Magliocco was the underboss and obvious forerunner. He also was the person who was dealing directly with the Commission. He claimed that the capos voted and excepted him a boss. When it came out that he lied, according to Stefano Magaddino's wiretaps, he personally told Magliocco that he was not gonna be recognized by the Commission until a real election was held. (Pretty much, The Commission was making news rules as Gambino and Lucchese saw fit. Magaddino was a used because of his Senoirity). Colombo was probably approved by the Commission first and the decision respected by the Family second because he was a respected guy in that borgata. At that time, it seems the younger generation, Colombo, Gallo, Franzese, Persico etc had more sway and the old timers were a step down from Profaci. Colombo was a decent choice in theory of keeping the peace. Plus it certainly worked to the best interest of the Commission.

And yes, Profaci definitely was more violent than is generally known. But for that matter, so was Joe Bonanno. There was a couple Maranzano era guys in the mid 30s who wanted to take over and they got clipped. In the mid 40s there was a young crew of hotheads,, whose leader name Nicola Ciccone had aspirations and a few of them got clipped. But one of the most brazen hits was the Cypress Gardens hit. The guy brought his cousin from Sicily to machine-gun (very Castellamare War style) three guys at dinner. Scary!!!