My 2 cents there only as strong as to were there members are the bronx and nj. Id guess if you go to brooklyn the colombos and persico family would be stronger there or cali and cefulo and the gambinos. Maybe you go to queens all them guys massino made are probaly still a force there. The lcn rules are pretty strait forward a made guy from boston mass or a made guy from philly and every where in between are equal to there rules which is why they lasted 100yrs. Merlino is a boss with 40 50 members in my opion probaly respected as a boss equal to the nyc guys pride an ego aside or it doesnt work. Ya barney and cefulo have the most guys in the country and most rackets but the powers the same. Probaly not whatever.