That "the Outfit was only traditional Cosa Nostra during the Aiuppa era" is nonsense, guys.
They always sat on the commission, have always been on the government's lcn chart, etc. Giancana, Ricca, Accardo, all of these guys were hardcore la Cosa nostra, to say otherwise would be ridiculous.
New York & the other families have had plenty of high ranking non Italians. And the non Italians in Chicago were never made or let into the INNER inner circle.
Chicago may have some unique peculiarities regarding the way they go about business, but they are traditional cosa Nostra.
No, I agree with these statements. But seeing as how they were halfway across the country and not in the shadow of NYC like Philly, NJ, etc., they ran their family "their way" which at times differed substantially from the east coast guys. Guys like the Hump and Gus Alex were way higher on the food chain in Chicago than similar-type guys in NYC, who was much more closed-minded towards doing business with non-Italians and even non-Sicilians in some instances.
But you are right, and maybe I didn't stress this enough in my earlier post, but they were still LCN, and they still sat on the Commission.
