Sometimes the title “Boss of Bosses” was given to someone by themselves (Vito), and other times by the media(Paul), so who are all of the Boss of Bosses whether they gave it to themselves or not?

Unofficially held at one time by Vito Genovese, Carlo Gambino, and Paul Castellano.
I personally would have give the Chin the unofficial or probably official title during his last 10 years or so on the street.

Gambino probably was officially the Boss of Bosses in his last 5-6 years of life.

Anyone else come to mind that might have either given themselves that name, or the media did? Or who the commission gave them that title?

In his own head I bet Persico always thought of himself as boss of bosses but I’ve never read or heard that anywhere else.

What about Maranzano in the 20s?

Lucky in the 40s?

Joe Bonanno I’m sure felt he was the Boss of Bosses at one time or another.

I’m curious of everyone’s opinions here on this.

The Boss of Bosses Capo dei Capi Capo di Tutti I Capi wasn't just some arbitrary title people gave themselves or others. It was a real elected position in the Mafia. None of the names you listed ever held the position of Boss of Bosses except for Salvatore Maranzano. The position was abolished in 1931 after the death of Salvatore Maranzano.


Nicola Taranto - Mid 1890s
Giuseppe Morello - Early 1900s-1910
Sebastiano DiGaetano - 1910-1912. Acting Boss of Bosses
Salvatore D'Aquila - 1912-1928
Joseph Masseria - 1928-1930
Gaspare Messina - 1930-1931. Acting Boss of Bosses
Salvatore Maranzano - 1931-1931

These are all of the people that we know held the position.

Everything else about Vito Genovese Charlie Luciano Carlo Gambino Vincent Gigante is all media sensationalism and idiot Mafia fanboys propping their favorite mobster up.

After the creation of the Commission there was a Chairman of the Commission. He didn't hold any special power over anyone else though his duties were strictly to ensure the Commission's operation. It's a bit surprising we almost know less of who held the Chairman position then we do about who held the Boss of Bosses position. There are sources that Vincent Mangano was the first Chairman and sources for Joe Bonanno and Stefano Magaddino becoming chairman at other times. Charlie Luciano Carlo Gambino and Vito Genovese have been thrown out as others who have held it but I don't know any sources that back that up.

I understand Mafia101- but I’m also asking for peoples opinions of who may have held that position unofficially.

I agree these were not official BoB. But either from media, the Boss himself, or fanboys, who seemed to be the top Boss at given times.

Only in Sicily Riina was boss of bosses , no one before him or after him was it. Every era has their most influential boss but they are far from boss of bosses.

I think after 1932 no one was considered boss of bosses. Gambino was given the title in news stories, but that had to be hype.

Yet the Italian media always attributes the title to the, at that time, most powerful leader within the Sicilian mafia. Before the time of the first commission, set up in 1958, Vito Cascio Ferro (Bisacquino's mafia), Calogero Vizzini (Villalba's mafia) and subsequently Giuseppe Genco Russo (Mussomeli's mafia) were referred to in the media as capo di tutti capi .

I dont think Russo was the top boss. For starters he was not really popular. I think it was someone from Trapani providence.

As some already said, after 1932 the boss of bosses position in the US Mafia was nixed and there was only chairman of the board with no special power over the other bosses. Yes, there were always some bosses which were more powerful then the rest of the representatives, like Giancana during one period or Gambino during another period, by having influence over other bosses regarding commission votes and stuff. For example during one period Lucchese, Gambino, the Genovese rep and Giancana usually voted the same way and completely controlled the whole commission. There were also meetings regarding some conflict and sometimes Giancana had the last word, again depending on the time period, the type of situation and which boss possessed more power at the time. There are also examples when everyone waited for Tommy Brown's vote or opinion etc. And yes, they all had their own independent votes but still not everyone was equal in terms of power on the round table.

Vizzini was powerful but never boss of bosses according to Calderone.
Badalamenti and Michele Greco were at one time head/chairman of the commission.

Yes in Sicly it was the same only Riina became a dictator but in a sense Cosa Nostra was pretty democratic lol.

Sometimes there is a confusion between the "provincial" commission which controls the province of Palermo only, and the "regional" commission which is composed of the representatives of different provinces and (at least theoretically) controls the whole Sicilian mafia. The chairman of the Palermo province commission is the representative of the province and therefore a member of the regional commission, maybe the most powerful one, but not necessarily the formal chairman of the regional commission; for example, when the regional commission was re-organized in the 1970's, its chairman was Giuseppe Calderone from Catania, even though Gaetano Badalamenti represented the more powerful Palermo province. However, under Toto' Riina I think the 2 ranks were all the same, and Toto' Riina was the chairman of both the Palermo provincial commission and the Sicilian regional commission.

Sorry if I explain it in a little confusing manner...

That's true Dwalin and you have to take in account the mandamenti.

Within Cosa Nostra a mandamento is traditionally a district of three geographically contiguous Mafia cosche (families controlling a single land feud, or a city ward) in Sicily. A capomandamento represents the head of a territory, the mandamento, and is usually entitled to be part of the provincial Mafia Commission.[1]

List of mandamenti
Palermo – The city of Palermo is divided into 8 local mandamenti: Porta Nuova, Brancaccio, Boccadifalco, Passo di Rigano, Santa Maria di Gesù, Noce, Pagliarelli, Resuttana and San Lorenzo.

Province of Palermo – The province of Palermo is divided into 7 mandamenti: Camporeale (born from the merger of the mandamenti of Partinico and San Giuseppe Jato), Corleone, Cinisi, Bagheria, Trabia, Belmonte Mezzagno, San Mauro Castelverde.

Province of Agrigento – The province of Agrigento consists of 10 mandamenti: Agrigento, Santa Elisabetta, Porto Empedocle, Canicattì, Cianciana, Ribera, Sambuca di Sicilia, Casteltermini, Palma di Montechiaro and Campobello di Licata.

Province of Trapani – The province of Trapani consists of 4 mandamenti: Castelvetrano, Trapani, Mazara del Vallo and Alcamo.

Province of Caltanissetta – The province of Caltanissetta consists of 4 mandamenti: Gela, Vallelunga Pratameno, Riesi and Mussomeli.