I always wondered about that myself, he never had the class or the brains to handle the interest of the outfit in las vegas,
from the moment he got there he had them in hot water. he was a horrible choice, who put him there?

^^^thats more or less a recollection of what you saw in the 'Casino' film.

Tony Accardo didn't send anyone out to run Vegas. Joey Lombardo was given the control over Las Vegas rackets & sent one of his top men, Tony Spilotro, out there to run things for him.

Michael Spilotro was not a tough guy nor was he respected on the street. He was a lackey to his brothers Tony & Victor, who were real Grand Avenue hard heads. Michael was a cokehead pretty boy who's desire was to use his mob connections to become a Hollywood actor (lol).

Regarding the Vegas situation, Lombardo knew exactly what was going on, obviously. They were his rackets, after all. He was out there a great deal during the 70s & early 80s. I maintain that Aiuppa & Cerone wanted him dead as well.

Why do you think they were the worst? Give some examples of what they did or did not do to deserve the title

^^^thats more or less a recollection of what you saw in the 'Casino' film.

Tony Accardo didn't send anyone out to run Vegas. Joey Lombardo was given the control over Las Vegas rackets & sent one of his top men, Tony Spilotro, out there to run things for him.

Michael Spilotro was not a tough guy nor was he respected on the street. He was a lackey to his brothers Tony & Victor, who were real Grand Avenue hard heads. Michael was a cokehead pretty boy who's desire was to use his mob connections to become a Hollywood actor (lol).

Regarding the Vegas situation, Lombardo knew exactly what was going on, obviously. They were his rackets, after all. He was out there a great deal during the 70s & early 80s. I maintain that Aiuppa & Cerone wanted him dead as well.

good post tony, but, why let lefty have that t.v. show in vegas. you know that really soured the gaming commission. Chicago just wasn't looking.

Regarding the Vegas situation, Lombardo knew exactly what was going on, obviously. They were his rackets, after all. He was out there a great deal during the 70s & early 80s. I maintain that Aiuppa & Cerone wanted him dead as well.

Lefty was a front guy, and was not a made guy. The TV show was an attempt to keep him in the casino as Entertainment Director, which was a front for actually running it. A made guy would have never been on TV like that, but a front guy? Why not if created the desired impression and kept him in the casino.

Was the TV show a good idea? Probably not. The bigger questions is why did they not have someone waiting in the wings to step and fill Lefty's role. The answer tells you everything you need to know about what was happening in Vegas, and for LCN in general, at that time. Law enforcement was getting better and LCN did not have the talent that it used to have.

This last paragraph is very well documented in numerous publications. Increased law enforcement scrutiny and a lack of talent. Plus, the limited number of capable individuals had no desire to "move up" because others that had done so we're in prison. It didn't take a genius to look at the odds of getting killed or going to the can.

Cal City would have been Heights Territory yes, but I do believe that Aiuppa ran the Owl Club and 21 Club down there. I may be wrong on that.

Also the fact that Lefty Rosenthal was a top echelon FBI informant kinda answers some questions, mostly about how he was able to get away so easily after the whole ordeal.

Catuara did move away for a while, after La Porte, Al Pilotto was the street boss for that crew, he left Catuara in charge of the strip, Catuara began to piss people off, and got into conflict with Al Tocco, who apparently was backed by the Outfit administration, including his street boss Pilotto & Tony Accardo. Angelo LaPietra were given Catuara's rackets around October of '77 according to Matthew Luzi, after Catuara was kidnapped and held hostage for a few days. For the remainder of '77 and early-mid '78, Catuara wasn't on the streets. He began to pop up again in July of '78 and was promptly dealt with.

Two other books of interest:

http://www.amazon.com/Hero-Zero-Feds-Maf...o+heights+mafia

http://www.amazon.com/Prosecutors-Gone-W...o+heights+mafia

Now im not trying to offend anyone with my different opinion but this the way i see things...

I didnt say that they didnt deserve the title,i said that they were the "left overs" in the Outfit and were also worst of the worst.Ill juts compare them with the previous administrations...

They killed their own quite often and that was bad for business and good for bringin the heat.I dont belive in "consolidating the Outfit's power" in such ways.They have done that out of greed.Joey O and Cerone didnt make the Vegas connections,they inherited em.Yes the mafia is a greedy machine but even the greatest bosses belived in peaceful ways of doing business.Just look at the body counts during the 50's and compare it with the late 60's and 70's.

Also during their reign as bosses the FBI launched the Top Echelon Informant Program.They had many hidden informants from every rank within the Outfit and stayed like that for a long time.Ask your self whys that?Its because the members lived in fear and thats why they didnt have much respect.It was pure chaos

Also as some posters said and there are also reports that they werent considered as a very smart persons by some of their members and also investigators. Big shots like Joe B,Gus Alex or Joe Gags(Cerone's number 2 guy who died early) were the real masterminds.

Cerone was a John Gotti type of a guy who wanted to talk a lot and brag about anything,which made the feds to take info on anything they wanted.He dropped a lot of names and situations.He didn’t had the skills to be a boss because he was an enforcer and a "lackey"(his nickname given not by the press but by his fellow mobters).A sharp dresser with the thirst for blood.During the early 70's most of Cerone's crew members were placed in jail or in their graves.Hes only supporter was Joe B.Cerone being Joe B's lackey was what made him a powerhouse.Not his earning ablilites.I mean he started his career as a dealer at the old Rock Garden in Cicero...

Also for a traditional Italian big time mobster,Cerone didnt had much respect for his family either.I think that he killed his own nephew and i also think that he had a son who was an alcoholic.He even acted violent with his mistresses.There are also reports that Roemer visited Jackie Cerone in prison.Im not gonna say that he used to rat but you can never tell...

I belive that Joey O's and Cerone's reign as bosses was the "end of an era of a strong(smart) man rule" in the Outfit.

well, I know lefty was almost killed by a bomb going off in his car, he survived, didn't know he was a canary for the fbi.
could very well explain why he never went on trial, what I don't know is, who tried to clip lefty? spilotro? or did it come from the top? must have known he was squawking.

I don't think they were that bad. They didn't take over until 1970, so nothing in the 60's should be blamed on them. The 70's were a different era form the 50's. Look at all the murders and mob wars across the country. Families were falling apart. You had Cleveland, KC, Rochester, NY with hundreds of murders of mobsters and connected guys due to drugs. They weren't as business savvy as Ricca, Accardo, and Giancana, but they also didn't have the brains like Murray Humphreys around either. The same thing happened all around the country.