gun Runners have in the weapons market and unsurprisingly, the Van Graffs don't dare try to attack the heavily armed, traditional guns company. As they make their own weapons from pre-war machines and taking the highest quality parts out of other energy weapons, it's of small wonder how they can often destroy other caravans that also sell energy weapons with superior firepower. Surprisingly, Gloria Van Graff respects the Legion but thinks very little of their military might. Unsurprisingly, the Van Graffs hate the NCR mostly as they often stop their expansion with regulations and taxes. They also stated how at one point they would have been able to take on the NCR head-to-head, but as of the New Vegas era the NCR are said to be too large. In other words, either side with the Van Graffs, become their next target, pay any bills you have with them, or completely stay out of their way if you value your life.

Technology
The Van Graffs in Fallout: New Vegas specialize in energy weapons and have ruthlessly established a near-monopoly in such items. Not even the Gun Runners have been spared mysterious "accidents" designed to drive them out of this part of the weapons trade, as Alexander tells the player when questioned at 188 Trading Post. However, Van Graff technology appears inferior to that of the Gun Runners, since the weapons they sell are of much poorer overall quality.

Appearances
The Van Graffs appear in Fallout: New Vegas and J.E. Sawyer's Fallout Role-Playing Game, and were to appear in Black Isle's canceled Fallout 3.

Behind the scenes
While the original Van Graffs had nothing to do with energy weapons, the Van Graffs' affinity with them in Fallout: New Vegas is probably a nod to Robert J. Van de Graaff, an American physicist who did extensive research of electricity and created the Van de Graaff generator, a central component of one of Nikola Tesla's weaponized inventions, the teleforce.