The old mob books are always better after more years of researching information. I'm more of a Bonanno guy(obviously ) myself and I've reread "Man of Honor" joe bonanno's autobiography, I had way more understanding and context reading the second time around, making it more interesting. It was pretty boring the first time.

Genovese's influence was definite until his death because of the people that he had in place and the power to remove potential rivals within the Family (Tony Bender, Tommy Eboli, Mike Miranda, Benny Squint, Frank Tieri etc).
Gambino made stragetic maneuvers to eliminate his opponent but he wasn't bloodthirsty. And he inherited alot of his power from his alliance with Tommy Lucchese, fter his death.