Guys, I'd recommend slowing down on saying who was who in the early years of the Outfit. I've been researching this for over 20 years, know a bunch of Outfit relatives and insiders and can tell you that there are conflicting stories about who ran the Outfit in the 1930s and 40s. The consensus is that Al Capone ran it from 1925 to 1931/32, but after that there's confusion. Traditionally most think the top spot went to Frank Nitto, but there are many good sources who say that Ricca was the top boss, and there's a minority position who says it was Louis Campagna. I tend to go with Ricca and Campagna. Accardo was the Outfit boss from around 1947 to 1956, then Giancana, however the guy ultimately in charge was Ricca. I also found out that the Chicago Outfit isn't set up the same as other crime families: each crew is almost like its own Family and the most powerful one is in charge. Ricca, Campagna and Giancana were all part of the Taylor Street Crew and Accardo and Cerone with the old Grand Avenue/Elmwood Park one. After Ricca died the power went to Cicero (where Aiuppa was from), then back to Elmwood Park. Taylor Street was also broken up to 26th Street/Chinatown and Grand Avenue (different from old Grand Avenue) to dilute its power.
If you read Gus Russo's book he doesn't pay a whole lot of attention to the structure at the very top. (Ricca, Accardo, Giancana, Humpreys.) Obviously he was most impressed with Humphreys.
I think that is a mature and realistic approach. These guys, particularly back then, were into making money and little else. They weren't acting out a scene from the Godfather. Presumably at all points one person did have ultimate authority but it almost seemed to be a nonissue. There didn't seem to be a lot of "don" shit going on.
I think sometimes people get a little too hung up on the formal authority.
Just like in a company you can have a lame duck CEO, there may have been times during the Outfit's history when the nominal "boss" was more of an advisor.
No matter what the chart says, the smartest person is generally in charge, because everyone else relies on them to pull their ass out of the fire, etc.
