Examples where nepotism actually worked in creating a stand up powerhouse type guy. Traficante, Allie boy, barney spring to mind. Any others?

Carmine Persico and Joe Butch. Bruno Indelicato is another one.

Oh yeah forgot about Bruno. Just thought of trucchio, cammanaro, scopo, Joey merlino

John Ciancaglini. Joey also made underboss at a very young age, but that didn't turn out well in the long run.

Allie shades malangone and his son Frank butch malangone;
Vincent Gigante with his sons Andrew and Salvatore and the other son Vincent Esposito that had with his mistress Olympia Esposito;

Not sure you could say he was the "real deal" but he became boss: Raymond "Junior" Patriarca

Sal Testa

Wonderboy's kid seems like the real deal

Honestly probably the best example. Made at 24, capo at 25 and was running things while Scarfo was in jail and leading the Riccobene war.

Bruno would be the top of the list for me. His father was killed in one of the biggest power moves ever and he still stayed strong and stuck to the code. Not too mention the Carmine Galante hit which was as publicized as anything in history. Bruno was treated like royalty on the compound. Him, Johnny Joe and Bobby were just treated different. Even the Muslims and Mexicans looked at them differently.

When massino was boss he kept bruno as a soldier. He was probaly afraid of him getting power again. Think i read he made him report direct to him. It must eat bruno alive he never got revenge on massino

We had a Cheese Factory we could see from the yard at Fairton. A few of the wiseguys made comments about somebody dropping a bomb on it hoping to kill “that fat fuck”. I always assumed they meant Massino.

Huh? How did it not work out for Joey?

Joe Punge

Really interesting suggestions. Great info on Bruno in the pen. And didn’t know Massino kept him down like that but it makes sense when giving it second thought. Massino is the worst of the worst. All those killings and money and power then still flips.

And Sal testa has to be well up there.

Chang’s all were/are serious people. Would love to know what joey gets up to. Last I heard Nicky jr was trying to get him back in the game.

And I know nothing about Allie shades kid any info would be great

The Changs you have to feel bad they way their family got torn apart but the father was a serious man. Michael Chang would have been a really good leader and actually went to war with is own brother. Johnnie did 2 long bits and the other brother Joey got half his head blown away and suffers hearing and vision loss as well as walks with a cane

Lcn through and through the Chang’s. What’s joeys history as in how did he get linked up with stanfa away from mikey and merlino? Do we have any info on what he has done since also?

Sonny and Michael Franzese comes to mind first. Also Paul Castellano is a second generation gangster.

I thought of Franzese first as well. He seemed to be intelligent in all of the ways that most of the mobsters his age weren’t. I’m not sure if he would’ve ended up being Michael corleone had he become boss one day but I think he could have been a good candidate.

I mean Carlo Gambino was born into mafia royalty so to speak. Likely had a lot of relatives on both sides supporting his moves to become boss. Joe Bonanno same thing.

Sarfo Jr made a lot of dough with the Lukes, no sure how much of a powerhouse he was though. Still stuck to the code.

Allie Boy Persico.

The Narduccis?

Do you all feel Franzese would’ve been a great boss or do you think he would’ve been a bust?

Thank you for mentioning Carlo. I would say Tommy was the real deal as he was extremely successful. Maybe not like his father exactly but still more than most of his peers.

Sonny could never stay out of jail and had two rat sons, he would have been a horrible boss. He stayed true to his oath but that's about the best thing that he did, he definitely would not have been a good boss. I don't think that Michael would have ever gotten close, there were a lot of sharks in that family and I doubt that Michael could have climbed over them to get to the top.

I read something months ago that Micheal and Ally Boy were being groomed for the two top spots.

Louis Eboli comes to mind. He was the son of Thomas Eboli.

He was close with some of the high-ranking members of the Chicago Outfit. When his father was whacked in NY; He vowed revenge but was stopped by Tony Accardo. Accardo was ready to have him whacked if he went against his wishes. Accardo apparently didnt want to stir the pot with the Genovese's in NY.

I get the distinct impression that Tommy Gambino would have ratted if it came down to it. He just looks like the weaselly kind of guy that was comfortable making money off violence but not having anything to do with it. I don't think he would've lasted a week in prison. I've seen recent pics of him; he looks like he enjoys the high society life.

I was referring to Michael

I think I saw or heard that from somewhere too. The thing is, only a few mobsters really wanted to legitimize all of their business dealings and becoming business magnates. I think that by the time Michael Franzese’s era came around, the mob had missed that window to really expand and become as powerful as they could’ve been had they stayed on the same trajectory they were on in the 1930s-1950s.

Maybe by his father but I doubt that the Persicos would have let him get close to the top, they apparently didn't like Sonny and after that sit down over the gas scam I don't think that they every trusted Michael again. They only wanted to share power with family members or really close friends, which Michael and his father were not. If it is Michael saying that he was being groomed I wouldn't believe him as far as I could throw him, he might be the biggest scammer of them all.