Mobsters sold illegal alcohol years after prohibition was over. As a way around the tax on liquor and other things. I thought this was common knowledge. Guess not.

Castellano was acting boss for Carlo as far back as the early seventies, possibly earlier. This is stated in the Boss Of Bosses book, which is no way linked to that film other than it's name and whom it pertains to, written by the agents whom we're investigating him for the Commission case, I believe. He was at one point a very successful loanshark, with a lot of money on the street and never seemed to have trouble getting his money back.

Another interesting thing mentioned in the book, is that Carlo desired for the Gambinos to be more of a white collar crime family. Thats what he wanted it to become, and he placed the guy who was more suitable to see his desire come into fruition and who was more capable. That guy was Paul Castellano, not Neil Dellacroce. We always hear the "he rode his coat tails, Carlo wanted the crime family kept within his own blood relations..." narrative. But is it not possible that he simply wanted his syndicate to go another direction and become something more, and again, he left the guy who was more capable in white collar criminal matters, in charge?