There is a thread on another board titled something like "who is the most powerful syndicate world wide" and we often see similar threads on this board such as "Who is the most powerful family", or "Who was the most powerful boss" ect. My questions is do some of these gangsters actually care? Would a member of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra be upset if he saw an article claiming the Ndrangheta
is now more powerful than Cosa Nostra, or if a Genovese guy saw a show on A&E claiming the Gambinos were the most powerful family? I know it seems very juvenile but with the egos of some of these guys it makes me wonder.

Thank you for your time

I know Scarfo wanted to kill Sal Testa because he read in Time or something that he was taking control of the family...

Yes and no.This is strange but my opinion is:

Ofcourse they always want more power,and want to be better and more powerful than others.But in the other way they just want to make money,so more power=more money so,i guess answer is YES.

it was WSJ I believe

Scarfo alone was not responsible for the killing of Salvatore Testa.

It was the only thing I could think of that matched the question - if anything the problem would probably be that sort of talk getting law enforcement attention.

Testas relation with the Merlinos was a part also, he was dead loyal to Scarfo, no doubt Scarfo saw him as a threat. Scarfo made the right move back then, hes a crazy maniac, but a very smart one.

Merlino also had Francis Iannarella and Tommy DelGiorno sell Testa down the river by bad mouthing him to Scarfo. Merlino planted seeds of treason in Scarfo's head, he essentially listened to a bunch of people complain and signed off on the hit. Leonetti was also pushing for it according to Caramandi.

Real gangsters probably just laugh at media speculation over who is most powerful

nah they don't care about generic speculations they are interested only in articles that can be dangerous since they show something important about them

I really doubt it.

I think real-life gangster really don't give a shit about what the media thinks who's the most powerful. They couldn't care less.

Well George Anastasia believed the wall street journal article had a huge part in Salvies death and Gotti had a radio host shot and numerous reporters have been targeted for article they wrote. I agree that most don't care but I wouldn't doubt John Gotti, Joey Merlino and the like care/cared to an extent

But there are always exceptions to the rule. This is just one of those. And this was Nicky Scarfo. John Gotti is another one.

What about Merlino (Joey) I remember reading on another board that Joey had internet access while in prison and saw a few threads about the Pagans refusing to pay the street tax, and then shot up Merlino's Nonna's house after his father allegedly slammed his car into the Pagan guys motorcycle while he was on it and sent him to the hospital with serious injuries.
Joey said the story was complete BS and the Pagans paid street tax like everyone else. And that his Nonna's house was never shot up and if it had been there would have been serious repercussion against the Pagans.

I know the truth lies in the middle most of the time but I tend to believe Joey's account more because this was during the early 80's when Scarfo was Boss. They had about 60-70 made guys and at least 50 on the street as well as many associates. As a general rule for every made guy there are 5-10 associates and there is no way Scarfo would let the house of his underbosses mom get shot up without there being repercussions. If that happened I think Salvie and the boys would be out hunting Pagans for 16 hours a day and sleeping in there cars like Caramandi said they often did during the Riccobene wars.

I think mob guys care about how their power is seen by others in the underworld. Not by the press or the public. In fact, they'd likely prefer the opposite.

I concur with Ivy. I think the majority of made men would rather eschew the public spot light. Sure people like Scarfo might have read that article, which certainly bolstered his reasons for whacking Testa, but I don't think that a press piece was the only reason he did it. People in the game know who carries weight and who doesn't, which should mean more in a "secret society." Did the Chin lose any influence or power when Fat Tony was idenitified buy the press and law enforcement as teh Boss back in the day? I don't think so...

I saw Leonetti os an A&E show or something saying he was slavy's best friend and was against the hit. He said he never tried to talk Scarfo out of it cause it would of got himself hit. JMO Salvy should of never disrespected Chuckie.