Can't disagree with Gambino and Accardo. But my vote goes to Charlie Luciano, the founding father of the modern American Mafia. He got rid of the Moustache Petes (Masseria and Maranzano), founded the Commission, and accepted partnership from non-Sicilians and even non-Italians, if they had something to contribute.
Hmmmmm. While I agree that Charlie Lucky was indeed an entrepreneur in the underworld who, as you correctly point out, 'modernized' the mafia and organized a board of directors, if you will, that incorporated not only mafia leaders from around the country but also non Sicilians and non Italians, I have to respectfully disagree with you about his being the GREATEST Don..
My vote goes to Carlo Gambino. Don Carlo was able to stay waaaayyy under the radar not only during his rise in the underworld , but more importantly throughout his entire Donship. He ruled with an iron fist....spoke softly but carried a big stick. Don Carlo was able to seperate himself from ever being directly tied in with an order that he may have given out....made sure that he had a lot of buffers in his chain of command.
No question that Luciano was the Bill Gates of the mob who had the ability to partner up with a genius like Meyer Lansky and construct a 'corportion' of sorts. But to me what makes Luciano fall short of being the GREATEST Don is the fact that he liked to live the lavish life which eventually contributed histo his demise.
In my humble opinion if not for Lansky, Charlie Lucky wouldn't have ever risen to the position that he did.
