I appreciate all of your enthusiasm on the topic and we could all argue all day about Detroit, Buffalo, KC...but let's focus on the original topic.
Ivy League, I've always respected your opinion and overall knowledge on LCN nationwide and I agree about Detroit...but I'm sure out of the former families I listed, you will provide a well thought out, plausible case for the strongest defunct family.
Domwoods, Ivy League is 100% spot on in regards to remnants of now defunct families. My thread is specific to who the Federal Government considers defunct.
I think it's futile for people to come up with their own definitions of what is considered a viable family. That simply leads to people arguing over every family that has a single member still breathing. I tend to go with those families the feds recognize - the 5 NY families, New Jersey, New England, Philadelphia, Chicago, and
maybe Detroit.
If people want to include Detroit on the list of families still viable, then I would say Buffalo is the answer to your original question since that family seems to be no longer recognized by the feds.
If you don't want me to include Buffalo either, but only look at those families you specifically listed, there really isn't one that stands out among the others. There are some that obviously wouldn't be in the running - Denver, San Francisco, San Jose. I wouldn't include Rochester, Rockford, and certainly not Des Moines either. And not even Milwaukee, St. Louis, or Los Angeles.
So, by process of elimination that leaves Pittsburgh, NE Pennsylvania, Cleveland, Kansas City, New Orleans, and Tampa. I think a good argument could be made for any of these.
