I won't speculate on who is the "most feared" because it would only be conjecture and it's not worth arguing about. The bottom line is, why would you fear one guy who's capable of ending your life any more than another guy who's capable of ending your life? They can only kill you once, right?

Re Barney: They waved the death penalty because not only did they know they had no case, but they also knew that he wasn't guilty. Now don't get me wrong, I have no illusions about who Barney is and what he's capable of, but trust me on this: Barney loved Ralphie. If he wasn't in prison at the time, Ralphie would still be here.

I mean, if the feds knew they had a guy who was once the street boss of the Genovese family dead to rights, would they let him plea out to mail fraud? Never in a million years. They would have taken pleasure in prosecuting him. And God bless his daughter, Sabrina. If not for her heartfelt plea and intelligent argument as a lawyer, that judge certainly would have given Barney the max on those mail fraud charges.

Re Stevie: I never read that about Stevie having a violent side in Capeci's column. But I can tell you from neighborhood chatter and having a few friends in common, that when he was younger, this tended to be true. You didn't want to be around the guy when he was in a bad mood. But I think, like most people, he has mellowed with age. And when you get that high up (whether he's a skipper, consig, underboss or boss), you can't be smacking people willy-nilly because they gave you a funny look in a bar or restaurant.