There are a number of long-acting Captains who are out of prison and active in the Genovese Family. I recently read that even these captains do not truly know who is making executive decisions. I am just brainstorming here, but there is a chance that this strategy is used to insulate the leadership from potential RICO indictments. A RICO case can only be brought when two or more predicate crimes (of which there are many listed in the statute) are committed. If the government has proof of these crimes, then people at the top of the Genovese Family (the "enterprise" pursuant to statutory language) can be held liable criminally and civilly. If members of the Genovese administration can argue that there is no actual enterprise and these Captains were committing the predicate acts on their own accord, the government's RICO case falls apart. Without knowledge of who is at the top of the Genovese hierarchy, any wiretap evidence will not prove beyond a reasonable doubt who the Boss, Underboss and Consigliere actually are...because the Captains simply do not know.

I think there is a good chance that the Capos leave cash at drop-off locations so that they are left unaware of who they are kicking up to. Furthermore, when orders come down, they likley are done through notes left at similar places without any signature or name attached.

For this reason - and this sucks for those of us interested in this stuff - we likely will never know who runs the Genovese family anymore (forget 20-50 years). The family is composed of old-timers who have been around for the Commission Case and many other RICO indictments and understand the risks posed when upper-echelon guys are affiliated with the criminal activity.

Right now, we know that people such as Bellomo, Leo, Cirillo, Mangano, Dentico are likley running things because of the fact that they have been around and were arrested when they were younger (evidence of their role in the family came out in those trials). However, once these guys go - and Cirillo/Mangano/Dentico are very much near their ends - it will be nearly impossible to tell who else comprises the family's administration. My guess is that Barney has been running things since Chin passed away. Beyond that, our knowledge of the Genovese family structure has likely hit a brick wall.

Just my 2 cents.