I read somewhere that Michele "Big Mike" Miranda was actually closer to Costello. Is this true?

What else do we know about Big Mike other than him hosting that La Stella dinner and that he ran a crew in the Garment District?

I know he was on the panel with Catena, Eboli and/or Benny Squint. Catena was one of the richest, Eboli was Vito's boy and Benny was from 116th right, so Miranda had to be heavy enough to be mentioned with them.

He's another guy you hear nothing about really, another shadow on my radar! Lol
I can't remember where, but I read a quote, supposedly from Genovese in the 30s saying something like," There are four guys that control New York,(Manhattan) me, Lucky Luciano, Dutch Schultz and Mike Miranda".
I always took that as Miranda being a big power in his own right. I also assumed Genovese woulda replaced him as consigliere if he didn't trust him. Like either he could and didn't want to, or he wanted to but couldn't, because Miranda had too much clout of his own, I actually think the latter is the case. Miranda started out with a relationship with Luchesse right? If that was the case, I see Miranda's power being significant, but you need someone more knowledgable to fill in all the gaps....

Thanks for the insight, that's interesting!

I've heard of the Luchesse connection (thus the Garment Center clout?)

I'm also assuming that his relationship with Eboli was not close. In fact I think that I read somewhere that Eboli had isolated Miranda during the panel days? And I also read I think in that book about New Jersey mobsters that Catena and Miranda for whatever reason were not close.

In that case, what about Miranda and Lombardo? Did Miranda have a relative pal in the administration at all?

So Vito was franks under boss who was franks consig? Vito becomes boss makes catena his under and Michele Miranda his consig. There's wiretaps of catena and Miranda talking in the late 60tys they seemed pretty comfortable with each other even talking about killing Vito cause of all the trouble he cause in the 60tys.

Would you happen to have transcripts of those wiretaps?

Would that mysterious figure named only "Sandino" be the consig during the Costello and Luciano reign? I'm sure others on this board would have better clues about that.

Like I said, you need someone much more knowledgeable than me as all I have is speculation really but here goes...
During Luciano's time, I think the unofficial consigliere, could possibly have been Johnny Torrio, perhaps even during Costellos time as well, as you point out, it's doesn't exactly seem like common knowledge. ( Side note, did Torrio really die, in a barbers chair, in 1957 like Anastasia, not killed but still, what a coincidence!!!) But the guy I see as most likely having the title, is Joe Adonis.
I read that one of Vito's main gripes with Costello was that his crew was held down all the years he was away. But Miranda appears to be a powerful guy in the late 30s, all through the 40s and 50s, into the 60s. It's why I said he looks like he was a power in his own right.
The thing is, I have a theory or whatever, I don't think Adonis got along with Costello. I have a few reasons for this. One, Adonis started out as more a partner than underling to Luciano. Like Adonis was in the 7 group. A boss making decisions at the top. The Commision comes along, and all of a sudden, Adonis is like what, fourth after Genovese, and Costello? And then then Costello makes his cousin Underboss over (Moretti) Adonis when Vito flees. My research has led me to believe that Adonis, along with Luchesse, but really Adonis, from the mid thirties to mid Fourties was New Yorks narcotics tzar, as well as being the muscle for Henry Ford. This income allowed him to be, in my opinion, every bit as politically powerful in Brooklyn as Costello was in Manhattan. To me he seems to chafe against Costello, I think it's why he didn't really try to reign in Vito, which I think is why Costello felt compelled to make his cousin his Muscle, from jersey, like why not a Harlem guy? Cause I think Vito had all the Harlem guys, but someone who knows better would have to confirm that.
Another thing, looking at Jerry Catena, he's a Genovese guy right? But he's into vending and slots, like Costello. Strives to appear legit like Costello, golf, conservative attire all that, focus on business.. It's why I think he might have been secretly in league with the Luchesse, Gambino gambit. It's like ideologically he's more like Costello.
That FBI document, it actually hints at the Commision, Gambino and Luchesse are the ones who kept Catena isolated from Miranda, according to Tommy Ryan. They told Jerry Catena not to discuss Commision business with anyone outside of the bosses, and in the document, it seems like they played on his vanity, telling him " you are the boss, they gotta listen to you" to keep him from seeking a consensus in the genovese family, and uniting their top guys. You see I think the genovese top guys were kinda isolated from each other for a long time and it hurt Genovese power on the Commision. I think Benny Sqint realized this, but couldn't do much but bide his time, but when it got around to Chins time, he sought to undo all that shit. That's why they make all those power moves, in philly, north jersey, backing Sonny Red, okaying hitting Galante, backing Casso, just moves to take back the Commission.
I look at Miranda, Catena, like Accardo,Ricca. Funny thing is they had a front boss for their front boss, with Eboli being the " front Giancana" while I think Benny Sqint was the actual front boss.
But yeah, the whole 30s, 40s period is really confusing to me, I don't know if it's been fully sorted out, any thoughts?

I think initially Miranda was closer to Genovese, but after Genovese fled to Italy I think that Miranda became friendlier with Costello.As for Gerry Catena, he may have been the wealthiest Italian American gangster with regard to his legitimate holdings, which included Standard Oil, Hellman's Mayonnaise, and Bally's. The main complaint of Eboli and other members of the family was that Catena was only interested in counting his money and not interested in supporting the men on the streets in the day to day life, the same complaint that was often levied against Costello. On wiretaps Eboli complained that Catena had isolated himself in NJ while Eboli was on the ground in NYC with a front row seat to the all of the moves that Gambino and Luchese were making. Eboli also talks about how when Trigger Mike Coppola got out of jail, he went down the Miami to see Coppola, using all kinds of evasive tactics and meeting with Coppola and Jimmy Blue Eyes at 3 in the morning to avoid surveilance. At the same time, Eboli claims that Catena went to Miami and did not want to meet with Coppola or anyone else.

As far as Miranda, Eboli held him in high esteem, as he said that Miranda knew more about Cosa Nostra than anyone else and that he told Catena that they should be consulting with him more often about the goings on in the family. He also complained that Catena did not want to meet with Miranda, and he said that when Catena wanted him to attend a Commission meeting in Catena's place he told Catena that he had to bring Miranda along because he did not want to be by himself in a meeting with sharks like Gambino, Giancana and Luchese. The main complaint with Catena was always that he only wanted to be boss so that no one could take any of his money and that he purposely kept himself far removed from the men in the trenches like Eboli and the other powers in the family.

In the book NJ Mafia Ray DeCarlo complains a lot about Catena also for many of the same reasons. However, he mentioned how one time he criticized Catena to Vito Genovese and Vito Genovese told him that he could not kill the golden goose, Catena, because Catena was too knowledgeable about and connected to the casino skim in Las Vegas and Havana. Catena had huge power that he originally got through Longy Zwillman, his mentor. They were both a part of the Combination, a body that existed outside of Cosa Nostra and consisted of people like Lansky, Doc Stacher, and Paul Ricca along with Catena and Zwillman. The members of the Combination were the ones who were involved in many of the early money makers in open territories like Vegas, Havana and Hollywood, rackets that Vito missed out on when he was in Italy.

Catena was just like Costello in many ways, very powerful, respected and wealthy but mostly uninterested in the day to day business of managing the family.

Not really, that's one for the ages. Another question is when the consig position actually came about. I've people much more knowledgable than me argue iwht decent arguments on both side if it actually started with the commission's foundation or not.

I think you pretty much summed up my take on the situation as well with that post;
I like how you touch on the fact that the Genovese top guys distanced themselves from Commision business, I've tried to bring this up a lotta times, but it's like people can't see it.
I also like your mention of Longy and the " Combination". This is also lost on a lotta guys, that a lot of Cosa Nostra power came from absorbing operations from guys like Lepke, Longy, Schultz....
I mentioned what I called " The richest gangsters in Cosa Nostra click" in a thread about Vegas, how it was the top Genovese and Chicago guys, plus the top Jewish gangsters making the biggest moves.
Also another point I've tried to make a lot, people don't consider the effect Costellos aloofness to Commision business had on the power structure. I think people seriously underestimate the Profaci-Bonnano-Zerilli pact on the commission, but Carlo and Luchesse didn't......

According to Joe Valachi,a guy called Sandino was consig from mid 30s until mid 50s. Perhaps this guy is Sandino Pandolfo,listed on charts as a genovese member.

Very interesting!!!! So I got another shadow, lol!
I really believe the 30s and 40s had sooooo many heavy guys, it's a real interesting time to me, but I think it might be the least explored period of the mob...

I agree ,a very interesting time! Right up until 57 when the cat was outta the bag! As Henry said, it was a glorious time and wiseguys were all over lol. A ton of guys have slipped the net and they're stories will never be told.

Miranda was closer to Luciano, once Lucky was deported, it seems Miranda was pretty much neutral, but if he was close to anyone after that it would be Joe Adonis. Once Adonis was deported it seems he became neutral again. The Consiglieri position is elected by the family Capos, not the boss, but a boss could break Capos and replace them with Capos that would vote to his liking. I know he didn't have any love for Carlo Gambino. There is also a rumor that he wanted Catena off the ruling panel of the Genovese family, but the transcripts in the late 1960's, shows them real at ease with each other to where if Genovese got out of prison, they would get the ball rolling on having him killed. You could tell that Miranda and Catena both had respect for Lucchese, but when it came to Gambino they differed.

Where could I find those wiretap transcripts??

At www.maryferrell.org is the easiest site to obtain some of the information. There was a good run years ago on information, due to a hacker who has gone silent for nearly a decade now. You change also send a request to the FBI to get information on a individual or event.

Right I thought they would be there as well, but maybe I'm searching the wrong way. Can't find any wiretaps involving Miranda