Most powerful soldier

Who do u think was the most powerful soldier the mob has ever had ?? In terms of wealth and actual power , Ralph scopo must have been pretty powerful dealing with the bosses of the 4 families wen they ran the concrete club

That's a good question, Dom. But it's probably too tricky to answer because of the acting captain position. Because a soldier who's acting as a skipper is obviously going to carry more weight than a run-of-the-mill-soldier. But they're both technically still soldiers, so . . . .

It's also pretty broad. I mean, in the history of the American mob, there have literally been thousands of soldiers. Hard to narrow it down to one .

Good point well put pal , yeah obviously the most powerful and wealthy soldiers get promoted to acting captain wen the official captain is indesposed for any reason

What about the scopo's from the columbo fam, Louie D'Napoli from the westside.

Tony Pro

Roy dimeo made decent loot and because of being such a lunatic, he held some street cred. Louis Dibono was close to Castellano without ever being bumped to capo I believe. And what about Ralph Natales meteoric rise from newly made soldier to boss in one making ceremony! Obviously that's a joke

Not sure if Louie's the best example because his brother Vinny, rest in peace, was such a powerhouse. And that's where a lot of his juice came from. And the fact that Joey is so heavy with the Lukes didn't hurt him, either .

And it's good to see you posting again, SgWaue86 .

Tony Spilotro soldati ran Las Vegas

Yeah that was the reason he came to mind, and thanks its good to be here. I would think the union and semi-legit guys who were made but havent really persued the "status" would probably be pretty powerful.

Who would be the most powerful soldier on the street today? Or at least who would have the most potential power down the line?

I would have to say gambino soldier richard martino has to be up there

In terms of wealth, easily. Doubt any mobster alive has anywhere near as much cash as him after the porn scam. He's out this year i think and will take over as skipper from Andy Campos.

He's home in August. Time will tell, but I think he's heading south .

Good on him if he does, he's made his money and done 10 years. Don't think cefalu will be too happy about it though

Money talks, bullshit walks. Tore was able to ransom his way to Florida, his goombah should be able to do likewise.

But like I said, who knows? Time, and time alone, will tell .

I have to say I kinda admire the ingenuity that went into that porn scam. If one could reach "master level" in organized crime, that was it

Yeah I get that, thing is that would be the two top guys (who are tremendous earners) from that crew retiring, is Campos a capable leader? and who else is in that crew?

I just realized when I saw another thread that Sal Avellino was an extremely powerful soldier in the 1980s. He was very close to Corallo, drove him around etc. And by the judge of those tapes recorded in his Jag, he def had Corallo´s ears.

Any soldier who was/is close to the boss would be extremely powerful, I guess.

Agreed hairy

political power i would guess Pat Marcy...?

Without a doubt

This is a perfect example of why the mafia is dying. These younger capable guys make their money and retire. In the old says they were gangsters till the day they died. Some guys would semi retire at 70 or so but not 45 or 50. I don't blame them though because the laws are much tougher and prisons much harsher.

Exactly. This isn't Carlo Gambino's Mafia anymore. But neither is it Carlo Gambino's time, either.

The truth is, if they had RICO, and DNA testing, and CSI teams, and superior electronic surveillance, fifty years ago, there's no telling if those guys would have all stood tall.

Now I'm not at all implying that guys like Gambino or Costello or any of the other "legends" would have folded up. But some of their underlings would have. The American mob isn't just falling apart because today's guys are softer (and they certainly ARE softer). The American mob has changed because the laws have finally caught up to the technology.

Exactly wot I've said all along , bak wen gambino and accardo were bosses there was no Rico , no stiff sentences for drug dealing and no rats because of this . The Feds covered up the fact there was even a mafia , I think the likes of accardo and gambino would have spent a lot more time behind bars if the Feds had today's technology

can we stay on the subject please? and i really dont get the sense of figuring out every time (why the mafia is 'dyin') what we ALREADY all know.

Fear is power!! Money is power!!! No one had both as much a Roy Demeo

He's almost in a class of his own.

Tony Provenzano, Lenny Strollo.

Tony Pro was a skipper. I thought this thread was specific to soldiers?

Because if we're counting captains, that changes everything. Big time.

Was he a capo? I thought so too, then I was told that in the indictments he is listed as a soldier, and it was the media that made him a capo. I am not sure who said that, maybe somebody on the Black Hand forum.

I don't know about indictments or what his FBI file says, Dwalin. I don't really read that stuff. But I'm quite certain that he was a captain .

I didn't think he had his own crew under him. I thought he was just big with the Teamsters. Maybe somebody direct with a boss without his own crew of made guys working under him but still with more power than a "normal" soldier. I know his brother Nunzio was also made.

If we're going by official documents, we're not likely to get a cut and dry answer because the guy has been dead for twenty five years. And when you couple that with the fact that he was in such a secretive family to begin with, you're never going to get a straight answer.

But just going by the people I knew who were around during his era, they all referred to him---to a man---as a skipper. But everyone is free to draw their own conclusion .

Sounds good to me. I respect your opinion as much as any government documents.

That's a compliment btw

Right back at ya, Snakes .

I don't know how guys like you and Ivy and Hairy do it. I'd NEVER have the patience to go through all of those documents, make spreadsheets, etc.

You guys are a lot smarter than I am. I'm just getting old, so I've picked up a few things. I think the eggheads call it wisdom or something like that .

MikeyO is gonna have a field day with this one.

Here come the bald jokes .

Hey, at least I have the balls to shave it clean, though. My daughters made me do it years ago. They told me the scraps were a desperate attempt to hold on to the '70s .

Your daughters did you a favor, believe me.

he wound up being a skipper

Of course Sal was powerful. He controlled the waste disposal business in Long Island. He even crossed over into the mainstream with the Mobro 4000 scandal.

http://books.google.ie/books?id=IKVWTsi5...fer&f=false

Sal was supposedly the brains and brother Carmine was the brawn according to Al D'Arco.

Nothing new, Moe. Sal had a white collar reputation before it became fashionable .

He was in the wrong family. Paul Castellano would have loved this guy. All being said, he's a lucky boy. He served very little time in prison in proportion to his crimes.

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/the-mobro-4000

More on the Mobro 4000 scandal and Avellino's involvement in it.

Nicky corrozo when he was a soldier

I agree sgwaue86 louie napoli had serious power. I dont think he got made until he was 50 something