After the early years, there's very few examples of the NY families fighting over territory. So sorry but you'll have to do a lot better than quoting Donnie Brasco to make your point.
And me not being from NY (or Chicago in your case) helps my objectivity. I don't have dog in the fight, so to speak, and no reason to favor a certain family in some dick measuring contest.
Anyone who has studied the mob knows the scope of the NY metro area. We're talking the 5 NYC boroughs, Long Island, Westchester and the northern suburbs, Southwest Connecticut, and North/Central Jersey. Nothing else in the country even comes close. There's a reason why it has the 5 largest families in the country.
Also, look at the cases in NY and Chicago over the last 15 years. Very few loansharking cases in Chicago. Tons of them in NY and the surrounding areas. Seems to me it's pretty obvious whice region has been more lucrative for the mob, both past and present.
Just because Tieri had operated outside NY, it doesn't mean he was just going to give Caponigro the gambling and loansharking operation in Jersey. Which, by the way, he ended up getting anyway.
Gravano's comment to Paul was certainly about mob saturation in the construction industry but one of the reasons they had those Commission meetings was to coordinate the racket and make sure everyone got a piece so there was no fighting.
But back to the original question regarding the biggest loansharks in the country. Who else beside Tieri was even identified as the biggest? Nobody in Chicago or anywhere else outside NY. Yet we have you guys floating the names of guys in Chicago based on, well, nothing. At least one can point out the claim against Tieri made by the NYPD. And, considering the Genovese family has long been said to have the biggest gambling and loansharking operations in both NY and the country, it shouldn't be that hard to believe unless you just don't want to believe it.
Again, give me something to believe someone...anyone...in Chicago or elsewhere was the biggest in the country or bigger than Tieri. You can't. All I've seen is examples of there being big loansharks in Chicago and that was never in dispute to begin with.
Also, Marcello was never close to being the biggest mob boss. Not sure where you read that. Comparatively speaking, he was a very small operator to even the smallest NY family.
And while it's hard to say who was bigger between Cali and Medellin - I've seen the same general figures for both - one article said this -
The experts here used to think that the Medellin cartel was bigger in every way than its less flamboyant competitor. But they say it is now clear that the Cali cartel, which controls the markets in New York and Washington, D.C., is much more efficient and may actually ship more cocaine than Medellin.http://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/19/world/the-cali-cartel-colombia-s-smoother-drug-gang.htmlAnother said this -
Today, Cali's worldwide cocaine share is equal to or bigger than Medellin's, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. link By the way, learn to use the edit function rather than making 4 or 5 follow up posts.
