Adonis, Luciano, Buchalter, Siegel, Lanksy, Genovese, and Anastasia seemed to view themselves as rough equals, with Charlie Lucky just a little more equal than the others. The book contradicts itself often but that's to be expected. Sometimes supposedly Lanksy is prevented from voting because he's Jewish but at other times the final word on something is "The Little Man said so". Go figure...
The biggest contribution Luciano made to American organized crime is just what you pointed out, Lilo: everybody's equal, Lucky's a bit more. Maranzano's fatal mistake was to declare himself capp di tutti capi. Luciano, who arranged his murder with Lansky, didn't have to--everyone knew he was the top guy. He even appointed Capone to be the "chairman" of the Commission, to try to keep him in line. And, despite being born in Sicily, Luciano was a thoroughly modern American businessman. He accepted help and collaboration with non-Sicilians and even non-Italians if he could make money with them.
