I don't know much about NY but Chicago's power at its height was staggering--and I am the farthest thing from a fan. But it not only controlled Vegas and had great influence in Hollywood, it's grip on the city was appalling. We had alderman who were literally made guys and countless politicians, judges other elected officials and cops on the take. During the Giancana era there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that the Outfit basically got JFK elected by swinging Illinois. I didn't believe it but after reading several books its fairly hard to deny.
I realize a lot of the Vegas and Hollywood stuff was done in tandem w/ NY, I believe, as well as a lot of the union stuff. So it gets blurry.
I agree with what you're saying about the Outfit-related corruption in Chicago back in the day. What often gets overlooked is that New Jersey wasn't much better in terms of mob-related corruption. It had comparable influence in the Democratic party. And in New York, Frank Costello was as influential as any "connection guy" ever was in Chicago.
The New York and Chicago families, as well as several others, had interests in Las Vegas up through much of the 1960's. That, of course, was when many sold out to Howard Hughes and others. I think Chicago and some of the other Mid-west families maintained a presence there longer with the Argent-owned casinos later on.
The unions, on a national level, was definitely a cooperative thing. I've always suspected inter-family cooperation on things like the unions, open territories like Vegas, etc. was a big reason why the Genovese family had the "messegaro" (sp) position with Chicago.
Mods should mind their own business and leave poster's profile signatures alone.
