I think the Genovese was the most powerful from the earliest days up to the late 1950's, with the Gambinos being a strong #2.
I was under the impression that the Mangano/Anastasia family was small before Carlo took over and expanded the rackets.
Were they really stronger than the Profaci, Lucchese and Bonanno clans back then?
Yes. And they kept it big. The Gambinos made close to 200 new guys in the 1950s.
How where they allowed to induct so many new men? Didn't the families set a limit for membership? Seems unlikely to me as that would have been perceived as a major threat by the other families. And the books were closed at about the same time when Carlo took over.
Never came across anything suggesting that there was a restriction on the number of new guys the Families were allowed to make. Because of their bigger size, the biggest Families also had a greater number of followers (associates, guys "on the record" etc). The Families were allowed to make anyone they wanted, as long as the new recruits were approved by the bosses when the lists were passed around.
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