The Genovese family and the Chicago Outfit were two very similar organizations in appointing bosses. Their close relationship goes back since the Luciano and Capone days.

With the situation of the Outfit it was always different. When Nitti became boss, allegedly Ricca and Campagna were the real powerhouses behind the organization. So Nitti was more of a front boss than a street boss. After Nitti, Ricca became the boss and there was no one behind him to pull the strings. When Accardo became the boss, although in jail Ricca still had the power so its hard to say wether Accardo was a front boss or a street boss, but i would go with the title as "street boss". When Giancana became the de facto boss, Ricca was a semi-retired so both he and Accardo acted as advisors to Giancana. But the thing was that Ricca was a little bit more than advisor to Giancana,because sometimes he was the one that had the final word. Similar situation was later with Accardo and Aiuppa.I would say that Giancana was more of a street boss than a front boss because he didnt advised Ricca and Accardo on every business deals or hits. After Giancana, Sam Battaglia came to the top spot for a short time and i think that he definietly was a front boss because the heat from the government was enourmous at the time. After that Ricca and Accardo again ran things untill they found someone reliable and competent to run things by himself. So later Aiuppa became boss and Accardo was his top advisor untill the 1980's. So i think that after that Aiuppa was a boss in his own right.

As for the Genovese alleged top guys, most of them were front bosses designed to give the public appearance of running the organization by protecting the real boss from the heat of the government. So i think that the Genovese fronts couldnt lift a finger with out the approval of the real boss.