Van Graffs

"That's business, after all."

The Van Graffs are a major family-based organized crime syndicate operating in California and the Mojave Wasteland in 2281. They deal energy weapons to the wasters and other denizens of the region, and are heavily armed and armored. You have the chance to do a couple jobs for them which pay quite well. Their biggest opposition comes from the Gun Runners, who run the organized weapons trade of standard firearms.

Background
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.

The Wright family of New Reno controlled weapon trade in the northern California for a few years, but they were violently knocked out of that trade by a series of brutal attacks from the Van Graff family. Neither the Van Graffs nor the Wrights are willing to fight each other now, as they know that the NCR would almost assuredly try to finish off the victor.

In 2281, the Van Graffs run the Silver Rush, a great energy weapons shop in Freeside. They are secretly forming a deal with Caesar's Legion, to supply them with high-grade energy weapons, but are also plotting to sell the Legion buyers out to an NCR kill squad in a devilish double-cross.

The Van Graffs are represented in the Fallout: New Vegas Collector's Edition Caravan deck as a RobCo model urban-combat plasma rifle.

Members

 * Simon - door guard and recruit spotter.
 * Gloria Van Graff - head of the operation and purveyor of fine energy weapons.
 * Jean-Baptiste Cutting - Frieda and Gloria's half brother, and ostensibly the 'muscle' of the Van Graff operation.


 * Tiaret Van Graff - mother of Frieda Van Graff and leader of the Van Graffs.
 * Frieda Van Graff - weapons dealer in Hoover Dam.
 * Van Graffs caravan encounter on New Canaan area.

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

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, a Princeton physics professor who did extensive research of electricity and created the Van de Graaff generator.