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?
Prior to the 1930s you may have a point about the Jewish gangsters and the drug trade but that really began to change in the 1930s as the Italians consolidated their power, to say nothing of the 1940s and 1950s.
Drugs has obviously been a factor in both the day to day operations and maneuverings of the mob. What I don't agree with is your theory that Detroit's control of the drug trade (which remains debatable in itself) would directly and significantly change the mob power structure in NY. Especially during the era in question which the mob was not as involved in narcotics as it would be in later years. If we were talking about a drug cartel which is basically a one trick pony, that would be one thing, but the mob has always been much more diversified.
