Originally Posted by CabriniGreen
I used to feel the same way, until I really started looking at things; I used to think Luciano was the biggest bootlegger, then I read George Remus was the "King of Bootleggers". I'm like okay... I read An estimate that said Luckys outfit grossed 12 million a year in 1925, right? Then I read at that same time period the Outfit was estimated to be grossing 105 million dollars a year? Isnt that crazy?
But I get your point on Luciano, thing is I kinda feel the same about Capone, like the myth is bigger than the man. And yeah Luchesse maybe dies if he rats out Lucky, but consider;
A lot of Bonnanos animosity towards Luchesse stemmed from the fact he knew he set up Maranzano. Now Lucky KILLED Maranzano, and Bonnano made a deal in five minutes, my understanding was that HE started to chafe under Maranzanos dictatorial style as well.
And the Riena outfit was an early defector towards Maranzano, I think he was confidant in their subservience, which can be dangerous...


Lucky wasn't a boss in 1925 though so you can't compare what Lucky did vs what the entire Torrio outfit did at the time. It would be better to compare the outfits top crew vs luckys operation.