I could agree with you that they might not be ahead of the likes of the Colombo's or the Bonnanos, but they're definitely right behind those two (certainly not on the level of the other three NY families), and they're arguably the strongest of all of the LCN families outside of the five NY families. Yes, they were basically the equivalent to a major street gang during the mid-to-late 90s when Merlino and his guys inherited a decimated Crime Family. However, since Ligambi stabilized the Family they've been gaining tremendous strength. Just with sheer numbers, since 2010-2012, you've seen a ton of guys come out of the can between Scarfo guys and Merlino guys, which has not only replenished numbers, but a number of those guys are very "capable guys" who in the past 7-8 years have been rebuilding and rebuilt that family in earnest. I know for a fact that they're presence in South Philly and beyond (Center City, NorthEast Philly, South Jersey/AC, and even North Jersey, and Florida, etc) is much more significant. They've come a long ways since the 90s and much more low-key and worried more about building the Family and making money on the down-low, as opposed to being in the paper and what not. To the point that everyone, including the Feds are having trouble figuring out the heirarchy let alone who the boss is. The sheer fact that they've got a bunch of stuff going on with the Genovese Family alone should lend creedence to the fact that they are once again a strong and capable LCN family capable of doing things. I don't think the Genovese would have touched Merlino and the Philly Family with a 10 foot pole in the 90s, but now you see them emersed in Gambling, Loan Sharking, major-Healthcare Fraud, Garbage/Recycling/landfills, Construction, etc, and possible more since that's all we know about now at this point with the Genovese, Gambinos, Lucheses, and Bonnanos. And on top of all of the made guys that have gotten out of prison, they've been making people (we already know about once ceremony where five people were made supposedly and there could have been other ceremonies that we don't even know about). As Dave Fritchey (ex-OC Strike Force Prosecutor in Philly) put it, people aren't striving to be made into or to join a weak organization that isn't making money or let alone isn't active. Finally, the other thing about Philly is, while they only typically have anywhere from 30-60 made guys typically, they have and have always had a TON of associates. They probably have, if I had to guess, anywhere from ~1,000-2,000 associates if you're including NJ/PA/DE/MD/FL and anywhere else that they have stuff going on so you have to take that into account, and the Philly Family has always been that way even going back to their "Golden era" when Bruno was in charge back in the 50s/60s/70' and even early 80s. Bruno always preferred to keep the Family very small in terms of made members while keeping an abundnace of active Associates, which was one reason, albeit it a small reason, for his downfall since he wasn't letting new, younger blood into the family. For all of the admiration that I have for Bruno, I always thought that this was one of his negatives points because while keeping the Family small was good for him and the other made guys that were in the Family already (for the most part) as it kept the money between as few made guys as possible translating to more money (in theory) for Bruno and the Family, it also wasn't in the best interest of the Family in the long run because once guys started getting older and dying off (for natural and unnatural reasons), there wasn't anyone capable and groomed in the Family to move and take their places. This was actually one of Scarfo's positives as he realized that he needed to replenish the ranks and get new and young blood in the Family or else the Family would die off once the impending Government pressure inevitably took much of the Family off of the streets. Now you could also argue he did it for selfish reasons in that he wanted people loyal to him and only him, but I also truly believe he had the long-term vision knowing that Family would only survive with new and young blood. Say what you want about Scarfo, but you can argue that he truly did care about LCN and the Family and felt that it was his duty to ensure that the Family was viable into the future well past his "time". I've even heard that was the reason that he made young guys like Salvi, the Pungitores, Milanos, Narduccis, etc, but didn't bring along other younger guys like Thin Joey Merlino, all of the Changs, the young Iannece brothers, Borgesi, etc (like keeping a bullpen almost). And while it sort of backfired on him in a sense (to his own fault though you could argue), regardless, it basically saved the Family considering if the other young guys (Merlino's group listed above and others) had been made or even just simply brought into the fray doing big time rackets then they would have been indicted with Scarfo and everyone else and then where would we be today? Certainly you can argue that Stanfa would have had a much longer and prosperous run, but assuming that eventually Stanfa and his guys would have eventually been brought down in the late 90s instead of '94, then who would have taken over the Family to fill that void? Stanfa probably would have been taken down around '95-'96 anyways as he was killing people left and right unrelated to the Merlino War and the Feds already had him on a ton a stuff unrelated to the Merlino War with the Avena Law Firm Bug and Previte ratting and other bugged hangouts, the Merlino War just sped things up a bit. But regardless, it wasn't a matter of if, but when Stanfa was going to be brought down and I can't think of too many people that would have been qualified and capable enough to take over that Family after he went away. Say what you will about Merlino and the Young Turks in the 90's, but they were essentially taking over a major Family with minimal experience so of course they're not going to take an already decimiated Family to the next level, but they kept it going and lived to play another day, which is the present, and in my opinion is now one of, if not the MOST powerful LCN Family outside of New York's Five Families as discussed above in the beginning of my post. Anyways, sorry for the novel that I just posted, but I sort of went on a roll and kept having ideas/thoughts so I just let it rip. Would appreciate any comments/feedback (positive/negative, agree/disagree) to my post!