In the early 1960s, while Bonanno served as the chairman of the Commission, Bonanno´s proposal of dismantling the LA Family and to send his guys to LA to take over was rejected by the Commission members. Just to prove my point that the chairman of the Commission was never regarded as the boss of bosses, read this part
The best proof is he was forced to resign.
The same informant also says Vito Genovese is the "most powerful boss in the New York area".
As of the votes on the Commission. They all counted the same. No matter how powerful a boss was or how many soldiers he had under his command, his vote still counted the same. Check out Bill Bonanno´s last book. He goes into great detail of the functions, protocol and the proceedings of the Commission. Extremely interesting. If you are interested, pick up the book.
At the table they were equals (in theory anyway) but outside the boardroom this was not the case. You have to take into account power politics. As proof: Joe B. would plot to kill Gambino and Lucchese. Why would he see them as a threat if they were equals? If they were all equals how did Bonanno's get expelled? Over drugs?
