IDK. Burke was the brains behind the Lufthansa heist wasn't he? One of the biggest scores in mob history, no?
And the motley crue he did it with didn't seem to be the brightest bunch.
He's not quite at the top (Lansky) but in terms of post 60's and 70's mob guys surely he has to be up there.
I never said that he wasn't a moneymaker. And I said that in his area of operations that he was no one to be fucked with. So again, power is a relative term. But in terms of powerful on a citywide level? No, he wasn't.
Forget that he went off half-cocked and killed Batts. Burke was owned by the Italians. The real old time Italians looked at Lansky as an equal and called on him for his input. The Italians in Queens looked at Burke as a partner in crime, nothing more. They respected him, but at the same time they owned him.
"I got news for you. If it wasn't for the toilet, there would be no books." --- George Costanza.
