Who was the greatest Don?

From a Mafia point of veiw, who do you think was the greatest Boss/Don in Mob history?

I'd say Carlo gambino was. I mean he ran the crime family for 20 years and avoided any significant jailtime. He also was the boss of bosses at a time when the mafia was in full force. He was probably one of the smartest dons ever. Also Santo Trafficante was another guy who ran his thing in Florida without drawing much attention

Don Corleone

As good as Gambino, Accardo and Trafficante were I think the obvious answer Is John Stanfa. Time after time Stanfa showed his brilliance and acuity. He was clearly in a league of his own when it came to out foxing his enemies and law enforcement. I kid I kid.

Seriously though, I agree with Gambino and Trafficante but believe Tony Accardo deserves mention too. He lead the Outfit for decades and never spent a day in jail.

I'm not sure exactly what year Accardo became the official boss but I believe it was some time in the mid to late forties and he had the final say on all Outfit business until his death in 1992. Even when Accardo took himself down and made himself the "consigliere" giving the title of boss to Giancanna and later to Joey "Doves" Aiuppa, I think everyone would agree that Accardo was the one with the most power and influence and had the final say.

Do Ho. (His racket was prostitution, thus his name).

i always thought angelo bruno was a great don. not the greatest but he knew how to keep things quiet smooth.

The greatest boss in NY was probably The Chin. He came at a time when the FBI was really going for the jugular of LCN and he still managed to run his ship relatively smoothly. Very few rats and the cases against them were usually weak. The Chin, due to his cunning ways and clever thinking, was able to stay on the street for sixteen years as boss and he did it at a time when it was virtually impossible to do so.

Outside NY, I would say it's a tie between Accardo and Trafficante. Relatively no jail time and they were able to remain powerful till the end.

Let's see here.

Frank DeSimone
Cola Schiro
Agree on Stanfa
Joseph Pinzolo whose only known orders were 'give me whores Joe Valachi'

Just kidding. After reading The Valachi Papers, I feel Salvatore Maranzano never got enough credit. He was educated and invented the hierarchy that has allowed Cosa Nostra to live past any other American crime syndicates. Furthermore, his moves against Masseria were calculating and efficient, true to his businessman nature - he made a smart move taking out only the chief confidantes to Masseria, the war was over fast!

Old man Gambino would be my pick

Tommy Lucchese deserves a mention too.

THe Chin gets a consolation prize because as Vinny said he was a boss when it wasnt really a good time to be a boss

The greatest Don ever.

Can anyone give some information regarding the relationship between Carlo Gambino And Joe Profaci I hear that Profaci helped Gambino Along early in his Carrear only to be stabbed in the back when gambino and Luchese told him to step down in 62 this is I think a prime example of Gambino`s treacherous nature and how wouldnt think twice about and he was more than willing to fck over men who had helped him greatly in his career because of his treacherous nature can anyone add some info on this I`m curious to know.

For my money it's either Tommy Lucchese or Frank Costello.

Cascio Ferro
Meyer Lansky(On top of everything else he ran a big gambling empire in havana and was untouchable I give him Don status)
Joe Bonanno
Joe Profaci
Carlo gambino

Frank Costello was a great businessman, bot I'm not sure if he was in fact also a good crime boss. You need more than brains for that.

Joe Bonanno sat on the top for over 30 years, that says something.. For the rest, the obvious ones, Luciano, Accardo, Gambino, Gigante..

I won't name Santo Trafficate. While he could very well have been a capable leader, he was never tested to run a very large criminal organization like the ones in New York or Chicago.

Can't disagree with Gambino and Accardo. But my vote goes to Charlie Luciano, the founding father of the modern American Mafia. He got rid of the Moustache Petes (Masseria and Maranzano), founded the Commission, and accepted partnership from non-Sicilians and even non-Italians, if they had something to contribute.

I take back what I said initially. The greatest don was probably Barney Fife. A lot of people don't know this, but it was Barney who really ran the Genovese family between 1931 and 1984. He is not to be mistaken for Barney Bellomo. That guy is a nobody.

That's bull and you know it. Everybody knows Barney Five was an actor, stop using dope.

What most people don't know however is that is was in fact Guarino "Willie" Moretti who ran the Genovese family at least since Lucky was sent to the can. That's right, he faked his disease and death. It was actually his twin brother who was killed who was hidden behind an iron mask in some basement for most of his life. Costello and Genovese were in fact his proxies until he handed over power to Gigante somewhere in the 1970s. From whom do you think Gigante got his act? Make an educated guess...

Carlos Marcello

3 decades as boss, Illegal immigrant who managed to stay in this country (even after deported) despite his known status. Never convicted, no attempts on his life that I can think of, never did hard time and died of natural causes.

Lets not forget if he did have something to do with JFK and got away with that it really puts him over the top.

Accardo

You're talking about a different guy. I'm talking about Barney FIFE..Not Barney FiVe! Barney Fife was a ruthless gangster, who during the day, worked as deputy sheriff in the sleepy, slow paced southern community of Mayberry, North Carolina.

Barney FiVe was an actor, that's true. He was great in Critters 2. If I'm not mistaken, he played 'boy with yo-yo'.

also the financiers like Alfonso Caruana, Nicolo Rizzuto, Vito rizzuto, Vic Cotroni, Jack Tocco

Its gotta be Charles 'Lucky' Luciano....other notable mentions would include Carlo 'The Godfather' Gambino, Santo Trafficante Jr., Vinny 'The Chin' Gigante, Salvatore Riina, Nicodemo 'Little Nicky' Scarfo, Tony Accardo, Angelo 'The Gentle Don' Bruno....

*NOTE* Salvatore Riina operated on Sicily as u guys know...i just had doubts whether i could include sicilian mobsters too....

Hmmmmm. While I agree that Charlie Lucky was indeed an entrepreneur in the underworld who, as you correctly point out, 'modernized' the mafia and organized a board of directors, if you will, that incorporated not only mafia leaders from around the country but also non Sicilians and non Italians, I have to respectfully disagree with you about his being the GREATEST Don..

My vote goes to Carlo Gambino. Don Carlo was able to stay waaaayyy under the radar not only during his rise in the underworld , but more importantly throughout his entire Donship. He ruled with an iron fist....spoke softly but carried a big stick. Don Carlo was able to seperate himself from ever being directly tied in with an order that he may have given out....made sure that he had a lot of buffers in his chain of command.

No question that Luciano was the Bill Gates of the mob who had the ability to partner up with a genius like Meyer Lansky and construct a 'corportion' of sorts. But to me what makes Luciano fall short of being the GREATEST Don is the fact that he liked to live the lavish life which eventually contributed histo his demise.

In my humble opinion if not for Lansky, Charlie Lucky wouldn't have ever risen to the position that he did.

Fuhgeddaboudit, youse two. My vote stays with Don Ho.

Could either Luciano or Gambino sing "Tiny Bubbles"?

DON CORRADO HO

NEW YORK — A woman accused of pimping for the Ho crime family has been sentenced to nine months of house arrest. She apologized to the court Friday before a Manhattan judge decided her fate. The 40-year-old was among 14 suspects arrested last year on charges they ran a prostitution ring for notorious mob boss Don Corrado Ho.


Ho was exposed SC....Don Carlo never was...So I just don't agree with you about Ho being the greatest Don!

I wonder this sometimes too. And the same counts for Costello. Luciano and Costello were more "business men" than crime bosses.

For a real "Don" type I would rather go for guys like Gambino, Gigante, etc. Guys like that would probably not risen high in the legitimate world as they were born to be gangsters.

My votes go to Accardo, Gambino, Lucchese and Costello.

All died in their own beds, did no or little time, made a mint and corrupted politicians and the justice system. I think each would be described as a criminal genius.

I am surprised you include Scarfo on this list. I would rate him as one of the worst. He was paranoid and always killing someone. He almost destroyed the Philly Mob.

Just curious, but I do not see any greatness there.

Marcello does deserve mention. I think he did about 6-7 years but I guess for a wiseguy that's not "hard time". What would you guys consider "hard time"? 10+ years? 15 years?

I'm not talking about an average guy but "hard time" in terms of what a wiseguy would consider "hard time". Apparently Frankie Coppa considered 2 years hard time and burst into tears in front of all the inmates.

I find myself in general agreement with Don Cardi's post, above, regarding Carlo Gambino being the "greatest" Mafia Don. He managed to insulate himself amazingly well, and certainly lived to a ripe old age - not something common in his line of work. So Gambino gets my vote as the Number One Greatest Don.

However, my vote for Number Two would have to be:

That's right, Don Martin. One look at him, and you realize immediately where Vinny "The Chin" Gigante learned all he knew about acting "Mad." He had an excellent teacher, one who really managed to fly under the radar for a great many years and remained virtually unnoticed by the Feds.

Signor V.

As far as greatest Don goes, if you're not talking Accardo or Gambino, you shouldn't be talking.

Accardo is my pick, ruled with an iron fist for decades. Even when he wasn't boss he controlled whoever he put as boss, and as MoMo found out...

Don't be stupid. Don Martin was nothing more than a karbunkle on the Mob's ass.

Nicky sure killed a lot, but he inspired real terror in the hearts of his rivals. Thats one way of measuring a man's greatness IMO.

I agree with a lot of the people who say Accardo and Gambino. I'm kind of torn between which one takes the cake though. On the one hand, Accardo ruled for a much longer period of time. On the other hand, the New York families (at least the big three) were on a whole other level of organization and discipline compared to the Outfit. Being the boss of one of the New York families somehow seems like a greater accomplishment.

Another guy that I would consider to be in the top 5 is Stefano Magaddino. He was a big shot in New York in the early 1920s, and then ran things in Buffalo for something like 45 years. I don't think any boss except Accardo has controlled his turf for so long.

I'm not surprised many people name Carlo Gambino and I know why people put him there. However, he was seen as a weak man in the eyes of many in that world. "A squirrel of a man" as Joe Bonanno put it and many seemed to echo that. One of them being John Gotti who was overheard on tape calling him a "rat motherfucker". Then he certainly didn't help his legacy by picking Paul Castellano as his successor, one of the worst decisions a Cosa Nostra boss has ever made. Gambino was surely an intelligent man, but he was far from being tough. He was the type of guy who needed to hide behind his guys. Yes, he did isolate himself and he's one of the very few bosses who truly succeeded in the world of organized crime. However, that alone is not enough to make him a great Cosa Nostra boss.

I think when you are talking about the greatest of all time, you have to take in all factors. Such as Length of term, family stability, the scope of the families power and influence, how and where said Don died, and also how he was , his mannerisms and personality.

Being considered weak in the world of Cosa Nostra is very damaging to me. You can consider every single factor and it still doesn't erase this fact. It's a serious issue. To me, Carlo Gambino was pretty sad and pathetic. I'm sorry, that's just how I see him.

Gambino was an anomaly in LCN the exception to the rule and I heard he really fck`d Profaci who was in the 20`s a very influencial man and he gave his approvavol to gambino then in `62 gambino tells him to step down and supports the Gallo faction. He was treacherous as they get gambino.