I couldn't agree more Oak, In my opinion Marcello is one of the most obscure but immensely powerful godfathers in the entire history of the Mob. The amount of territory he controlled was huge. We're talking Louisiana, Mississippi and significant parts of Texas and Alabama.
He is.... but how did his empire just 'crumble' after his death. I mean going from one of the preeminent members of LCN hierarchy to zilch in a few years? Weird.
One of the thoughts on that is apparently Marcello never opened the books. I've only come across one name of a guy that was made during his time. By the time Marcello died in '93 all the "young" guys were pushing towards their 60's or so. From the little I've found even after his death there were'nt a whole lotta guys brought into it. After Marcello kicked off things seemed to be so bad that the new boss, Anthony Carollo, asked the Genovese and Gambino's to take part in a video poker skimming scam which they got busted on, further screwing things up. Estimates I've heard on things as they stand right now, as little as 6 made guys up to a dozen or so. Good info on'em is hard to come by but it definitely ain't what it used to be.
