I think the fact that the American organization is the only criminal organization that shares the Cosa Nostra/Mafia name with the Sicilian one says it all. The Sicilians definitely formed the most powerful faction and the Neapolitans, Calabrese, Apulians and others had to follow suit. Another giveaway is that American families like Gambino and Bonanno have had their specific "zip" factions throughout the years, which indicated strong Sicilian ties. Such thing has not really been the case with the Neapolitans or Calabrese. It seems that in the Italian-American underworld Sicilians retained more of their specific cultural traits which set themselves apart as "Sicilian" while Italian immigrants from Campania, Calabria, Apulia, etc...tended to get Americanized quicker as "Italian American".
The Palermo and Trapani groups seem to have had the most pull in the American crime families. Those from Agrigento have more pull in Canada.
100% right TKJ. 100% right. I agree
But of those "Sicilian" factions, which particular grouping would you estimate had the most pull (I know its a tough question to ask) Lol
Palermo factions were a Gambino thing, while CDG factions were a Bonanno thing. I think it depends on the era. Galante was extremely close to CDG zips and this made the family very feared, but gradually the Bonanno's lost a lot of their power and the CDG ties didn't remain all that strong for the family as a whole. The Gambino ties to Palermo on the other hand remained strong and by the looks of it these ties are still intact to this day.
Lucchese and Colombo families have Sicilian roots - which indicates that even in those families the Sicilians once had the upper hand and others had to follow suit - but got "Americanized" much quicker.
Genovese on the other hand was always very much so an American family. Italians with origins in Campania and Calabria rose to high power functions a lot quicker in that family and - almost in an Outfit kind of way - they always had very close ties to their non-Italian hoodlum associates early on. Even when it comes to recent Genovese busts you can always find a few Jewish, Irish or Cuban names in the indictment.
