I agree, Don Marco: a Don who dies peacefully in his own bed, a free man, is a Don who was, by definition, more successful than 99% of his colleagues. That's one of the things that separated Frank Costello and Meyer Lansky from Lepke Buchalter and John Gotti.
Gambino was probably the last of the really successful Dons. Iron hand in velvet glove. As you said, the government couldn't touch him--the best they could do was to try to deport him, and he always developed "heart trouble" that kept him from being tried. One bad mark on his record: choosing your avatar over Neil Dellacroce as his successor.

As much as we say Castellano was gonna get eventually whacked because he never really was a street guy and everyone knew Dellacroce should have been Carlos successor. Think what would have actually happened if Dellacroce had taken over as Boss. He was an obvious target for law enforcement. Even the FBI thought he would take over and when Carlo did hand over the reigns Aneillo was incarcerated at the time. At least Castellano had pretty small record (1 robbery charge according to Boss of Bosses) and presented himself as a business man and a racketeer.

Of course it's hard to speculate. We can only go by what we've seen and what we know, not what could have happened.

the topic says greatest gangsters and I think the one who better fits in this description is Charlie Lucky Luciano, but maybe the most succesful were Carlo Gambino or Frank Costello.

Another thing: Turnbull talked about the real mobsters who inspired Vito Corleone and Hyman Roth. another exemple of it IMO is John Gotti as the inspiration of Joey Zasa. does anyone agree with me?

THANK YOU TURI
i hate it when gangsta and gangster are confused.you would not believe how many people i have to explain this to. the mob doesnt kill sombody just to kill them.rapper wanta be's do.rapper wanta be's do something just because its against the law,the mob doesnt

True Sonny, i hate those wannabe rapper gangstas, they piss the shit outta me. but seriously how many ppl in their teens these day try to be the same, as in do shit just cause its against the law. Heaps man.

It has to be a toss up between Carlo Gambino and Tony Accardo of the Chicago Outfit. Im surprised to see nobody picking an Outfit boss other than Capone who was one of the worst mob bosses (fame aside!). Both of these bosses wielded remarkable power throughout te country and were part of a select few that were so highly respected that they were untouchable. Both died peacefully after being mafiosi all their lives.

If by greatest you mean the most successful and smartest, or the one that managed not to get caught, TB would no far better than I.

However, IMHO, just by popularity or most well known, especially to those who are not into the "gangster" era, I would guess Al Capone is the most famous. Most everyone has heard of him.

TIS

I would have to say Meyer Lansky, as he was the brains behind forming the commission and organizing crime. A close runner up in my book is Carlo Gambino. Here is a man who was for many years one of the most powerful men in America and yet they could not lay a finger on him. He died of natural causes at a ripe old age. That alone has to put him up there as one of the greatest gangsters of all time.

Don Cardi

I can agree with Accardo when he mentioned Tony Accardo. But Don Cardi made another good suggestion when he mentioned Meyer Lansky.

Maybe a poll is in order.

Carlo Gambino definately!!!!!

My vote goes to Meyer Lansky. He was probably the most respected wiseguy ever; money talks in the Mob, and Lansky was a genius at making it for himself and his partners. He played a major role in stressing that the Mob should be run like a business and he had about as much clout as anyone else.

A lot of people are voting Lansky but it is my opinion that to be the 'greatest', you have to wield some kind of power over other mafiosi and perhaps even bosses. This Lansky never had. I'm not sure if he even ever killed (or had killed) anyone in his entire career. Even if he had become the first non-Italian boss, nobody would have feared him!

In this regard it would probably be Luciano, Gambino, Lanskey, Costello, Profaci, Marcello, Traficante.

However, if you want to define it as the gangster who most typified the gangster persona, smarts, violence, power, guns a blazing type, I'd put Capone, Genovese, Anastasia, Giancana, Buchalter, Gallo....

I think Capone is the most famous but, not the best. Carlos G. was the best.

Does Columbia drug czar Escobar count? At the height of his power, he controlled 80% of the world's cocaine supply.

the greatest gangsters has to be the luciano,lansky partnership.
with combined efforts they had the best team with people like costello,bugsy,anastasia,etc

Hands down, Carlo Gambino.

Couldn't agree more. Any mafia chieftain who can maintain a low-profle and die of natural causes whilst controlling pretty much all of the most lucrative NY rackeets has to have benn pretty smart.
For me the only other contenders are Lansky, Costello and Tony 'Ducks' Corrallo.

Lucky Luciano!! He is responsable for wacking the Mustache Pete's (masseria, maranzano). He made the commision and MurderInc. After he was deported to Italy, he was there a powerful mafiaboss also. And he maded (in Italy) the Cupola.

After Carlo Gambino, I`d go for Pablo Escobar. On the climax of his life, he was the 7th richest man in the world. His cocaine empire was shocking. He built small, remote-controlled submarines that could carry up to two thousand kilos of Coke from Northern coast of Colombia to the coast of Puerto Rico, where divers would remove the contains, and transport it by speed-boats to Miami. He even bought Boeing 727's, which taking out passengers seats, he would load it with as much as ten thousand kilos per flight. That guy was really the kig-pin Cocaine Pimp. Plus, his wild parties with young girls.

Yes Joey Zasa is based on John Gotti because joey is at the cover of time also. joey is also known a best dressed gangster.
But he also based on Joe Colombo. Joe was also much in the publicity and was also killed on an American-italian holiday/party. He was killed because of the much attention he got, he was killed in order of Gambino

Yes, that's true: Zasa is a combination of Gotti ("best dressed gangster:) and Joe Columbo (Zasa's "Meucci Society" is an analog of Columbo's "Italian-American Civil Rights League").

I dont know anything about Escobar. I want to know more Could you give me a site?

I dont know anything about Escobar. I want to know more Could you give me a site? [/b][/quote]Just go to google.com and type "Pablo Escobar". There's lots of sites on his biography.

someone please help me, first off id like to say that, no tupac was not a gangster, he was a gangsta. there is a difference. second, i have a friend who went to chicago and is now convinced that chicago is and always was the best city for organized crime. and he is also convinced that al capone was the best gangster and mobster. pleeease someone help me convince him that neither one of these things are true and that new york had the best organized crime. thank you

Tony Accardo or Carlo Gambino hands down. It would have been interesting to see Accardo as a NY boss competing with Gambino for leadership and the posistion of Boss of Bosses in NY's 5 families.

I THINK THE GREATEST GANGSTER OF ALL TIME HAS TO BE CARLO GAMBINO HE NEVER BE TO JAIL and he died happy I think.