As others on this board have already noted, one of the frustrations of studying mob history is the lack (for obvious reasons) of reliable data about many key issues. Sometimes even ascertaining who's the real boss of a family is difficult. My question is this: During the period between when Paul Ricca got out of prison in 1947 and Ricca's death in 1972, who was the real boss of the Chicago Outfit, Ricca or Tony Accardo? It's well known that the Outfit had a series of "front bosses" during this time--Sam Giancana, Joey Aiuppa, etc.--who did not actually hold ultimate power. And it's clear that after Ricca's death, Accardo was the real boss until he died in 1992. Some say that Accardo became the boss after Ricca got out of prison, although Ricca remained as a top level consultant (Ricca was required to sever all contact with the Outfit as a condition of his parole). Other say that Ricca remained the actual boss. A book reviewer on Amazon.com even claimed that most "real crime historians" know that Accardo "spent most of his time as the Waiter's (Ricca's) front boss." I'm very skeptical of this, considering the renown in which Accardo was held.

In "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia," Jerry Capeci notes the lack of agreement concerning which of the two held ultimate power, but believes that it didn't really matter, because Ricca and Accardo were such close friends that even if one was technically above the other, in practice they would rule by mutual agreement rather than one telling the other what to do. Does anyone know what the actual situation was?

I don't think anyone can say definitively. But in his excellent book The Outfit Gus Russo emphasizes again and again that the Chicago Outfit was not your typical organized crime "Family", either in the makeup of its leadership or its organizational theory.

Russo details an "Accardo-Ricca-Humphreys triumvirate" that really ran things post war , with ever so slightly greater authority accruing to the two Italian members.

In any event all three were close friends-Accardo and Ricca especially so atypically it didn't really matter who the "Boss" was. Ricca and Accardo had seen what had happened to Capone and shunned the spotlight or being publicly known as the "top guy".

From what I've gathered, Ricca took over officially after Nitti killed himself in '43, but was boss for less than a year because he went away for 10 on extortion. Accardo took over. Ricca was paroled after 4 years-plus, was respected and consulted, but never ran the family again.

Just recently saw a video on youtube of Accardo testfying about his involvement in the Chicago Mob. He didn't say anything except that he was into gambling.