To get back to the original question:
I believe Luciano would have been a big success today. He had lots of personal force, and the leadership qualities that enabled him to assert himself and his ideas among other powerful men by making them see what was in it for them to accept his leadership.
His background tells me he'd succeed even now: he was born in Sicily but was a thoroughly American businessman, enlisting the help of non-Sicilians and even non-Italians if he thought they could contribute. He created the Commission but wisely did not appoint himself capo di tutti capi because he didn't have to--everyone knew who he was. Instead he appointed Al Capone as "chairman" (a non-Sicilian and non-Mafioso) because he wanted to bring the Chicago Outfit into the new organization.. And he named Joe Bonanno "secretary" because Bonanno was a skeptic about new directions and needed to be stroked.
A negative: he had a fairly high public profile by Mob standards, although nothing like Gotti and Columbo. Some writers think the prostitution rap was a put-up job; Dewey allegedly wanted to get him for narcotics (which he was always involved in) but didn't have the evidence yet. Today narcotics would be even more dangerous.
Agreed 100%. Having read "The Last Testament" I have to say that my interpretation of Lucky is that of a VERY smart, business-minded individual who didn't care about race, and saw the benefits of that. He had all the qualities a great boss needs, and he was unlike Gotti, respected by all the other families. He'd have gotten VERY far, but there's a different climate today, and the feds are on their toes and you can't buy cops, so who knows.
