Carlo´s power mostly came from his closeness to Tommy Lucchese and Vito Genovese. He also had close relatives who were/had been powers within not only the American Mafia, but also among the Mafia element in Sicly.
I'm aware of that. Carlo had blood and familial connections to about 4 Mafia families in Sicily. The Gambinos, the Inzerillos, the Spatollas, and the Di Maggios. So those people were probably sending him heroin, and he was their point man, cousin, and distributor in the States. A very powerful position, similar to Lucky Luciano's positioning between the Mafia and the Jewish Mob of Meyer Lansky. Then when Lucky was deported to Italy, he also had the Sicilian mobs behind him (aka the Cupola/Italian Commission). When a man is that connected, that's what you call a thoroughly dangerous man.
PS I think Lucchese benefited more by being connected to Carlo than vice versa. IMHO Vito was a brute unibrow. Vito's power came from just the fact that he was brutal and inspired loyalty due to it. But in retrospect it seems like all of the most important Bosses were against him. I can't think of anyone standing behind Vito that lent him authority. Vito's authority was self derived in a sense.
