Who was the better boss in your opinion?

In this round of the series "Better Boss" brought to you by gangsterbb and Primo!

Who in your opinion was the better boss!! Bruno from Philly or Patriarca Sr. ?

Thanks for the input !!!

one got murdered by his own soldiers. ray 54 to 84 bruno 58 to 80. goes to ray p

think joe bonanno only boss who served longer

Ray must of been a fair boss?

Ray P for sure. A lot of those guys put millions into legitimate businesses for their families to thrive. That’s the part that gets forgotten about through all the chaos. 90% of these guys did what they did so the next generation or 2 wouldn’t have too. It’s what I admired about most of the Genovese guys I met in the can compared to the Bonnano guys. The Bonnano guys thrived on being gangsters, the Genovese guys thrived on being rich.

Were not talking about the west side..the Genovese were Bruno's demise...Bruno's wrong was not sharing his interests w/ his men , therefore gathering opposing members resentment..not being interested in Atlantic City (so he said)..BUT....Bruno kept a very low profile 4 a very long time ..therefore keeping his men out of trouble 4 a long time ..only when greed set in by certain men via (Tony Bananas , Frank Sindone)..did his regime crumble ….BRUNO was a fine boss and a fine , nice gentleman.

And as far as Johnny "Keys" Simone is concerned ..he was a cousin of Bruno...and 4 him 2 turn like that , if I knew back then what I know now,,,I would have done what Sammy did back then my motherfucking self..fuck that lame old man...man of men my ass..

Bruno’s guys starved under him.

I dont think theres any question, Raymond all day. Personally I think Raymond is one of the most underrated bosses of all time. He's overshadowed being so close to NY.

I think that that is a bit overstated. Sindone, Caponigro, Testa, Idone, Narducci et al. were all plenty rich. He even left Riccobene alone and didn't get much if anything from him. The whole Bruno was starving his men theory comes from what Leonetti said Scarfo complained about. Well Scarfo, like Gotti, wasn't a great earner on his own and didn't make any money until he became boss and everyone was kicking up to him. The guys who were major earners were doing fine. His problem was that two of the big earners, Sindone and Caponigro, weren't satisfied with just being rich, they wanted even more.

I think Testa would have been considered rich but I doubt the rest would fall into that category. Where you from Jc?

It was well known that Caponigro had a lot of money, probably the richest guy in the family next to Bruno, he made a ton of money in down neck in Newark. Sindone was the biggest loan shark in Philly, he was caught on tape complaining that he wanted to retire to California and Bruno wouldn't let him. He said that Bruno was too old school and that he just wanted his people to earn the money and not enjoy it. Narducci was very well off, supposedly Phil and his brother were still living off of his money when they got out of the can. As for the Riccobene and Idone I have never read about either of them complaining, it was just Scarfo. Scarfo was like Gotti, stone cold gangsters but not earners. They needed to be the boss to make money. Hell, even Long John made money dealing drugs for Bruno. Bruno had his issues, but his guys weren't struggling to eat, it wasn't a Profaci situation, he wasn't bleeding his guys. The two primary movers against him, Caponigro and Sindone, were probably the two biggest earners in the family, they got greedy and got played by the West Side.

I've lived a bunch of different places, including the northeast. I have a little bit of familiarity with some of the people who get talked about a lot on this site.

I only asked because you seem to be well versed in the Philly/Jersey wiseguys. Good stuff!

Thanks, no worries, did you say in another thread that you are from northeast PA? I have spent a lot of time there over the years, the Bufalinos have an interesting history. As for the Philly South Jersey stuff a lot of interesting info comes from the wire taps where Testa, Sindone and Riccobene were caught talking. There were a lot of gripes about Bruno but most of seamed to be some variation of he was too old school, he was stuck in the past, we're making money but we should be making more money. As I said Scarfo was like Gotti, respected, feared by some (as a captain), but not exactly a Jerry Catena type earner. Once those guys became boss they had a lot of catching up to do as far as making their fortune.

Back to the original topic, as far as I know there were no such complaints with Patriarca, but to be fair I don't recall their being a bug that caught a bunch of high level guys in his family on tape while he was still alive.

Grew up in WB and have relatives all over Pittston, Scranton, and Philadelphia.

Patriarca i think easily over Bruno.

i think a better question would be Patriarca vs Bufalino

I choose Patriarca. Like The_Marble_Guy said, one of the most underrated bosses. In power for decades, made heaps of money legally and illegally, political connections, respected by other families, kept control over all the members of his family spread out over the country and died a free man. The Patriarca Papers are a great read.

Got to give it to Ray.