Both these guys, Casso and Amuso, How they took over the family, I've always felt there should be more to the story there....


I've ALWAYS heard that the power in the Luchesse family was based in the Bronx, and it was, going back to Riena, so I could never understand how it was that they took over. Like with the exception of maybe Tieri, ( and he was till a front) the power in the genovese was Manhattan and will always be Manhattan, whether it was Harlem or Grenwich Village, or whatnot.
Now I remember in a thread asking Pizzaboy, " Was there a rift In the Bronx faction?" He said no way, and I had no reason to doubt him.

But the thing is I think historically these guys were presented as upstarts, that came outta no where and had little support and killed all opposition, but this always seemed so off to me. Santoro, the underboss was the leader of the Bronx faction right? But his choice was ultimately rejected In favor of Christy Ticks choice. Why? Why did this occur exactly? This is why I asked if there was a rift there. I ask because I think it goes a long way to explaining WHY these guys were so powerful at this time.
A lot of us make the assumption that they had a BROOKLYN faction, but these guys seemed to have been WIDELY RESPECTED across the families.
Awhile back, someone posted an old report on OC in Jersey from the Feds. In it, they have Chris Furnari as the heir apparent, OVER the Bronx guys back in like 83. Why was this? Why was he so powerful, and widely respected? And I know someone will dispute this, but HIS protégées DID take over, over the more established crew leaders from the Bronx, so to me this is a clear indication of his influence. Very similar to how Gotti " Inherited" a lot of Dellacroces power, these guys benefited from an association with Christy Tick.
Amuso was from the Gallo crew right? Well all the top guys from that crew were HEAVY HITTERS in Costa Nostra right? And that crew, through Carlo, Chin Gigante, were close to the strongest families right? He was also a prolific narcotics trafficker as well, I will come back to that....So his influence, and connections might be more extensive then realized, maybe.
As far as Gaspipe, I'm reminded of something in Sammy the Bulls book, where he names all the crews that got the most respect in the family, they were all the " work" crews. Well Gaspipe seems to have been on good terms with ALL THE TOP KILLERS OF HIS TIME. Demeo, Scarpa, Persico, Gravano, Chin. Basically he was cool with all the guys that make Cosa Nostra , Cosa Nostra.
On the drug thing, simple as it is, if you can manage a successful narcotics operation, it basically means you have a pretty good skill set to be a good mafia leader. And that's what both these guys were, major dealers, Gas was an importer, Vic a distributor? I think Gas supplied a lot of heavy hitters, just a suspicion... Also, drug guys are usually heavy guys, at this point in time I think they were the most feared guys in the family, so In spite of wealth or prestige or whatever, I think they WERE the power. Case in point when Gotti sought out the Luchesse leadership through back doors channels, I don't think he approached the Bronx guys, cause in his view they WERE NOT THE POWER, and he was pretty savvy about these things.....
Basically I try to actually trace the thread through the fabric of power. Who does it go through? Where did it come from, who is it connected to now?

I did a similar thing with Mancuso from the Bonnanos. Like he clearly has the title, but it appears he DOES NOT HAVE A MAJORITY OF THE CAPOS on his side. A key question then is HOW DID HE BECOME BOSS? To me he HAS TO HAVE SUPPORT FROM THE OTHER FAMILIES, otherwise, how did he get there, from jail? Explaining how he became boss goes along way to understanding how powerful he actually is. I've heard how he killed his wife, and he supposedly had a crew of shooters, I think he's might just be SCARIERthan the Bonano guys on the streets and that's a big part of it as well..

That's my thinking on Casso and especially Amuso, the question of HOW he became boss, is still kinda like, hmmmmm, like exactly WHO WAS SUPPORTING THEM, not just in their family, but the others as well. And why were they accepted over these Bronx guys.

Ok that's my two cents, good topic Mikey, hope we can get some good discussions on here.... Any thoughts?