Soldiers who made more than the boss

How many cases are there of the soldiers and capos making more money than the bosses? I always wondered, would Franzese have made a great don? He is one example.

Robert DB DiBernardo that controlled the porn industry in the 1980s could be an example,and for take his bussiness that was killed in 1987.Also Henry Riccobene that run a separate family in philly could be another example.

John S-------. That dude is a baller. Colombo Family.

he was killed in June of 86

theres probaly abunch weve never heard of. all the guys in the porn industry in 70tys and 80tys were probaly making way more then there bosses and only kicking up 10 15 percent.

Before Tony Salerno was underboss and then front boss for the Genovese’s he might be on that list. His numbers racket was netting like $50M a year in the 50s and 60s.

a ton of guys earned more then there bosses but they dont have 10. john gotti 20 other capos kicking up to them. gotti was on the books as a plumber and his crew was abunch og hijackers and robbers. that crew must have not been the bosses favorite crew

even the herion gottis crew sold they had to buy from other crewws

Some say that Papa Smurf isn't even made and he definitely makes more than the boss. He and the Colombo car guy are worth a ton.

How does that make a boss feel if an underling is making significantly more? What about Luciano, Genovese, Gambino etc., as old time bosses were soldiers making more than them? I would imagine that they would start to question why they are not making the most in their family as they sit at the head of the table.

I doubt that there would have been that much of an issue as long as the money kept flowing up to them. Look at the Chin, he was as old school as they come and he was ok with all of Papa Smurf's success. Also as to Genovese himself, Jerry Catena, his underboss, made more than he did and he was ok with it as long as he got a piece, he even made him acting when he went to prison. Money is only part of the equation, for many guys the power of being boss is the most important part of the position.

Wouldn't guys like Anthony Scotto have made a lot more than John Gotti? Gotti was a degenerate gambler who didn't have a pot to piss in a lot of the time. He still lived in a modest house and didn't really have enough nous or time on the street to enjoy the fruits of his "labor".

I'm sure there's other examples in that family alone. Tommy Gambino, too, with the proviso that he was the old boss's son.

That is definitely true, as in the real world some mobsters are definitely better with money than others. Another example in that family are Torre Locascio and Richie Martino, they made a ridiculous amount of money in that scam that they ran back in the 90's. Locascio supposedly bought his way into retiring from the family, Martino might have as well.

I'm sure there's countless examples. Michael Franzese and Jimmy Brown come to mind.

Did Lombardozzi make more than Gambino? Or was Gambino one of the bosses who was the richest?

Mike Franzese said himself that the bosses of the Colombo family felt threatened by him because they thought he was going to break off and start his own family with all the money he was making.

100 percent guys worth a half a billion

[quote=matteodenaro]John S-------. That dude is a baller. Colombo Family.[/quote
100 percent. Guys worth a half a billion

He says a lot of things that shouldn't necessarily be believed.

He says a lot of things that shouldn't necessarily be believed.
[/quote]

Amen to that


In all seriousness I truly don’t think ANY of the bosses gave a shit if the capos and soldiers made more than them as long as they kicked up what was expected and gave them a nice envelope around Christmas.

Wish I knew who you were referring to lol

Amen to that


In all seriousness I truly don’t think ANY of the bosses gave a shit if the capos and soldiers made more than them as long as they kicked up what was expected and gave them a nice envelope around Christmas. [/quote]

So what stops a capo with influence and more significantly more money than a boss from making a move or starting his own crew/family?

So what stops a capo with influence and more significantly more money than a boss from making a move or starting his own crew/family?[/quote]

Depends on the Capo. Is he content with making a ton of money or does he want to be boss and be a target. Most of the big moves/hits to higher ups weren’t about money, it was about some power hungry idiot who decided to break the rules. Underlings get killed because of money issues, not Capo’s and Bosses

So what stops a capo with influence and more significantly more money than a boss from making a move or starting his own crew/family?[/quote]

In this instance Michael Franzese was a racketeer and not a gangster, the Persicos were gangsters. If they could survive an onslaught led by guys like Wild Bill and Orena, albeit with the likely help of crooked LE, it is hard to believe that Michael Franceze would have been able to beat them at their own game. He was a huge earner no doubt, but for all of their faults the Persicos could fight. I highly doubt that the Franzese, even with the help of his father, would have been able to pull that off.

Well I think it’s really about being calculated more so than brutal in that case. Kind of like Michael at the end of The Godfather. He was never really a hardcore gangster like someone like Persico, or Sonny Franzese. But he outsmarted everyone and could still be brutal only when he had to be. But, who knows if Franzese had that mentality in him.

Right? LOL. I don't know why but the post automatically dashed out the letters of his last name. I tried to edit it but did the same thing. If you look above, the poster "JC" is referring to the same gentleman. He owns an auto group and is involved with custom yachts down in Florida. He's gotta be the number one earner for Colombos.

I'll try again. John S-------

LOL. Well there ya go. Maybe John is a mod here. lmfao. Oh well. Most people here know who Im talking about.

Spell the last name out with spaces between the letters!

I found him. How did he manage to make all that money to get to the point that he’s at today? What a life. Guessing he’s not active in that life anymore. And I don’t blame him.

Could be. However I saw in the another thread the updated Colombo family chart and he's listed as a soldier. I came across a court filing awhile back that described his role during the Colombo family wars. He initially switched sides to Orena, first being loyal to the Snake. Then when the writing was on the wall, he had a sitdown with Junior and a few other guys while visiting him in the clink and Junior gave him a pass and forgave him. Im sure his earning power came into play.

Here's an article. colombo capo

Is that really his decision? I'm guessing someone making that kind of legitimate money is still useful to the organization.

The boss is only taking a percentage of your illegal earnings. If you're really good at running your rackets and your rackets make more money than the boss's rackets then you're gonna make more than him, even with his skim off your profits. It seems like it would happen all the time any time someone discovers a really lucrative racket.


A good boss wants his captains and soldiers to bring in as much money as they can for themselves, because that's more into his kick. But I'm sure they keep a watchful eye, because when you're making that much money the other families are going to show interest in what you got going on too.

Joseph Ruggiero Sr. new England family

That’s true. I’m just not confident in the American mafia having enough power to really keep guys making money like that in the life anymore.