First, I brought up the Gambinos because you and others didn't. You can't make a list of the top three families in the country without the Gambinos being on it. Because they're #2, both in New York and in the U.S. over all. Though they never surpassed the Genovese family, but did rival them in many respects for a time.

Second, even if every single made member of the Chicago and Detroit families were active on the street, any of the New York families would still have more guys on the street than they do. The Lucchese, Colombo, and Bonanno families each have a little over 100 members. That's 2x the size of the total membership of the Outfit and 4x the size of the Detroit family.

Like many do, you are looking at this exactly backwards. You think a family that barely gets any headlines or indictments in this day and age means they are stronger. Well if that's the case, the Los Angeles family must be thriving. It's the other way around. A more active family is going to be seen as a greater organized crime threat by law enforcement, which in turn means more indictments. There being less indictments in Chicago and Detroit doesn't mean these families just know how to stay under the radar. It means they are smaller and there is less activity by these families when compared to those in New York.