One more thing I will say is that for many years I never realized just how large a family the Bonanno's had at their peak.
I always thought they hovered around 125-175 members. When in actuality their true strength lay closer to 275-325 back in the 1940s-1960s era. They were definitely one of the largest crews in the U.S.
NYM. I've been trying to get you to that conclusion for a while haha. Most people have underestimated Joe and The Bonannos during this period but that's mainly because most people don't care about what happened before 1957. Or if they do, it's focused on the Luciano ( and not even Genovese Family but the Meyer Lansky ) side of it. This largely leaves the true roots misunderstood. There was alot of working parts during that time. They make it seem like Luciano waved a magic wand and the Five Families were born. No, each group have infighting and instability in their respective territory and opposition to their Boss seat. The Mangano seat is questionable but understandable because it's possible the Albert Anastasia was probably powerful enough but not mature enough to be the Boss. The Manganos were the Family with the most outside forces at hand.
The Fact that Bonannos group started out on the losing side of the Castellamarese War, most people don't understand how powerful that contingent was from the 20s until the 60s mainly because of Bonanno and Magaddino falling.the Castellamarese had influence throughout the country. Several bosses/Hierarchies had CGD influence and it all connected to Bonanno. Joe had guys all over the country ( GV brought the Connecticut guys to my knowledge) Honestly, (and you'd really have to have know the majority of the Families to get this) the Family was disjointed being so spread out but for Bonanno himself, he was top 5 boss in power, strength and stability for 25 years before the Bananas War.
