Some good work, Toodoped. I've tried for years to find answers to some of the questions you point out in your post. So far I've only come up with plausible scenarios. The problem seems to be two fold; the people involved are dead and the folks who pass on the stories on Internet sites generally share their version of what happened. And we are left to decide for ourselves the version we like best.

No one has been able to say exactly what happened when the torch was passed from Accardo to Giancana; lots of theories, but actual facts are hard to come by. Same with Giancana during the years when Ricca was in prison and Accardo was tied-up with his tax problem. We know for sure RICCA WENT TO PRISON IN '59 and got out in the fall of '61. Accardo's tax appeal ended in the fall of '62. It's very plausible that Giancana was acting on his own during this time. We also know that the FBI came to town in '57 around the time the outfit was at it's peak. And I think it's fair to say things became more difficult for the Outfit after the FBI came to town.

Giancana's strength was his money-making ability and he was accustomed to doing things his way......and he did. Long story short, he brought too much attention and heat to the Outfit. Failure to follow Ricca and Accardo's advice led to huge problems for the Oitfit. There was simply no one "minding the store" and things started coming apart. McGuire, Sinatra, Kennedy, the CIA, all led to way too much attention on Giancana and the Outfit. Finally, the immunity deal and Giancana was trapped. There was no "out," no place to hide after Mexico threw him out. And we all know what happened.

I do believe that the way the Outfit was/is structured makes it very difficult to know exactly who is "calling the shots." Accardo bearded for Ricca and may very well have been the voice who passed on decisions since Ricca was forbidden to associate with known criminals and was under constant fear of deportation. But who really knows about these things. We are all left with speculation.

Thanks so much for the information. Obviously you worked very hard putting this together.