As you've said yourself, Genovese's arrest didn't affect the family much and I don't see how it suddenly made the Gambinos strong enough to be 1a if they weren't that already, unless you could expand upon it.
That's a good point. I agree that, in some ways, the Gambinos rivaled the Genovese already. They had already divied up the private garbage business in the five NY boroughs, as well as the New York and New Jersey waterfronts. They were similar in size. (There's conflicting information on exactly when the Gambinos became slightly larger in membership.) I suppose the tipping point would have been when Gambino became the top boss in New York, which really didn't happen until after Genovese and Lucchese died. During that time, he did have some degree of influence over some of the other NY families, and the Gambinos expanded their relative interests in drugs, porn, etc. So, it may be more appropriate to say the Gambinos were #1A in the 1970's and 1980's.
Last edited by IvyLeague; 09/08/1301:37 AM.
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