Originally posted by Don Cardi:
I would have to say Meyer Lansky, as he was the brains behind forming the commission and organizing crime. A close runner up in my book is Carlo Gambino. Here is a man who was for many years one of the most powerful men in America and yet they could not lay a finger on him. He died of natural causes at a ripe old age. That alone has to put him up there as one of the greatest gangsters of all time.
Don Cardi
Couldn't agree more. Any mafia chieftain who can maintain a low-profle and die of natural causes whilst controlling pretty much all of the most lucrative NY rackeets has to have benn pretty smart.
For me the only other contenders are Lansky, Costello and Tony 'Ducks' Corrallo.
