At the Apalachin meeting (which was not a Commission meeting but a national meeting with more than 60 participants) a national ban against dope dealing was declared. The Commission had two weeks prior to Apalachin, held a meeting in New Jersey where they had settled the Costello/Genovese beef and named Gambino as provisional boss of Anastasia´s Family. This, with the decision to impose a national drug ban, needed to be addressed to all the bosses around the country. And that is why the Appalachin meeting was held.
Yes, good point about the commission meeting, held before the national meeting at Apalachin. It was here that they discussed Costello's retirement.
As far as drugs....you posted an interesting theory. However, I can't figure out why Vito would call a national meeting to ban drug trafficking, since he was heavily involved with it, along with Bonanno. It's one thing to ban your underlings from dealing drugs. It's another thing to ban other dons from making money through drugs.
Supposedly, years later, Carmine Galante angered other dons because he didn't share his wealth from his lucrative narcotics racket. Money rules with the mob, therefore, I believe planning how to work together on drug distribution is more believable than banning the racket altogether. But that's just a guess.
Either way, I don't believe the drug related portion of the agenda was discussed at Apalachin, as the cops busted up the meeting right after most of the attendees arrived.
There are conflicting reports about a follow up meeting to Apalachin. Did the dons decide to skip the national agenda altogether... or did they tempt fate by holding another national meeting in a more secure location, which was kept secret from the press/LE?
