First of all, Pistone wasn't a rat. He was an agent. And they'd be even less likely to kill him today than they were forty years ago. They've cut back on killing people for a reason. And that was overblown even back then. Because except for Lefty running his mouth in prison, they were never going to hit an agent. This isn't Sicily. Pistone running around with those silly sunglasses today is absurd. He's a shameless self-promoter. You think they wen't after the mob with a vengeance during Gotti's reign? If the mob ever hit a Fed the indictments would still be coming.

I do agree that it's a lot more difficult to put an agent undercover today. But it's not impossible. The technology that you're referring to was there ten years ago and the Feds still managed to slip an agent into Patsy's Bronx crew (but granted, it was at a much lower level than the Pistone-Bonanno undercover op). And I promise you that Patsy is a very cautious man. But at the end of the day, these guys have to earn. And to earn you have to work with people.

As far as the original question goes, there isn't a "single biggest cheese" for the simple reason that most decisions are made by a panel today. But as far as the Genovese go, Barney has reigned it in quite a bit since his wife died, QD almost never leaves the house, and Ernie has turned a lot of his day to day over to the kid. But the posters here are on the right track when they mention the guys on the Westside panel, along with Stevie and Cefalu.