I'll say this, it's silly to assume they woulda made Bonnano a boss cause he was Maggadinos cousin.

It's equally silly to assume they woulda made Maggadino a boss just cause he was Bonnanos cousin.

Cause them being cousins doesn't put money in anyone's pocket. They were BOTH LEGIT, Maggadino, cause of his families history in Sicily. They wiped out the Bucellatos, I think. Bonnano made his bones in the war, under Maranzano, plus he came from a mafia family anyway.

But at this point, he wasn't like rich yet. He didn't control any huge rackets he could cut people in on, ( in his book, he declines an offer for a piece of the Garment Center, so not to be beholden to Lucky..) He's a Youngster.

Like, a guy like Luciano was rich, guys like Maggadino and Bonnano were MAFIA.. Bonnano got a seat cause they didn't want to war with him, basically. He coulda kept it going after Maranzano got hit, all the La Marese guys woulda did whatever he told em, but HE wasn't happy with Maranzano either. You could say him being closer to Luciano's age, having similar interest, was a great factor too.

I really don't know why people get hung up on the made guys. ANY numbers from the sixties have to be taken with a grain of salt. The FBI didn't really know shit. They were playing catch up with all their black bag ops, the FBN were guys who knew what was up. All the FBIs numbers seem inflated at that time. Plus you gotta factor in the publicity component, how law enforcement exaggerates and shit.

Like I said in a previous post, if the Gambinos and Genovese could have 500-600 guys, Buffalo coulda had 200. But if we use common sense and see the numbers are basically kinda tripled, that woulda put Buffalo at about 60-70.
Those sixties numbers are goofy...