Is it fair to say that the family fell apart because of the lack of experience in the upper echelons - compared to say the Genovese Family?

Amuso was pretty old when he was made boss but still young enough by boss standards; a psychopath too. Other psychopaths like Pitera and De Meo never got near the position of boss while another psychopath Galante ostracized himself from the rest of the Bonanno family and was taken out before he could nail down position as boss.

You compare it to guys with longevity like Gambino, Castellano, Gigante and Massino who stayed in power for so long because they had cooler heads and surrounded themselves with very old and experienced guys.

Getting back to my point - while guys like Avellino, Baratta and D'Arco were in their fifties at their peak, this was still young enough in Mafia terms and Avellino was Corallo's driver and D'Arco was only made not long before he made acting boss.

What I'm saying is that Amuso and Casso did not compliment each other at all - unlike say Castellano and Dellacroce. There was nobody to rein in the other guy when he was losing his head.

Opinions?

Amuso and Casso were probably the worst boss/underboss combination of all time. I wouldn't say it was because they were young, more because they were complete paranoid psychopaths who should've never been anything more than capos.

I'm surprised Corallo chose Amuso as his successor, you would think he would've made a better choice. They didn't destroy the family though, seems like Crea has stabilized them since taking over.

They were greedy and trigger happy. Perhaps the two worse traits you can have as a modern mob boss.

Little paranoid to no!

I think after reading the recent files on gigante he was as much a phyco as amuso and gas. and I think because the two families came closer after the big Paul hit they tried hard to impress chin. they knew chin was responsible for all the murders in philly. bannans and his butt crack of 20$$$. plus throwing the drug dealing brothers off the roofs to death. the way he treated morris Levi was cold. fat tony took pic with his kids.

I don't know how we got this great quote from chin saying I don't break my captains I kill my captains.

If I remember correctly, Christie Tick pushed for Amuso to be made boss. Ducks knew he was going away for life so I don't think he put up much opposition to the proposal.

Kinda off topic but did it bother anyone else in the Casso book that there was almost nothing in there about Christie Tick?

Yeah, it bothered me too. I wish the bulk of the book would have focused on the late Sixties and Seventies-era Lucchese family operations and mob personalities. Instead, we get to hear how "Anthony made slow sweet love to Lillian that night" bullcrap.

If Carlo had any real kind of access to Casso for this book he missed a good chance to write a great mob novel. I think Carlo was writing a book to later be turned into a movie. The dialogue in that book makes my stomach turn, god awful imaginary bullshit that Carlo dreamed up. No disrespect to the dead, I just thought he authored two of the worst mob books ever.

Corallo originally picked buddy luongo to be his successor but amuso whacked him , I agree amuso and casso were crazy and never should have been boss and underboss , there ways sent everyone running into the arms of the Feds . Maybe things would have been different if luongo was not whacked

The worst pick ever Vic never should have been boss, a little weak if u ask me to let that crazy ass gaspipe try to kill the whole family.

like dormwoods said, corallos first choice was Anthony 'buddy' luongo,he disappeared, and then he wanted casso, but casso declined and said vic amuso should be the official boss.

Was -good looking sal- Vitale particularly old and experienced? He certainly wasn't hard to flip when the time came.

According to Vitale, Massino had shelved Vitale and wouldn't allow him to earn. He was "Underboss" in name only.

The downfall of the Lucchese family was RICO and the Commission case, period. It all began with Joe Pistone, and then when the Lucchese hierarchy was imprisoned, the ensuing paranoia of Amuso and Casso while empowered with inside information on who was a confidential informant caused a purge. Amuso and Casso probably really wanted to get all of the rats out of the Lucchese family, but when they began to whack everyone, maybe even more people turned, and then RICO was then finally used on Amuso and Casso. Complete destruction.

What does Pistone have to do with the downfall of the Lucchesse's he was undercover in the Bonanno family. If your saying Pistones part in the comission case had to do with it I don't think he was all that important in the evidence for the commission case I mean yeah his work was part of it but there was a lot more important evidence in that case then what came from Pistone.

I'm just coming off of reading Donnie Brasco: Unfinished Business.

Basically Pistone claims that his 6 year deep cover operation ensnared mobsters from multiple families, including the Luccheses. He actually met with Tony Ducks Corallo and testified that Ducks was the Lucchese boss. Remember that RICO is about conspiracies which is collaboration. Different families collaborated together. Basically Pistone met with Ducks as a Bonanno associate, and then helped put Ducks away by testifying, thus lopping off the Lucchese leadership. In that leadership void, the Lucchese's fell into chaos.

How old was buddy luongo when he was killed?he was a bronx guy,yes?

I think Casso should've got a co-author credit on that book. I've always thought he edited it.

In the Lucchese's case, I think their downfall was simply no leadership...when Ducks went away, it was all over but the crying.

It wasn't a lack of leadership it was down to bad leadership and bitching , wen casso and amuso where on the lamb , guys were backbiting to them about potential rivals trying to get them whacked

Dom...are you saying that casso and amuso were ok, just that those under them weren't, or am I misinterpreting what you're saying?

They were in the leadership positions but they were just awful leaders and totally paranoid and trigger happy , the colombos have suffered from a lack of leadership over the years , that's the difference I was trying to make pal

I never read any of his books so this is the first time i ever heard that. But I highly doubt "Donnie Brasco" a Bonanno associate ever met with Tony Ducks. I don't really believe much of what Pistone says. I find it pretty surprising that he doesnt brag about meeting with Tony Corallo in one of his many redundant interviews. But that aside the jaguar tapes from Avellinos car were more responsible for convicting Corallo than any testimony from Joe Pistone.

A Bronx guy yes. He was 46 or 47 when he was killed.

how can any family survive a casso, he was one of the most murderous men in oc history, completely homicidal, this nut case would have ruined any family he was associated with.

Thanks HK,i allways thought he was older,like well over 50.He must have been a big time capo in order for corallo to hand him over the top spot.

Before vic & gas lucchese's were one of the most peacefull families.After Tony ducks it was the wild wild west.

and who made it that way? without casso that family stood a chance. wasn't there anybody in that family that could see the handwriting on the wall with this maniac.

Between Buddy and Mikey Salerno, the Brooklyn faction of the family has earned a lifetime's worth of contempt from the Bronx faction (who, by the way, are still firmly entrenched in the driver's seat, regardless of the online cheerleaders from Brooklyn who were predicting a "blood bath" when the two Georges came home ).

Re Ducks and Pistone: I don't believe that Ducks sat with Pistone for one second. And let me be clear to whoever posted it: I believe that Pistone wrote it in one of his books, so it's certainly not you who I don't believe. But Pistone is an ego driven asshole who can't stand it that his five minutes were up a long time ago. Is it any wonder why his latter two books were written at the height of Sopranos mania?

Most def casso and vic did that,nobody else.In al d'arco's book his mentioning mike salerno's social club somewhere in the north bronx(am not sure where)was that the crew steve crea was in?(read somewhere his turf was yonkers/bronx)