My topstop for the greatest mobster in history goes to Tony Accardo

Reason - He experienced and ruled the golden age, holds a record of controling a family / 1947(?)-1992 and he died right before, as most people would say 'it all went to shit''

He only experienced the good years and not the shitty FBI trials etc that came a couple years after.
Luciano is on my second place.

Agree?

Carlo gambino?

The Arm.

Nick calabrese

by the by, You're thinking of Paul Ricca, not Tony Accardo

Accardo lasted much longer and never spent a night in jail or prison. Ricca did almost 4 years. Accardo lasted through the 1980's when all of the other major Mafia bosses in the country were sent to prison on RICO charges. He was one of the top guys in one of the top crime organizations in the country for almost 5 decades with the FBI bullseye on his back and made it through unscathed.

Benny Squint Lombardo , Carlo Gambino or Tommy Luchese

Trafficante had a decent run.

Carlo Marcello, Tony Accardo, James Lanza, Vicent Alo, and many more, even those we never heard about. Overall I have to say that Tony Accardo had the greatest run in LCN history.

"Greatest" isn't a term I'd use to describe any gangster.

The most influential, IMO, was Charlie Luciano. He ended the regime of the Moustache Petes by arranging the assassinations of Joe the Boss Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano. He brought Cosa Nostra into the modern, business-oriented era by accepting help from non-Sicilians and even non-Italians. And, he formed the Commission, which introduced an element of cooperation among the families.

I would say giacomo tocco had the best run

Ricca was the undisputed #1 for way, way longer than Tony Accardo was.

It wasn't really hard runnin a mob family in the 50s and 60s . The Feds didn't even pursue the mob like they do today or from the 80s on . There was no Rico , wiretaps and stiff sentences for drug dealing so that meant fewer rats . To me it's 50 times harder running a mob family from the 80s to the present , u can't possibly compare gambino and accardo to bosses like massino , gotti and gigante , they had it a lot tougher. Wen the Feds made a concerted effort to target the mob they were successful . Guys like persico, rastelli, corallo and Salerno were sent to prison straight away . No doubt if the Feds made the same effort in the 50s bonanno , lucchese gambino and accardo would have gone the same way

Accardo isn't comparable to someone like carmine gambino at all anyways. If there's anyone from the Outfit that compares to a Gambino/Jack tocco, it's Paul Ricca. He had the final say from the moment he took the throne until his dying breath.

I think nobody had power and influence like carlo gambino..they were about to deport him but they never did,imagine the power he accumulated over the years..capo di tutti capi

The chin. His way of rule and front bosses is now the staple for any smart family.

Excellent point But Im sure it was still difficult to be the boss w people wanting to take your spot at the top but great analogies there!

Bosses who did it the right way, low profile, minimal or no time in prison include:

James Lanza- San Francisco over 30 years
Frank Amato Sr- Pittsburgh 20 years
John LaRocca- Pittsburgh 28 years
Anthony Milano- Cleveland 40+ yearsm
John Scalish- Cleveland 32 years
Russell Bufalino- Northeastern PA 40+ years
Michael Genovese- Pittsburgh 22 years
Jack Tocco- Detroit 35 years
Luigi Manocchio- New England 13 years
Stefano Maggadino- Buffalo 52 years
Joe Ligambi- Philadelphia 13+ years
Joe Todaro- Buffalo 28 years
Joe Zerilli- Detroit 40+ years
Nick Civella- Kansas City 30 years
Joe Civello- Dallas 15 years
Joe Cerrito- San Jose 19 years


I don't know why everybody only mentions NY & Chicago bosses, there are plenty more who had major influence and were able to escape law enforcement with minimal or no time in prison.

took the words right out my mouth.

Funny how all of these families you mention are today extinct, except from Detroit and Philly..

Funny? They were powerful for decades and exuded major influence! They didn't make a lot of guys, who cares? They did it right, escaped the law and ran their cities with an iron fist. That's success regardless if they no longer exist in the traditional sense.

Bufalino did almost 10 years in prison in the 80s, not really a minimal time. Civello and Ligambi too, although they weren't bosses at the time.

Funny? Not really. There aren't any Italians emigrating to those areas anymore. How exactly were they supposed to survive?

Also, the Patriarcas aren't extinct. Neither are the Maggadinos, although they're probably on their way out.

Yeah .. San Jose, Texas and those areas were never too powerful...Iron fists? gimme'a'break!

Obviously you don't know much about San Jose or Dallas in their heyday...and yes, while they were boss, they ruled with an iron fist in their respected territory.

Tony Accardo has dry snitch written all over him. They get everyone else on something but him??? Dry snitch..

The reason people mainly mention NY and Chicago is because they are bigger and it is assumed that it is harder to run a big family than a small family.

How many of the crime families above were as big as the smallest NY family at the time? Were some of them only as big as a NY crew? Did the small families have only a fraction of the law enforcement surveillance compared to what the bigger families had. How about competition, etc...?

Exactly, when some of the aforementioned areas are part of the Midwest rust belt and steel manufacturing, the citizens and new immigrants are going to larger cities where there is more work.

Another beliver.Hallelujah

I laugh when some people say that the FBI respected Accardo...ok than..why's that?Because of the so called "family pact"?!Gimmie a break...that was invented by Roemer just to protect Accardo.Tony made thouse connections while he was getting Ricca out of jail.If he didnt suceeded he would've ended up dead.But to tell you the truth i dont blame him,its a backstabbing game and its survival of the fittest.

And Huron is right,Ricca first,Accardo second.

It's all relevant regarding law enforcement and the bottom line is for guys like Maggadino and LaRocca and Scalish, they were surveilled daily with phones tapped like any other bosses. The smaller families had less stool pigeons because most of the members were blood relatives. Cleveland had more influence in the Teamsters than a majority of large families through the Presser family and owned almost all locals in their area...the heart and soul of America with labor, trucking, manufacturing, the docks and the auto industry.

The point is that the guys I mentioned have to be considered as top bosses as they did indeed run their cities and expansive geographic areas with an iron fist. Pittsburgh for example had all of Western PA, Northeast Ohio, the panhandle of West Virginia and Jamestown, NY. That's four states.

They were all targets of the McClellan Committee, the Kefauver hearings etc. the local media in the smaller cities wrote as many if not more articles on OC since there wasn't a whole lot to write about. These guys died multi millionaires and for many of them that I mentioned, they were reclusive and quiet and didn't need to act like a whack job wearing a bathrobe and hiding in the shower with an umbrella. I'm a fan of NY and Chicago, but my point is that there were as many other bosses who lived by the rules and made boatloads of money running their families. For all intensive purposes, all of these guys were part of the same organization, the American LCN.