When it came to the big cash cows, like narcotics, Atlantic City, the Garment District, and other things the bosses split up evenly amongst one another....there was no big boss over everything.

The peace was kept by keeping all egos in check and splitting the loot evenly.

Galante got whacked because he tried to deviate from that formula.

Joe Bonanno also might have tried to deviate from that.

Masseria and Maranzano went down because all of the lieutenants got together and got tired of their greed. The money was flowing to the top and that would not stand. Subsequent to the downfall of the two would be boss of all bosses, a new arrangement was forged whereby peace would be kept by dividing the big money at the top. That's what I believe.

But for the sake of discussion, who was the "defacto" King for the sake of speculation?

It would have to be three to five kings.

One or two in the United States dominating America Cosa Nostra.

One in Sicily dominating that point in Heroin's transit.

Someone in Turkey who was preeminent over that poppy growing industry there.

Someone in Marseilles France dominating L'Unione Corse.

Each king over each territory dominated a specific point in heroin's transit across the globe.

So while Lucky Luciano might have been the most powerful boss from the United States, because he was in absentia and had to defer to the Sicilian Mafia, he wasn't king in the USA or in Italy either. King in the sense of being the top guy.