BLASPHEMY!!! If it was up to me your ass would be banned for LIFE

All kidding aside, while I agree with you that one of the most persistent errors in the history about the mafia is that Lucky created the structure, it's crazy that this gets repeated over and over in almost all books about the history of the mob.. That being said, apart from this it was Lucky Luciano that implemented the business like approach for the Cosa Nostra, a mirror image of capitalism and I'm convinced that this was the reason why it became this formidable organization that dominated organized crime in the US and parts of Canada for over 50 years..

As usual, you're right on point.

I only met John once with Henry and had the pleasure of shaking his hand. Nothing like the relationship I had with Michael.

And what proof do you have of this? Other than the fact it's been repeat over and over....

What do you mean? I agreed with your statement that Luciano wasn't responsible for the modern structure of CN, but rather Maranzano..

If you're talking about what proof I have for the assertion that Luciano implemented a businesslike approach for Cosa Nostra, a mirror image of capitalism. This was confirmed by the majority of mafia experts like Selwyn Raab, Jerry Capeci and Ovid DeMaris. The man got rid of the Capi dei Capi title and created a power sharing institution called The Commission. Now I now that some kind of Roundtable similar to it existed in one form or another years before, called the General Assembly, but it was very ineffectual and was always subservient to Capo dei Capi like Morello, d'Aquila and Masseria.

Luciano also put making money first and traditions and prejudices second. Old school Sicilians didn't like or even flat out refused to work with Jews like Meyer Lansky, Ben Siegel and Lepke Buchhalter. Luciano also got rid of this kind of backwards thinking. I don't care if you don't believe me, because if you can't be convinced by a man like Selwyn Raab about the genius of Salvatore ''Charlie Lucky Luciano'' Lucania, no one will..

Media hyped !!

Raab had no new sources for the 5 Families book, simply old news articles. A repeat of old information.

Everybody is entitled to their own opinion.

New sources? Who is still alive from the Luciano era? Joe Bonanno's book described how Luciano changed things after Maranzano. Valachi testified to it, although he was fed info by the Feds. There are so many sources I am surprised this is in debate. Moving from a dictatorship (i.e. boss of bosses) to a congress (i.e. commission) was a solid move in my opinion. To each their own I suppose.

Selwyn Raab wrote many of the "old" news articles that were memorialized in 5 Families. One of my favorite LCN reporters.

My point exactly.

Lucky is what got me into oc along with Capone. The more and more I've truly learned about him the more of a fairy tale I believe him to be.

I'm not saying it didn't happen that way only that we will never truly know.

These things that have been stated as facts year after year about him kill me. And then each one of us choose to believe what is true and what's not.

I just think it was more of a team effort than one man.

Sorry if I detailed fellas.