Specifically who ran Bensonhurst in terms of gambling / numbers along 18th/19th/20th Aves circa 1970-1974

Everybody! lol, all kidding aside, almost all the families had various guys booking numbers back then.

The family with the biggest presence in BensonHurst was the Colombo family.
18th Ave, was and still is Gambino territory.

You probably aren't going to believe this but the Decav's had a couple of decent crews back in the day in BensonHurst.

There was just A LOT everywhere it sure felt like that anyway.

I have no idea who the biggest name was, especially since I wasn't around in the mid-70s, but I have heard old timers (not older timers in the life, just older residents in bars, etc) to this day reference Allie Shades as being a larger than life personality from that time period.

Nobody in Bensonhurst played the numbers. That was for tizzuns.

When the "traditional" policy numbers lottery was at its peak from the late 1930s through the mid-1970s everybody played the daily number. In Italian strongholds like Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge, Williamsburg, South Brooklyn, Lower East Side, East Harlem, the Bronx, Corona, Astoria, Ozone Park, etc., the numbers were very popular.

Back in the day, the "Italian Lottery" that emanated from Italy where the guys received the daily number by cable-wire was also extremely popular. Italian people played the number back in Italy and after coming to America they still enjoyed that.

Irish, Polish, Jewish, Blacks, Spanish, etc., etc., regardless of your ethnicity, in NYC and other major cities "policy" was the most popular game around. And for the "fellas" it was the most lucrative gambling racket.

And then Lotto came along, and Quick Pick, and a thousand other variations and the racket went out the window. Uncle Sam became the new "numbers racketeer"

NYM maybe you can clarify this for me. When it comes to the Italian Lottery in Brooklyn, Joe Bonanno is credited with originally (meaning after 1931) had controlled of this racket in Brooklyn. Can you speak to how this worked with the Profaci's and the the other Families in that territory?

Hi Don Pep, Joe Bonanno didn't "control" the overall Italian lottery across NYC, only the lottery operations under the control of his particular family. NO ONE FAMILY controlled the Italian number. It's like anything else.

Profaci controlled games operated by his crew. Bonanno did the same. And the other families did the same. Each particular family had guys who ran games in their neighborhoods. Members of a particular family may have used Joe Bonanno as their "bank" but that was their choice.

For instance Joe Tipa and Sal Profaci headed a major lottery for Joe Profaci. Vito Genovese had guys Downtown NY and Downtown Brooklyn who operated as bankers for his crew. Tommy Gagliano and Tommy Lucchese had Steve La Salle and a few others who ran a game in Harlem and the Bronx, etc.

My father grew up around the area I speak of according to him, a guy named Jack the Barber was acknowledged as THE guy in the neighborhood early-mid 70s

Also claims a lot of his friends worked for a car theft ring and were killed by Gravano same period

Knew of a guy named Tony Scotto as well