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?
