Maranzano also made the fatal mistake of demanding a tribute from each and every Mafioso in the Five Families. The bottom line in the Mafia (as elsewhere in society): money talks. They might have put up with Maranzano's Julius Caesar fantasies, but when it came to demanding money--fuggeddaboutit. (In a modern parallel: Paul Castellano violated Mob protocol by failing to attend Neil Dellacroce's funeral and wake, by never going out on the street to meet with his people, and by carrying on with a Columbian servant under his own roof, with his wife and daughter present. The people under him might have put up with it. But he was also a compulsive cheapskate who squeezed them unmercifully--and that's why they supported Gotti's regicide of Castellano.)

Part of Luciano's brilliance was that, although he was born in Sicily in the 19th century, he was a thoroughly modern, thoroughly American Mafioso. As DC said, he and Lansky organized the Commission like a corporate Board of Directors.

Even more brilliantly, Luciano didn't appoint himself "Chairman of the Board" because he didn't have to--everyone knew he was first among equals. In fact, another of his brilliant moves was to appoint Al Capone as chairman--and Capone was not only not a Sicilian, his "Outfit" wasn't a Mafia family. The title was ceremonial: he gave it to Capone to keep him and his cowboys on the ranch, so to speak. Luciano also appointed Joe Bonanno, the most loner-prone of the five NYC Dons, as "secretary" to the commission--another ceremonial title designed to flatter him and keep him cooperating with the others.

BTW: Lansky arranged the two assassinations--of Masseria and of Maranzano--that put Luciano on top. Although Lansky didn't pull a trigger, his allies did. Still another brilliant Luciano move: Masseria and Maranzano would have recognized his people, but not Lansky's.