every criminal has a family and everyday problems

I don't think they met at a restaurant to talk about their grandchildren

Chicago - what is your opinion on Aiuppa?

The Cicero / Berwyn crew and Murray Humphries dealt with the southern Illinois / East St Louis crew that Buster Wortman and Art Berne ran. My uncle booked over there and at Fairmont, and met Auippa a couple times. He said he was an idiot and did not trust him.

My uncle claimed that on a few occasions when they went up to Chicago to discuss strategic decisions, Auippa made the wrong decision. An example is that Auippa supported Ray Flynn and the Syrian / Lebanese group that took out Jimmy Michaels (over the St Louis Italian LCN) to grab control of one of the key unions down in St. Louis. That pretty much led to a war that caused Jesse Stoneking to flip, who put almost all of the East St Louis Outfit guys in the can, and bunch of St Louis guys in the can.

Tony G, Really? Auippa supported another group other than the St. Louis Mafia Group? I had never heard that story. Interesting.

Sam Giancana never thought much of Auippa. Accardo liked Auippa. I would say that overall, Auippa was a good Boss for the Outfit, but remember, Auippa had Accardo and Cerone. They were there all the way. Again, the Outfit was never a dictatorship.

TonyG when did the other family (not Italian lcn) in St. Louis dissapear? The St. Louis family never seemed to have that much power and influence.

Chicago - there is a summary of the union power struggles written by Alan May at the link below. This account is lite on details, but the bottom line is Auippa backed Ray Flynn and the Sryian / Lebanese crew against Giordano and the StL family for control of Local 42. There are 3 unions in StL that were under LCN control back then - the StL family had 1, the East StL Outfit crew (under Chicago) had one and the Syrian / Lebanese had 1. The Syrians / Lebanese under Jimmy Michaels were aligned / associated with StL.

Aiuppa backed the Flynn / Leisure faction within the Syrians / Lebanese (and kill Jimmy Michaels in a spectacular car bombing on the highway at the lunch hour) to take control of their union.

In my opinion, these moves were the begining of the end for the East StL Outfit crew, the StL LCN and the Syrians / Lebanese.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/family_epics/louis/8.html

Nicky - there are some threads on the StL family on the board, no need to rehash here. They effectively were done when almost everyone got locked up after the war over the unions and when Trupiano died.

New York
-Genovese crime family, Frank Costello
-Gambino crime family, Carlo Gambino
-Bonanno crime family, Joe Bonanno
-Lucchese crime family, Thomas Lucchese
-Colombo crime family, Joe Profaci

East coast
-Buffalo crime family, Stefano Maggadino
-Patriarca crime family, Raymond L.S Patriarca
-DeCavalcante crime family, Sam DeCavalcante
-Bufalino crime family, Rosario Bufalino
-Philadelphia crime family, Angelo Bruno
-Pittsburgh crime family, Sebastian LaRocca
-Rochester crime family, Frank Valenti

South
-Trafficante crime family, Santo Trafficante Jr
-Dallas crime family, Joseph Campisi
-New Orleans crime family, Calogero Minacore

Midwest
-Cleveland crime family, John Scalish
-Chicago Outfit, Joseph Aiuppa
-Milwaukee crime family, Frank Balistieri
-Detroit Partnership, Joseph Zerilli
-Kansas City crime family, John Lazia
-St Louis crime family, Anthony Giordano

West Coast
-Los Angeles crime family, Jack Dragna
-San Francisco crime family, James Lanza
-San Jose crime family, Joseph Cerrito
-Denver crime family, Eugene Smaldone

You may want to add Mike Genovese from Pittsburgh in there as he took over in 1985 and held power until 2006 when he died. He made it through the RICO years unscathed...pretty slick!

Carlo Gambino.
He enjoyed not only his own family but he was strong allies with the Lucchese's (due to his son marrying Tommy Lucchese's daughter).
Gambino's always got on quite well with the Colombo's
Gambino was really tight with Angelo Bruno.

Not hard to see why Old man Carlo was such a top Don

Carlo also didn't have to deal with RICO and the extreme pressure by the Feds, not like the bosses of the 1980's to present time. A lot tougher since RICO became a top law enforcement tool to combat OC. If Carlo had lived into the 1980's, he would have been wrapped up with the Commission case based on the Fat Tony and Tony Ducks wiretaps...end of story.

^^^ exactly, it isnt just a concidence that all the bosses on the list come from pretty much the same era that just happens to be pre rico.

Also involvement of the FBI. Don't know about other families but the FBI came to Chicago around 1957. Interesting that Ricca and Accardo turned over the reigns of The Outfit to Sam Giancana about this time. Those guys were smart and cunning.

Increased technology / surveillance and RICO have certainly made OC tougher in the last 35-40 plus yrs. The folks who survive in the present era have to be really, really good at what they do. Just my opinion.

your info is confirmed in bill roemer's book-"Accardo". the fbi man on the outfit case bill roemer outlines Accardo's power before and after giancana. another guy prominent controlled the "loop" in chitown -Gus Alex.