What follows is my opinion. I don't purport to have the last word in this debate.
Very simple at the height of each other's power who was A- Making the most money. B- Exerted more influence over all of LCN. C- Overall the most powerful boss.
We can hardly know who was making the most money.
Carlo Gambino was more like the boss of bosses....of New York City. He ruled the 5 families more than all of American Cosa Nostra.
Lucky Luciano on the other hand had nationwide alliances, but not just that, he and his clique told the rest, nationwide, how to sort out their affairs. Carlo never did that. Carlo was simply well positioned in an already existing order set up by someone else.
Overall which was more powerful?
I think Luciano. Why?
Carlo Gambino's power may have stemmed from his blood relations to the Sicilian trans-Atlantic mafia clans, the Gambinos, Spatollas, the Inzerillos, and the DiMaggios. He might have also had some high level contact in US government somewhere.
Lucky Luciano on the other hand had the same Sicilian mafia clan backing (the Cupola), backing from the Jews whose job was to do nothing but kill, backing from his own mafia family, backing from the mafia families of his allies, and also his US government contacts. He was far more connected and influential than Carlo even though it was not through blood ties.
The whole reason Lucky was able to commandeer the mafia was because his power originated from
outside of it [with the Jews under Meyer Lansky].
Carlo was in a sense a vassal of the mafia families he represented in the United States. Because they were his power, he had to go along with them. Lucky Luciano on the other hand was more an independent operator.
Power. People say Carlo was stronger because he ruled longer, because Luciano spent time in prison and was deported. But Carlo too was an illegal alien. He was a prisoner in the United States and could not readily leave. To do so meant he might not be able to re-enter. Luciano was free to travel the world after deportation. And for all the time Carlo ruled the 5 families, Luciano spend plenty of time outside of the United States enjoying some sort of immunity...as a bonafide viable mafia boss who was very much still in business. Could Carlo bust out of jail like in a Monopoly game with a get out of jail free card like Luciano? No. That's why Carlo stayed out of jail, cause he knew once he went in, he didn't have enough juice or connections to get out again.
