There definitely was respect (he had known Lucky Luciano and Frankie Yale for example for years) and in the early 30's he became a full fledged member of Cosa Nostra and a short time later the official boss/father/rappresentante of the Chicago family as a whole..

In the beginning of the Castellammarese War, Capone was an ally of Giuseppe Masseria. Joe ''The Boss'' even went as far as officially inducting Capone, a Neapolitan, in his family. He made him a Capodecina with the authority to induct 10 of his men in Chicago..

When Masseria lost the war, Maranzano declared Capone the sole boss of the Chicago family, this included the Sicilian factions who were independent from the Outfit before that time. Capone was very grateful and he showed this by letting Maranzano have his national meeting at the Hotel Congress in Chicago, where Capone payed for the whole thing. According to Joe Bonanno's book 'A Man of Honor', at the end of the meeting Capone even went as far as asking the mafiosi, from all over the US, to declare Salvatore Maranzano Capo dei Capi..

And after Maranzano was whacked by Luciano & co., Capone and the Outfit got one of the seven seats on the first Commission. Big Al didn't enjoy his seat on the Commission very long, because of his jail sentence at Alcatraz for tax-evasion. He was replaced by Paul Ricca, who also was very respected on a national level, just like the Outfit was itself. They controlled everything West of the Mississippi and from the late 60's on it basically ran its own Midwest Commission where they settled disputes and other affairs for the Midwest and West Coast families..