Had a question i was pondering and thought the knowledgeable fellas here could def have some good solid answers...

Who would you say is the most powerful/successful skipper? Any fam, any time, but someone that never rose above the rank of capo... So excluding people that were capos and then became consig, acting boss, underboss, street boss, or actual boss. Strictly who would you all say in your opinion was the most powerful skipper? I would think longevity , influence, etc are all qualities that should be considered. I know there is often debate as to peoples actual rank or status in their respective families

My vote would be Tony Provenzano. Ran local 560 was a teamsters vp and i believe he basically ruled Union, and his other territories as well as having nationwide reach from id say the mid 50s until he went to jail in I believe the early 80s...

Honorable mention imo would go to Jimmy Faila.. Ran the garbage industry for the Gambinos for a good 20 years and was a very powerful and influential skipper.. I dont believe he ever held an admin position

Any and all thoughts fellas....

How about Mario Gigante?

Beans thats a good answer my friend.. How long do u think he was a skipper? Did he have power before his brother became boss? Id say for sure ir Chin took over in what 1980-81 then he was a capo for damn near 20 years.. How was his power relative to other capos in the fam?

I've only heard he's very powerful and was for a long time. He has to be long into his retirement. Must be pushing early 90's.

Oh okay i gotya .. Still a solid answer tho didnt even think about him buddy..he def qualifies

The giacalone brothers tony and billy jack were both skippers and for a long time were one of the top mobsters in that city

GR thats a good answer buddy cept for the fact that Tony Jack became street boss.. Idk if Vito ever rose above the rank of capo, but i was mainly asking about guys that were always only skippers... But no doubt Tony And Billy were very powerful skippers that had reigns from what the early 60s til the late 80s maybe even early 90s?

Crazy Joe Gallo.

Huge crew that had enough muscle to take on an entire family. The president street crew graduated Punchy Illiano, Kid Blast and Vic Amuso. They all went on to powerful positions.

true tony was the street boss but that is sort of a skipper in a way. He was a power from the 50s right till 2000 he was indiceted in 1997 with the whole detroit leadership but he died under indicment in 2001 by cancer he was active right to the end

as for billy jack he was active through the 2000s he was linked to carlo bommmeratios overdose in 2008 law enforcment think billy jack had him killed and made it look like a drug overdose. It is the giacalones style so many guys in the 70s 80s and 90s suddenly died of drug overdpses or died of a heart attack the feds always thought they were murders but being covered up. Billy jack plead guilty in the gametax indicment in 1998 there was a detroit mafia the first mobster ever to do that he was released in 2004.

he was made underboss int he 2000s and stepped down in 2009. He died in 2012 and many believe that when in his retirment home the feds bugged it hoping that they would get him talking about hoffa.

Federal surveillance logs saw him all over the place throughout the 2000s meeting mobsters and settling mob disputes.

here is a really good article on billy jack giacalone

http://gangsterreport.com/fbi-bugged-bil...-hoffa-mystery/

Does Paul Vairo belong in this conversation?

Jimmy Alo is hands down the most powerful skipper of all time.

Agreed on Alo. Really surprised people don't talk about him more. I guess there isn't that much info out there.

You could make as good an argument for him as any.

Ruggero "The Boot" Boiardo would also qualify, I think

The Tick Special v The Alo Vera Treatment.

It's lose lose if you are late with your tribute to these capos.

Either Tony Provanzano or Johnny Dio (who some say could have succeeded Lucchese if it weren't for the Riesel incident and his legal problems) would be my top picks, though you could make many convincing agruments for a lot of people like Richie Boiardo.


Mickey Ziffarano would be high my list and so would Gyp Decarlo.

Also Scarpa in terms of pure street power through fear, not politcal influence.

Let's say its a capo who never raised any higher then capo if he wanted or not so that takes a lot of them out of it. Varios had a huge crew but was acting or not underboss for carmine Grubbs then ducks put him down. Richie the boot as far as I no was only a capo and very strong one but he wasn't a NYC guy. Nino gaggi had demeo who had his crew of killers and the westies so that crew was no joke and john gotti said so himself. But there Run was only a few years. Jimmy brown had money but did he have a bunch of killers? but if a capo is making huge money a boss probably doesn't give him a bunch of legbreakers n shooters. I say gaggi as capo cause of all the shooters on deck that what gave big Paul his chair and once gaggi and demeo fucked up went to jail Paul was hit. I guess Greg scarpa and all his killers were under scarpetti but he was acting boss for persico after a trial.

1979 nino gaggi was at the peak I guess even thou he had a bunch of old made guys threw demeo and his Gemini crew and jimmy connan you don't get anymore scary. That guy nino also was pure killer ordering hits for slights and old fueds. Guy tried to kill a cop.

The Westside was no joke having the skippers they did the ones mentioned above and the Catena brothers in the same time frame .

Don't think one skipper is touching any of these guys nowadays!!!

Anthony "little augie pisano" Cafano and Michael "trigger mike" Coppola. No doubt.

Agreed DiMaggio , pretty much any capo who has headed the 116th street crew

Dominick Canterino...skipper from 1959 to 1993
Involved in Nightclubs,gambling and loan sharking,the windows industry, had control over Morris levy...
Another guy would be Skids Caruso......longtime 26th Street Boss
Also unless you believe he was consigliere.....Joey the clown Lombardo...porn,gambling,extortion loan sharking,the laborers Union and the teamster Union and pension fund and Allen dorfman

Good call on Gaggi. He has to be up there. When the gambinos were close to their peak, Roy Demeo's crew was definitely one of the most feared in all of new york. And Gaggi was Demeo's skipper.

Tony pro good choices buddy i agree with all your choices..cept I know literally nothing about Ziffarano can you or anyone shed some light on him?

Louie good call on Caruso and fuckin Canterino..guy was a skipper for damn near 40 years and i dont believe he did much if any time in the can..was he ever in the admin tho? Thought i read somewhere that he was on a ruling panel? Altho to be fair imo still qualifies since as a member of ruling panel hes still technically a skipper

[quote=ralphie_cifaretto]Jimmy Alo is hands down the most powerful skipper of all time. [/quote


Ralphie solid choice my friend completely forgot about Alo he may be the choice for sure even tho he was one or those skippers that for a majority of his reign didnt have an official crew with him.. But he dealt and was partners w bosses of many other fams

Regarding my choice of Tony Pro... In the OC report posted and on black hand they claim that Provenzano was actually just and extremely powerful soldier in Iannellos crew? Anyone have more insight on that? I was always under the impression he ran his own crew that included His bro Nunzio, the Andrettas, Sally Bugs and others?

Anastasio and Adonis are worth a mention.

Joey A for sure was a huge power and a solid choice for most powerful skipper

Anastasio is if ur referring to Tough Tony, not Albert since he was obv a boss... Was tough Tony actually a skipper? Not doubting ur insight Mechanic jw .. I know he ran the docks for the Gambinos but did he actually have a crew? Or was he just an extremely powerful soldier? Anyone know who took over his crew btw?

I would assume his brother gave him the title when he took over, but I can't confirm that for sure. He controlled the docks from 32-62, pretty good run.

Was Crazy Joe actually a Capo though? I thought he was a Soldier, muscle, not a Captain.