For some reason, Outfit watchers WRONGLY view the Accardo-Giancana situation within the Outfit as a “zero sum” scenario, meaning people have the odd tendency to believe that either Accardo was all-powerful and Giancana was a nobody or vice versa. People also wrongly assume that Accardo always hated Giancana. This is false.

First of all, Accardo always deferred to Ricca, and Ricca brought Mooney up. Accardo endorsed Mooney’s elevation because he respected and trusted Paul’s opinion. Second, Giancana was the face of the Outfit during its peak. He was well-networked with other leaders all over the country at a time when Ricca was not up to the task and Accardo was on hiatus. Giancana was VERY powerful, even beside Ricca and Accardo.

Furthermore, Accardo and Giancana relied on each other, especially early on. Along with Ricca, Accardo had to trust Giancana, and Giancana never got JB killed or imprisoned. Giancana’s downfall was only due to his temperament, antics, and his inability to see what his behavior was doing to the larger organization. It was not because Accardo and Aiuppa "had it in" for Taylor Street since the beginning or any nonsense along those lines, espoused by anonymous trolls from American News Post.

Giancana became an authoritarian, paranoid narcissist—and that is a familiar, recurring persona in the history of American LCN. He was larger than life.