Do you guys think Old Man DiMeo was a front Boss, while Jackie, Junior and Feech LaManna really ran things? Or was he Boss in name and everything until his conviction in '95?

Points in favor of him being the real Boss
-Jackie speaks of him reverently.
-Ray Curto says the Old Man (as well as Jackie) envisioned Tony someday being Boss.
-Tony says the Old Man would've wanted Ray Curto to be Boss
-Tony B. remarks, upon coming back from Prison, saying how weird it is seeing his cousin "on the old man's chair"

Points in favor of him being the front Boss
-While Jackie is referred to as the Acting Boss, none of the Bosses after Jackie refer to DiMeo in any way after.
-There is no honoring of Old Man DiMeo in Jersey the way the guys in NY honor past Bosses (the portraits of Carmine and Johnny on the wall in the bar)
-Tony says in the finale episode to Junior that he and Johnny Boy "ran North Jersey."

So as such Old Man DiMeo has always been a mystery. Was he an old mustache ala Vito Corleone who simply gave his Capos a long leash? In a way due to Vito's leadership, Tessio and Clemenza were basically semi-autonomous Capos, almost mini-Bosses. Was perhaps DiMeo the same? Or was he actually a feared and respected Boss, but seen as being an irrelevant and senile old fuck by Tony due to generational differences and Tony's disdain for authority?

I find him the biggest mystery of all the Sopranos' characters.