The Smartest?...The Dumbest?

In your opinion, who were the five smartest mobsters in U.S. history? And by the same token, who were the five dumbest mobsters in U.S. history?…thoughts, viewpoints?

The smartest mob guy has to come from Chicago. They by far have the fewest rats of any family and many more men who lived free lives conducting business than in a prison cell.

I say Albie Vena may in fact be the smartest boss who has ever walked the streets.

in no particular order, FRANK COSTELLO, CARLO GAMBINO, TONY ACCARDO, TOMMY LUCCHESE, and JACK TOCCO.

IMO, Faffy, these are 5 excellent choices for the smartest.

But who would be your 5 choices for the dumbest? Lol

Smartest: Accardo, Gambino, Costello, Joe Bonnano, and have to go Lucky as my last

Dumbest: John Gotti, Gaspipe (not sure if he counts, but certainly fits the dumb bill), Joey Massino, Carmine Persico, and I hate to use another Gotti but Pete Gotti. I believe he was legitimately mentally deficient.

Another set of good choices. IMO, the 5 you listed as the smartest gotta be in the running. And the 5 you picked as the dumbest also fit the bill nicely.

Rush, you named Vena. Now give us another 4 of who you rank as the smartest. Then list the 5, who in your view, were the dumbest, ok.

the dumbest ????? far too many to choose from.take your pick's

LOL....true! I can't argue with you there.

The dumbest John Tronolone of Cleveland.

In 1989, Tronolone became the only Mafia boss to have the distinction of being arrested in a hand-to-hand undercover transaction by local law enforcement. He accepted allegedly stolen jewelry from Lt. Dave Green, an undercover Broward County deputy in exchange for bookmaking and loan sharking debts. Green was forced to wear a disguise because Tronolone knew his real identity.

. Very True lol

I’ll go Luciano, gambino, gagliano, costello and I will say Benny Lombardo as I think something happened in the Genovese family after Vito and assuming Lombardo was the boss for that time period I think that boss set them up for how elusive they are today. I generally picked bosses who navigated crazy times and largely came away unscathed both from the law and the street. Impressive feat

Dumbest decisions that come to mind: gotti/gravano/decicco killing Paul, Genovese trying to kill Costello, Joe bonanno releasing a book telling the fbi how things worked, Joe Colombo starting a political movement and being a producer on the godfather, Michael mancuso attacking shelved members at a funeral. Most of these are smart people doing stupid things but in the grand scheme completely idiotic in the history of the mob.

5 of the dumbest moves in Mafia history https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/5-of-the-dumbest-moves-in-mafia-history

Pretty good list. I concur with most you listed.

Rush, I'm not trying to be a prick, but just for conversation purposes, could you elaborate more on choosing Albie Vena? I don't want to speak for the entire forum, but I can almost guarantee you that nobody had Albie Vena on their bingo card for this. Again, I'm simply asking out of curiosity.

LOL I was being sarcastic.

On the other hand, Albie is a smart boss. I mean look at him, he has never done serious time after all these years. Its amazing really.

Nicely put, BT.

I respect everybody's opinion, and we are all entitled to pick whom we feel is best suited for this. But, IMPO, Vena couldn't shine the shoes of the men I'm thinking of (and those of the men who other posters have listed here in this thread.)

AMONG THE SMARTEST —- I could name hundreds of fellas, both well-known and little-known, (from a variety of cities) who fall into this category. But here’s a very short, quick list off the top of my head;

New York, NY
Salvatore (Charlie Lucky) Lucania - because he was the architect
Francesco (Frank Costello) Castiglia
Giuseppe (Joe Adonis) Doto
Gerardo (Jerry) Catena
Gaetano (Toddo Marino) Maiorano

NY’s Jewish Mob:
Meyer (The Little Man) Lansky
Benjamin (Benny) Levine
Samuel (Sammy the Jew) Jacobson

NY's Irish Mob:
Edward (Eddie) McGrath

Carlo (Don Carlo) Gambino
Paolo (Paul) Gambino
Ettore (Terry) Zappi
Joseph N. Gallo

Giuseppe (Joe) Profaci
Giuseppe (Joe Malyok) Magliocco
Enrico (Harry) Fontana

Gaetano (Tommy) Gagliano
Gaetano (Tommy Brown) Lucchese
Joseph (Joe Palisades) Rosato
Joseph (Joey Narrow) Laratro

Giuseppe (Joe Bananas) Bonanno
Francesco (Frankie Carroll) Garofalo
—
Tampa, FL
Santo Trafficante Jr.

Chicago, IL
Felice (Paul the Waiter) DeLucia
Anthony (Joe Batters) Accordo

Detroit, MI
Joseph (Joe Z) Zerilli
Guglielmo (Black Bill) Tocco

Kansas City, MO
Giuseppe (Joe) Cusumano
Guiseppe (Joe) Filardo

San Francisco, CA
James (Jimmy the Hat) Lanza

—
AMONG THE DUMBEST —- Basically the “dumbest” list is never ending. But off the top of my head;

John Gotti Sr.
Salvatore (Sammy) Gravano
Vittorio (Little Vic) Amuso
Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso
Carmine (The Snake) Persico
Alphonse (Allie Boy) Persico
Gennaro (Jerry Lang) Langella
John (Sonny) Franzese
Nicodemo (Little Nicky) Scarfo
Carmine (Lilo) Galante
Philip (Rusty) Rastelli
Joseph (Fat Joey) Massino
Samuel (Mooney) Giancana
etc., etc., etc.

Note: My criteria in determining the winners from the losers is quite simple; 1) Did you made a lot of money in your chosen "profession" ? 2) Did you better your life, and that of your family, by setting them up with generational wealth, gave them an education, and elevated future generations for a better life? 3) Were you able to avoid serving prison time, or, in the alternative, served very little time behind bars? 4) Were you able to enjoy your wealth and did you die in your own bed with your shoes off?

One more I forget, Sebastian (John) LaRocca - Pittsburgh, PA

A lot of guys are both smart and dumb. John Gotti and Sonny Franzese could both be incredibly street savvy, but they were also reckless like a motherfucker. Ego has a way of taking over

Smart guys: My vote goes to Jerry Catena (for the Italians) and Moe Dalitz (for the Jews). Lansky was another genius of course, but Dalitz could show his millions

Theories have long circulated about Jews' talent for numbers, even without any education.

Genetically, those guys are blessed

Google boy !!!

Mob guys, just like regular folks, can often be a dichotomy.

One of the Top mafiosi in Palermo is a surgeon.

This is so true. The Mafia has had doctors, lawyers, architects, clergymen, politicians, etc., etc., in their ranks through the years.

Yes it is alleged that even Andreotti was a made member.

Since 1945 he sat in the Italian parliament. He participated in 33 governments, serving as Prime Minister seven times.

I would not be surprised to find out that he was.

Another was a top Sicilian-based politician named Bernardo Mattarella. He was born in the seaside town of Castellammare del Golfo, and was a boyhood friend and classmate of Joe Bonanno and other Castellammarese-born mafiosi who later immigrated to America. In fact, when Joe Bonanno made a trip to Sicily many years later, Mattarella made it his business to actually meet Bonanno on the tarmac and welcome his old friend back home as Joe and his entourage stepped off the plane.

Although never officially proven, Mattarella was always widely believed to be a fully "initiated" member of the historic Castellammarese Mafia clan.

Yep his son Sergio Mattarella is the current President of Italy haha..

Exactly!! lol

The Mafia in Italy is super powerful simply because they have all the top government positions as well. I firmly believe they make a bust here and there of certain mafiosi just to keep things running corruptly.

Am I right or what?

I'd say that partially true and partially false. In Italy more so than the U.S., but even in Italy/Sicily today its becoming a much different ballgame.

The dumbest are probably the ones who keep shamelessly bumping up their threads to keep their name going !!!

Another fellow who I think doesn't get enough credit for brains was Utica, New York's Salvatore Falcone.

He seems to have essentially been the overall "boss" of that section of New York States for many years with little interruption from law enforcement. With the one exception of when he and his brother Joe were arrested during the Prohibition Era, along with 40 or 50 of their men, he remained largely unscathed throughout his life and career.

And he was sharp enough, that by the 1940s he removed himself entirely from NYS, "semi-retiring" down to Miami, Florida where he lived quietly and successfully operated a wholesale/retail food supply firm for the rest of his days, leaving his brother at the helm as the new "capo" of Utica.

It is still believed that Sal remained as the overall leader, receiving his monthly stipend and available for consultation and council as required. He remained in the background and never got his hands dirty in the rackets. Yet, by all accounts he still seemed to live quite nicely so he must have stashed a wheelbarrow of money over the years.

The only ripple came in November, 1957 after the Apalachin Meeting. But even that, ultimately, didn't affect him.

IMO, Salvatore Falcone was a very sharp fellow.

Another sharp guy IMO was Giovanni (John) Tartamella, who served as an important capo, and later, as the consigliere to boss Joe Bonanno. Throughout all his years as a mafioso, Tartamella, as best as can be determined, had no police record to speak of (or a minor one, at best, that was dismissed and buried.) Yet, he operated almost uninterrupted in labor union rackets for over fifty years as one of Bonanno's closest aides and advisors.

That to me, is called success.