Di Mera Family - History

History

Over the years, the nature of the family itself has been retconned several times; although never directly and overtly, it's been represented as old-line Italian nobility, a relatively self-made European business dynasty, and a stereotypical Mafia family. Its current incarnation appears to be a sort of combination of these: a fairly wealthy Tuscan family with roots in ancient Italian nobility, which according to Stefano goes back centuries and includes kings and popes.

At one point the family lost its position but Santo DiMera rebuilt the family, through both legitimate and illegitimate means. Currently has ties to traditional Italian organized crime (and at times, various terrorist elements). It has intermarried with the Brady, and Horton families over the years.

Over the years it's been revealed that the DiMera family shares a long history with both the Bradford and the Brady families of the fictional Midwestern American city of Salem. Currently (as of 2007), the show has been exploring the DiMeras' connection to the Brady clan, dating back at least 50 years in the Bradys' ancestral home of Galway, Ireland, and the roots of a feud between the two families. This is actually a retcon, as the tension between the two families was originally the result of detective half-brothers Roman and Bo Brady and their constant attempts to thwart the various schemes of DiMera family patriarch Stefano.

In 2007, the family was revealed to originally hail from Tuscany, Italy although Stefano has at various times headquartered the family in Rome, New Orleans, Venezuela, various uncharted islands in the Caribbean, and of course, Salem. A 1988 storyline revealed some family activity in the Far East, but through the years the family has consistently been portrayed as having significant legitimate business holdings, criminal activities, and even political control throughout Latin America as well as the United States. Although never shown onscreen, the family is also mentioned to have been involved in terrorism and political assassinations in such places as Thailand, Israel, and Iraq. Storylines in 2008 indicate the core of the family business is shipping.

The family has always appeared to be extraordinarily powerful in the criminal underworld and the DiMeras have the reputation as being twisted and ruthless in their pursuit of getting what they want and the name "DiMera" consistently strikes fear into the hearts of other criminals. The family and the crime syndicate it controls are so powerful as to be a major focus of several high-level law enforcement and intelligence agencies throughout the world, including the fictional ISA.

The Italian translation of DiMera is "Of the sea," or "From the ocean."