Wasn't Scarfo initially popular? I heard Leonetti say that all the captains were happy when he took over.

From what i remember just the first year or so before they all figured him out that he was a psycopath and just went along with him out of fear

Sonny, I have never stated Galante was shelved as a fact. How the heck would I have known that?? But when two different sources, independent of eachother, claim the same thing it indicates where the truth might be at.
And there are wire taps of Violi and Rizzuto discussing the Rastelli selection. According to the authors there are recordings of the meeting. I doubt very much they would have mentioned this in the Sources and References segment of the book if there weren´t.

Thank you for the compliment. Keep in mind, Sonny that things we (all of us) might think we know, could be very far from the truth. No informant and no book provides us with definitive answers or full knowledge. Mob history is filled with inaccuracies and missunderstandings. But I think, by using common sense and a little bit of a detective´s work, we could get (at least) a little bit closer to the truth.

But they do not claim the same, if you're referring to the FBI's statement that he was retired. Retired and shelved have different meanings as you know yourself.

Before Pizzaboy joins in and tells us to agree to disagree, I would like to say one thing. It´s unlikely that a 50 year old mafioso, who had just been caught selling drugs and therefore violated the no drug policy Bonanno passed in 1957 and 15 years later was back into the life, was retired. I think it´s more likely that the informant´s info (who I believe came from Harry Riccobene, the Philly mobster) meant that Lilo was shelved. But he chose to say "looks like he´s retired". I think that was his exact words. Why would he suggest that a fellow Mafia member who was basically in his prime, was retired? Of all the Mafia members around that time, did he pick out a random name and decided, without any substantiation that the guy was retired? The dude should have played the lottery!

Was Rastelli the true boss of the Bonannos or just a figure head? Nearly everything I've read about the guy has been negative, that is was he was nervous, indecisive, and weak willed man for the most.

I agree with you that it's very unlikely that Galante retired in 1962, but still you're only hypothesising. That FBI report only states that he was retired. You can interpret that any way you want.

To my understanding, he was the true boss.

Sure. Just like Selwyn Raab and any other author writing about the Mafia could.
Anywho...my point originally was that Lilo did not function as the consigliere as Raab said in his book. John Tartamella did. Can we agree upon that?

I don't question you about that because I do not know much about that myself.

This isn't my best subject, but Rastelli spent most his time in the can, and was quick to kill off family members, regardless of the toll it took on the family. He had a good portion of the family loyal to him, but being a strong boss means you're the boss of all the capos in your family. Galante was never the official boss, but he was able to step in and terrorize the family in to reporting to him, this undermining the jailed Rastelli, a lot. After Galante's death came the Sonny Red thing. Infighting breeds infighting, but I have a feeling if it weren't for the efforts Massino and Sonny Black, nobody would have stood up for Rastelli. He only was able to hang on to the crime family because of them. 'Loved' or 'feared', I think he was neither.

There is no definitive answer.

Being feared has many setbacks. Fear can be conquered with confrontation. However, love has the ability to last forever and can be argued as the safer option to insulate your organization from possible enemies or allies vying for power/control.

massino,coppa,lino testifiedthey were all made by galante and if the othere familys said yes to making them he was some kind of boss. i would guess these guys loved him and when lefty was outside the restaurant with brasco on tape he says peolpe fear him and hate him. seemed like leftys loves rusty.

You are right. I think they liked that he was a gangster not a racketeer like Bruno however he paranois probably wasnt anticipated by his family

i used to go in a bar where Joey Punge hung out in south philly on 15th and wolf and the last few years of scarfos run they were even afraid to talk about him behind his back and he was 60 miles away in atlantic city

I can kinda see what your getting at between Drugs and Atlantic City. Taking drug profits off the top I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did?

Love your friends, Fear your enemies.

Let me know how that works out for ya.

Why did you hang with his crew?

i prefer "Fear your friends,love your enemies" instead?!

If your friends were feared of you then you would have no friends. If you loved your enemies what would be the purpose on hating them? LOL..

if you just wait 5 min and think it over again you just might realize something

Dont understand love your enemies part, Would Corleone love Barzini for killing Santino?

think think think...move that brain muscle

I agree with those that think it's the right mix of both. Straight out fear may work for the short term, but if the carrot isn't intermingled with the stick, then people will revolt - maybe not right away but at some time...and in the mob it seems to happen more frequently than not... (see castellano, casso getting an attempted hit on him by gotti's boy "quack quack")... i think the old timers like gambino, luciano, costello knew the right way to rule and to allow everyone to eat at the table as it were..

Any boss, mafioso or not, needs to have the perfect balance.

You only really need or want your blood family to love you. Everyone else can kick rocks, who cares?

Loved and respected by all. No one messes with a guy who they respect.