He was a major, major power. Many do not understand just how powerful this man was. He had a very small borgata. always. Yet, he had national influence, and his control over the southern states was near total.
I've seen several books refer to him as either the Mafias 1st or 2nd Don...
I was just comparing his political power to Costellos. I've always been dumbstruck as to why Costello is considered to have the most political clout. Its strikes me as NY bias....
Because he bossed the largest family in the U.S., the Luciano family, Frank Costello was a much bigger name. And his corruption ran through The Big Apple, Tammany Hall, and beyond. So whether it was real or perceived, Costello was the bigger name. He was larger than life.
On the other hand, Costello and Marcello partnered together down in NO after Frank had all his slot machines busted up and repeatedly dumped in the East River by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. Marcello told Frank he has such ironclad control of NO and Louisiana as a whole, that they could operate successfully down there. So they opened up Pelican Amusement Company and made more millions together.
By anybody's measuring stick Carlos was a major force to be reckoned with.
