Yeah Alfa, it's crazy I've read some things and been like man some of these guys got off easy, in mob life that is. And some of the mob rats who are scared to death aren't actually in any danger, they could probabably still come around ever so often and not be harmed, simply due to the fact of the media storm their death would bring. But if someone perceives their life is in danger is all that matters I guess.
This brings me to my next question, probably a dumb one, but would you say Luciano was kind of made to retire or shelved? I'm sure Vito had a ton of respect for him, but he would whack guys like it was his job. And I'm again sure Luciano was aware of that if he didn't step aside. What's your take?
Thanks for asking, and I sure many here may disagree with me, but at this time I feel that the Luciano Family remained Lucky Luciano's until the advent of Vito Genovese. It was not ever the Costello Family. I feel that Frank Costello was an acting Boss.
The move on Frank Costello was really a move against Lucky Luciano to remove him from controlling the Luciano Family.
So when Lucky's Family was taken over by Vito and his shotgun wielding thugs, you could then say that Lucky was partially forcibly retired. Obviously Vito was going to take the tribute from the new Genovese Family for himself and not pay any tax to Luciano.
So for Lucky to "stay in the game" and show them who the real Boss of Bosses was, he (and his allies) had to orchestrate Vito being sent away to prison, he had to go big into narcotics (which was probably the only lucrative racket available to him out in Italy), and he had to forge closer ties to his cousins, the Sicilian Mafia, as well as other international crime syndicates from other nations.
So whatever actually happened (the above is based on anecdotes, rumors, and speculation) Lucky was in fact "retired", but refused retirement.
As to the last part of your question, which is not dumb at all actually, I don't feel Luciano feared Genovese one tiny bit. Think about why Genovese wanted to seize power. He was Underboss and felt he was passed over for Frank Costello. He felt he was taking what was rightfully his. Obviously Lucky didn't respect Vito's brains enough to let him rise up in the Family the normal way. And I think Vito's behavior showed that he really wasn't boss material and Lucky was right about him. Vito couldn't get it through his thick head that...
1) Underbosses are selected by the Boss, not elected.
2) Bosses are elected by a Family, and then accepted by the Commission, sometimes even chosen by the Commission,
but never self appointed.
If Vito had not gone down on the drug rap, he would have been taken out.
