You seem very intent on convincing me that the Genovese's are the richest and most powerful. And that's fine I respect your persistency. But those quotes are all cherry picked. I bet for every quote you find someone say the Genovese's are the most powerful you'll find one that says the Gambino's are the most powerful. The Genovese's knew they couldn't take on the Gambinos by themselves when Gotti was boss that's why they teamed up with the lucchese's. And that wasn't even during the Gambino family's prime. Let me take a quote out of Phil Leonetti's book, "At that time, the Gambino's were the most powerful family in La Cosa Nostra and Carlo Gambino, who was known as Don Carlo, was the il capo di tutti capi, the boss of all bosses, who sat at the head of the commission". Direct quote from Phil Leonetti in his book, "Mafia Prince".
And you seem very intent on clinging to your preconceived notions, no matter what is put in front of you. You can believe whatever you want. I just think you've read the same superficial hype regarding the Gambinos without really looking deeper into things. The fact that you think there has ever been a "boss of bosses" shows as much. Luciano created the Commission, in part, so there wouldn't be that very thing. There can certainly be a single most powerful or influential boss. And Gambino was that at one time. But that doesn't mean he was the boss of the other bosses or had the kind of power where that title wold be in any way fitting. Nor did him being the top boss mean his family was automatically the most powerful. Let's not forget that Massino chaired the Commission meeting back in 2000 (Chin, Gotti, Amuso, and Persico were in prison) but nobody is going to argue that automatically meant the Bonannos were the top family.
The Genovese's knew they couldn't take on the Gambinos by themselves when Gotti was boss that's why they teamed up with the lucchese's. And that wasn't even during the Gambino family's prime.
Chin farmed out the hit to Casso because it was smart to keep things at arm's length. It was the Gambinos who didn't respond even after they had good reason to believe Chin was behind the DeCicco car bombing.
The Gambino crime family was more powerful and wealthier than the Genovese's during their prime from what I always hear. I think the Genovese's are only known as the "Ivy league" because Luciano was the founder of them and he is a legendary figure. I wouldn't say everyone else outside of gigante was a great boss. None of their bosses knew how to stay out of prison. None of their bosses were ever as effective as Carlo was in terms of staying out of jail and wielding so much power. They never really had a boss as great as carlo was. Chin was never the boss that carlo was. One got convicted and the other didn't. Not that that necessarily makes someone a better boss but it helps. But maybe I should've said head of the commission if that makes you feel better. The definition of boss of all bosses is obviously different to everyone else in the mob when they call carlo and lucky boss of all bosses.
You keep talking about what you "always hear." I read the same stuff when I first started reading books on the mob. And there's probably more books on the Gambinos, particularly because of Gotti, than any other family (except maybe Chicago because of Capone, etc.) But once you study things more in depth, you get a different picture.
The Genovese family has been referred to the "Ivy League" and "Rolls Royce" of the mob by law enforcement because they've always been the most sophisticated family. The smartest, shrewdest, and most disciplined. You can talk about Carlo on an individual basis all you want, but the Genovese family has always had a "deeper bench," as one FBI official put it.
The Genovese family started out as the most powerful, originating with Morello, then Masseria, and later led by Luciano. The question is, how and when exactly did the Gambinos supplant them as the top family? You and some others may say when Carlo took over or during his reign at some point. But how did that, in itself, make the Gambinos stronger? This is where we go back to what I was talking about before - the idea that Gambino was the "boss of bosses" while the Genovese suffered from lack of leadership. And neither was true.
So, I ask again, how did the Gambinos supplant the Genovese? It was still the Genovese family that represented several east coast families on the Commission. It was the Genovese that had more of a national presence. The Gambinos rivaled the Genovese in various NY industries but the Genovese always had more labor union clout. Not to mention political clout. And it seems the Genovese always had the largest gambling and loansharking operations.
