I read that, before Valachi testified, the US government did not know *anything* about the way the Mafia was structured. Is this true? So they didn't know anything about the Families, or the Caporegimes, or anything!

I would have thought that some rumour would have reached the top by 1963. Was the Mob's structre really so secret before that?

I suppose that is why The Godfather was written in 1969. It wouldn't have been possible to write anything about the Mob before then...or would it?