One, after Costello took the L at the Keafauver thing, his wings were really clipped; His power WAS his political connections, once he got the bad press, Luchesse had the edge on Tammany Hall. Its Like look at Gotti; he cant become boss without Frank DeCicco setting it up, same with Lucky and Luchesse, Luchesse coulda just let him die. And it IS an example of power, information in that life is everything, without it is Lucky is dead. Also with Luchesse competing with Costello, he and Genovese become close; Now tommy is already a BOSS, Vito needed Luchesse to back him on the Commision, Carlo needs Luchesse to back HIM on the Commision, and Luchesse needs BOTH OF THESE GUYS TO TAKE OVER THIER FAMILIES SO TEHY HAVE AN EQUAL VOTING BLOCK ON THE COMMISION. Lucheese, to me at least is the key guy in all of this. What did Tommy say? Luchesse was the gangster... And Carlo was cunning, but I dont think he coulda won a war without Luchesse, y he sued for peace once Luchesse started slowing down..

He could've let him die. Maranzano would've remained boss, there wouldnt of been a commission and Lucchese wouldve been passed over in favor of Joe Bonanno due to his closeness to Maranzano, something Lucchese didnt have. Its not an example of power, and at the same time while you say "without Lucchese Luciano wouldnt of became boss", at the same time without Luciano, the American Mafia would've went a totally different route throughout history.

Lucchese also probably wouldnt of lived very long, because Bonanno, who had Maranzanos ear and tugged on his coattails wasnt at all fond of Lucchese. You think Maranzano would've just stopped at Luciano? Ask yourself what Lucchese would've stood to gain from ratting out Maranzanono to Luciano, why didn't he just keep his mouth shut if the definitive explanation is the result would have been so positive for Lucchese? The fact that Maranzano was threatened by Luciano, to the point where he supposedly had his name at the top of a hit list, after Luciano got rid of Masseria and effectively became the head of that family, I think shows who was more influential and powerful of the two at that time (Luciano & Lucchese).

You've given Luciano way too much discredit these last few threads. He didnt invent the Five Families, he wasnt this supreme being. But at the same time, he was already ahead a lot of his counterparts and didnt NEED Lucchese or anyone else other than his immediate allies to get as far as he did prior to Maranzano's death.

So Vito has Tommy ryan as acting boss for NYC but still takes orders from Jerry c who has the final say and Mike m whose consig. Tommy Ryan had a office in Boston there's a convo between Jerry a and Ray p who say he the acting boss they liked him. He also set up tony stroller. Lot of s

I used to feel the same way, until I really started looking at things; I used to think Luciano was the biggest bootlegger, then I read George Remus was the "King of Bootleggers". I'm like okay... I read An estimate that said Luckys outfit grossed 12 million a year in 1925, right? Then I read at that same time period the Outfit was estimated to be grossing 105 million dollars a year? Isnt that crazy?
But I get your point on Luciano, thing is I kinda feel the same about Capone, like the myth is bigger than the man. And yeah Luchesse maybe dies if he rats out Lucky, but consider;
A lot of Bonnanos animosity towards Luchesse stemmed from the fact he knew he set up Maranzano. Now Lucky KILLED Maranzano, and Bonnano made a deal in five minutes, my understanding was that HE started to chafe under Maranzanos dictatorial style as well.
And the Riena outfit was an early defector towards Maranzano, I think he was confidant in their subservience, which can be dangerous...

The lion and the fox. - Nicolo Machiavelli

This is great, thanks for sharing Ivy. This makes me think of something. Would it be of interest if we start a library of this type of information (e.g., FBI files, FOIA stuff) for the site?

Lucky wasn't a boss in 1925 though so you can't compare what Lucky did vs what the entire Torrio outfit did at the time. It would be better to compare the outfits top crew vs luckys operation.

Just read all of the links brilliant read. Can anyone post anymore?