Cabrini, you asked a straight question. Let me give you as straight an answer as I can.

Yes all the bosses in America split the profits from the largest cash cows, so there was no one king of dope. But there had to be a defacto king, not necessarily of dope, but of the underworld overall.

The strength resided in the five families as nationally predominant.

Within the five families, the two largest families that controlled the harbors were predominant.

Between those two families, the defacto boss of bosses was either a Genovese Boss or a Gambino Boss, all depending on the specific time frame. During Carlo's time, the Gambino's dominated, and little Carlo was the alpha male. During Genovese's time, the Genovese family dominated and Vito was the alpha male. Before Vito, the alpha male was Salvatore Lucania. My guess is that power was always alternating between those two families, the Luciano and Mangano.