This is what I thought the board was for, I asked this question thinking New York was always tops, and then Giacomo came with the detroit knowledge, and I felt like I learned something...
To me, its a key thing overlooked when understanding the commision politics of the time period.If Detroit was the biggest in one of the if not THE biggest moneymaker, and they are allied to Profaci, and he is allied with Bonnano, and He is allied with Maggadino, and detroit is close to families in St. Louis, ect...
Like taking all this into consideration, WHO WAS ACTUALLY THE STRONGEST BOSS IN THE 30S-40S? Can we really say Lucky? Is it Costello? Or the Brooklyn click of Profaci, Bonnano, Mangano?

I dont understand? Revisionist history?Explain to me why its so inconceivable for Detroit to be biggest in narcotics from the 30s, to the 50s? Like you really confuse me, your Purple Gang stats, like they Are from Detroit right? Your New York stats ARE from the 50s, like WHAT ARE YOU ARGUING EXACTLY?
Better question, Luciano goes to jail in the 30s, Who fills that vaccuum from New York? Remember, Rothstien controlled this trade, Lucky inherited from him, and his contacts were in China, not the middle East, but the Far East. So you tell me,lol The Title of the thread, Who was the King of Dope?

Holy heck, you are mixing parts of what I said with what Giacomo said. Have you ever been diagnosed with ADD? Its ironic this thread is about drugs because you need to be on them. I'm thinking Ritalin or Adderall. High dosage.

A lot of people forget about Bendito, who put a bargo on Sicily. The drugs did not start to really come into the American harbors till near the end of the war and after from Italy. Detroit had the connections. Drugs did come into America, but these were from different countries and groups.

Ivy don't forget about the Uboats and Japan taking over China and southeast Asia. The other families did have connections, but had to go through Detroit when access was scares. Lucchese and Dragna families had some balls since they stole from military bases. You really have admire that move, since it would have cost a bullet by the sentry.

From 1930's to the 1950's the Detroit family was bigger than the rest of the families in drugs. When it comes to New York City. The Lucchese family was the biggest in drugs. The Bureau of Narcotics got a lot of informants from that family alone. By the mid 1950's Vito Genovese and Joe Bonanno were the two biggest in drugs. Joe played it smart and allowed Galante and Evola crews to handle the distribution of the drugs, from Canada to Florida, and New York to California. Vito was playing it smart till he became boss of the Genovese and let his guard down, I still believe he was set up on an informants lies, but he did not restrict who dealt in drugs and who didn't, just made sure he got his cut from the profit.

Ok Ivey, follow me here, it affected the New Yorkers because the drug trade was run by Jewish racketeers, who were plugged in the Far East. iTalians like Luciano and Costello and Adonis were close to rothstein and as such, were the top Italians in the trade in New York. ( And there were still Jewish partners like Lepke, and this Katzenberg character who is popping up in books I've read recently) Now when this gets disrupted, both by le and the war, a vacuum is left, you see? Lucky is locked up, Bonnano hasn't set up his pipeline yet,
Genovese has to flee....
So it's a matter of convenience and circumstance, combined with contacts and resources, like I said just read up a little on Coppolas power in Sicily, the Detroit Windsor crew, the whole partinico faction.
(And stepping outside the mafia Ivey, Detroit has like, some Hall Of fame drug gangs, I want you to consider what exactly would it take to be successful in the narcotics trade, you will quickly find it is not something limited by geography)
Also, I do consider your point, and I think the most likely New York gangster with all the components in place to dominate narcotics, was probably Joe Adonis.
Also, Drugs have basically Always changed the power structure in New York. It's a big point in the godfather, a powerful drug capo, that actually has the power to hit The top boss, because the profit potential is so huge.Look at the three capos, all that was drugs. Gotti and castellano, drugs. Carlo breaking up Vito's ring so he could basically duplicate it. Galante hit, drugs. Look at Vito's drug ring, Evola,Ormento, Mazzie, drugs have a tendency to ignore traditional family hierarchies and alignments,men go where the money goes...
The Sicilians controlled the heroin trade, but were Anastasia or Costello Sicilian? Do you see Mangano being strong enough to control either of them? I see Mangano allying with Profaci, Bonnano, to curb Anastasias power the same way Costello allied with Anastasia to stave of genovese. I see Profaci allied with zerilli, Bonnano, MAggadino, possibly Gagliano too. Even if not Gagliano, that's possible three commission votes, how many would they need for controlling influence. Again these rivalries make charting the flow of power a lot more complicated than just, well the genovese are the strongest.
Alfa, you make a concise, reasonable perfectly logical argument, but I want to ask you something; Do you subscribe to the theory of Liberal and Conservative factions on the commission in the 40s? It's something I feel gets really overlooked; IT seems to be LUciano/Chicago, Profaci/Bonnano/MAggadino/zerilli definitely, with Mangano/Gagliano possibly with the conservative Faction. Consider MAngano, he couldn't control Anastasia, and a lot of this was based on the fact that he was close to Costello and Luciano. So when Lucky goes away, he breathes a little easier, why I believe he would throw in with the Profaci faction.
But hey, I'm just a reader, lol any thoughts on any of this silliness?

What I don't agree with is your theory that Detroit's control of the drug trade (which remains debatable in itself)...

There is testimony from Siragusa to the a Senate Committee that Detroit and St Louis had the largest heroin pipeline and were selling into NY, for a period of time. Not trying to start a pissing match, but what is debatable?