I wouldn't say lucky wasn't respected, more like he wasn't really Mafiosi, didn't really believe in it like that, even though he was Sicilian, he was a product of America.
Like Coppola supposedly help organize basically terrorist strikes against political enemies of the CHristian democrats or something, picked the boss of his hometown mafia family, just more pull in Sicily in general.
Like let me ask this question, would VIto GEnovese get slapped in ITaly?
Look at the moves he pulled, with the fascist and the allies. I see him as more powerful in Italy than Luciano but that's just me. ANd he wasn't mafia either, he was from Naples.
I think it was BAdalamenti who avenged that slap to Luciano, he was tied into the drug network via Detroit, and Windsor.
It was best explained in a book I read, in America Luciano operated a power syndicate, in that he directly controlled territory through an army of men.
In Italy, he had an enterprise syndicate, in that he controlled certain aspects of a profitable business, (dope) that he could share with allies, and that was the source of his power