No one had "authority" over Moe. It was universally decided that Moe should go away for a while. No one had any idea that Aiuppa/Cerone were going to make a play for power & force Accardo/Ricca into playing along. Moe knew he had to go away, he knew they were getting a little bit too close to the higher ups of the U.S. govt. for comfort.
Joey O'Brien's rise to power & claiming of the throne came as a surprise to everyone. Giancana treated Aiuppa & Cerone like dirt when he was in power, and it was a give-in that Aiuppa was going to take Moe/DeStefano/etc. out as his first order of business, and that's exactly what he did.
Joe Batters was a tough motherfucker, he is a top 5 Outfit figure of all-time, but he was never the main guy. No one with any real knowledge on the Outfit disagrees with that FACT.
If by "universally decided" you mean decided by Accardo and Ricca, then I agree.
Look, you are making definitive claims about events that occurred between 40 and 60 years ago. These claims just need to be backed up with some sort of evidence. That's all anyone is asking for. What are your sources that other members can investigate and evaluate for themselves.
If there is a ton of primary and secondary source evidence (wiretaps, informants, FBI files, etc) showing that from the forties through the sixties that Chicago Outfit top bosses were Ricca and Accardo and that they turned over day to day authority to others, then someone making a different claim needs to prove it.
Lilos got a good point. Theres a big difference between a informant telling a police officer that so and so is a drug dealer and then they use photos, wiretaps and raids and actually find drugs and evidence to someone who hears something on the street and posts it on the internet as fact.
This is the problem with posters that imply that they are gettin info from street sources i.e criminals, ex gangsters or whatever. even if you are able to talk with them their info is just as unreliable as any other source simply because they are as i stated criminals who lie, cheat and steal for a living anyway.
