Perhaps the most phantom Mafia boss ever?

Tommaso Gagliano, or Tommy, who I consider to be the 3rd boss of the Lucchese Family, has got to be the most low-key of all the Mafia dons in America ever. There is only one picture of him, and he's so shadowy that mob historians aren't even sure if it's even him. This is beyond extraordinary for someone who led a powerful NYC crime family for 2 decades.

Modern day it’s obviously Barney. I know there’s some bosses from the prohibition era that there’s not much info or pictures of, like maranzano

Benny Squint? He was quite reclusive and died a free man.

But Maranzano didn't run his crime family for 2 decades. And just like Benny Squint, Gagliano was also quite reclusive and died a free man. We can probably name lots of mobsters who were pretty well unknown before the year 1931, but again they damn sure didn't lead for 2 decades.

Gaetano (Tommy) Gagliano was def one of the more low key and quiet leaders of that era.

Remember that it was much easier to stay in the shadows before Valachi in 63', Apalachin in 57', and the federal push of the 1960s. And with an UB as he had in Tommy Lucchese, they were a solid combo.

Both stayed at the pinnacle of power for a lengthy time period. And both died free men (and wealthy beyond their wildest dreams). THATS a combo!

They complimented one another. And worked in unison, not in competition.

Exactly, I agree that it was much easier to stay in the shadows in those days, but even so you still had other top mobsters of the same time period who couldn't seem to stay out of the headlines and wasn't what I would consider as successful.

Paul Ricca. The Genovese learned the 'front boss' move from Chicago.

Ricca will probably go down in history as the only mafia kingpin to get convicted and then released by the sitting Attorney General.

Maybe not the most phantom ever but Barney Bellomo is pretty damn under the radar, is there more than 5 or 6 pictures of him in exitance, has anyone ever flipped around him and told what he's like, how he manages or conducts business?

Yep it was Cafaro who first confessed that Lombardo was the boss since '69 and this was in '86.

Okay yeah sounds like this Lombardo guy is up there with Gagliano.

You guys are right about Bellomo, he's been doing a great job. I hope the feds don't read our posts, if they think the public realizes that he's beating the System they'll pull out all the stops to railroad him, I don't want to be of any assistance to them. That's why I don't say much about modern guys unless of course they're already arrested.

Indeed I read he married a Gigante.

Ricca was born Felice De Lucia on November 14, 1897, in Naples, Campania to Antonio and Maria Annunziata De Lucia.[1] He had four minor sisters: Emilia Beatrice, Anna Clementina, Celementina Eleonora, and Luisa Maria.[1] By age 17, he was working for organized crime in Naples (Camorra). In 1915, he stabbed Emilio Parrillo to death on Mafia orders. Ricca later claimed that he killed Parillo for breaking an engagement to his sister. In 1917, Ricca was convicted of murder, serving two years in prison.[3] After being released from prison, Ricca then killed Vincenzo Capasso, who had testified against him in the Parillo trial, by slitting his throat.

After killing Capasso, Ricca assumed the name Paul Maglio and fled to the United States by way of Cuba. On August 10, 1920, Ricca arrived in New York City.

In January 1927, Ricca married Nancy Emily Gigante, who was also from Naples, and had three children: Mary Anna, Anthony Paul, and Paul Richard.[1] He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1928, and legally changed his name to Paul De Lucia.[1]

In January 24, 1927, Ricca was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, which was when his mugshot of him was taken. Though he got arrested a couple of times within his early years in the mob, he was never seriously convicted on any charges up until the 1940s, and before becoming a recognized figure in the Outfit in the 1930s, Ricca's record would be so clean that even his mob associates would convey some envy over his minor police record early on in his career in the Outfit.[4]

Matteo Messina Denaro aka Diabolik? He's been on the lam since 1993. With Bernardo Provenzano and Toto Riina now dead, he is the undisputed boss of bosses of the Sicilian Mafia.

I was talking about in America, but I suppose you could count him.