If you look at the DeCalvacante Family going back to the days of Sam the Plumber, they were a very respected family, small, but very in tune with the 5 NY families and the amount of labor racketeering they had going on coming out of North Jersey is mind blowing, maybe more so than any other "relatively" similar same size family in the country and had their fingers in enough of the Teamsters local then any of the larger families across the country. They had some clout my friend.

Your statement is the same as saying that Russell Bufalino and his family were not influential. There are quite a few of the smaller families that were whales in their respected territories. I disagree with your take on NJ (and I'm not a NJ fanboy, I don't think I've ever posted about them) but I appreciate their long history and ties to NY.