I am from Chicago. My Uncle is a made man in the Outfit and has been for years. The Chicago Outfit is structured much differently than the 5 Families in New York. In Chicago, for example, there were 6 street crews that constituted the Outfit. For example, from about 1970 to 1986, the Street Crews were as follows. Cicero, Elmwood Park, Rush St., Grand Ave., 26thSt.,& Chicago Heights. The Top Boss of the Outfit was also the Boss of the Cicero Crew (Joey Auippa ), the Boss of the Elmwood Park Crew was the Underboss of the entire Outfit (Jack Cerone). The other 4 Crew Bosses were partners with the two Top Bosses. There were also some made men who were union or political specialists that reported direct to the Top Two Bosses. The Soldiers in the 6 Crews were NOT made men. They worked for the made men with specific jobs. The membership of the Outfit might have been about 240 men but the number of made men might have been about 60. In Chicago it was much more selective and much more difficult to be made, unlike New York where they make everybody. In Chicago, the Bosses of each Crew were equal to a Boss in New York. The made men in Chicago were equal to the Captains in New York. Chicago had their own Commission and had the final say in the midwest out to the West Coast. Chicago also controlled much of Las Vegas and had tremendous political power in their city of Chicago and all Cook County. The 5 New York Families combined were possibly more powerful than the Outfit, but the Outfit was more powerful than any of the New York Families individually. The Outfit also had more political and union power than any of the New York Families. Man per man, the Outfit was the strongest Mafia group in the United States according to F.B.I. reports and the White House reports. I would whole heartedly agree with them.The Oufit was also structured much better than the New York Groups who were always fighting or competing with each other. No Boss in the Chicago outfit ever was killed. The Only exception was Sam Giancana when he tried to make a comeback in 1974 after having been gone for 8 years. Each Boss, including the Top two bosses, have strong power bases and all work together in a structured partnership.