Nice stories all, but the problem here is common to all readings about the Mob: most are either pure BS or are rumors repeated from book to book. No one took notes at the '57 Apalachin meeting so we'll never know for sure. What is interesting is that there was a commission meeting the year before, so the '57 meeting must have been something special. What might be credible? In '57, Genovese arranged for Anastasia to be assassinated, and for Costello to retire after his skull was grazed by a bullet fired by The Chin. So, it's credible that the meeting was held, in part, to anoint Genovese as boss of the family formerly headed by Costello, and to bless Gambino as Anastasia's successor. Another possibility: to approve drug-trafficking. That might explain why Bonanno wasn't at the meeting (his close associate, Gaspar DeGregorio, was). Bonanno earlier that year had set up his own drug trafficking apparatus with Luciano in Sicily, so he and Genovese might have been rivals in the drugs business.

Did Lansky blow the whistle on the meeting? That piece of BS was touted by Rich Cohen, in his BS-laden book, "Tough Jews." I doubt that Lansky would have bit the hands of 80 or so dangerous men who fed him.