Well if Genovese made $2 mil in 1952 when he wasn't even the boss, I would assume that Costello made even more. I would imagine that Gambino was in the same ballpark, and some say that Jerry Catena had more money than anyone. I would guess that they made between $20 and $25 mil annually in today's money.
How did Catena make all of his money? I’ve heard a lot about him but nobody really knows too much about his business profits because he was so profit. Also, I wonder what if any American bosses like Luciano for example would’ve become top businessmen like the Rockefeller’s or something like that had they been able to evade the FBI and legitimize their businesses.
Part of his income was receiving skim money from Las Vegas. One of the reasons he was moved up to underboss and acting boss was his connection to Las Vegas. Vito Genovese never had that kind of connection.
How does skim money work? Is it like that scene in casino when the guy goes in the back and just puts a bunch of money in the suitcase? Or did Catena have a bigger(or smaller) skim operation than that? I know he was on the board for Bally’s so I’m sure he made a fortune from stock options.
In The Godfather Garden by Richard Linnett has a great chapter on Catena. According to FBI reports based on bugs in mobster's offices, Catena's take of the Vegas skim was about $120,000 a month in the early 60s. He bragged on a bug that Runyon sales, his coin operated machine business, was doing about $20 million a year in business. He also had interests in all sorts of legitimate businesses over the years plus illegal gambling operations. One report I read said he and Joe Adonis made $120,000 in 1946 from just one illegal casino they had going. The FBI estimated that his personal assets exceeded $50 million.
