Overall, how much influence would you say the Mafia held (especially in the North East US) in the 1960s?

Which of the Five Families was the biggest and approx how many made guys?

And what other Families existed that are defunct now and how powerful were they?

great question
let's wait for answers

close between Gambino, and Genovese families. But I think the Gambinos were the most powerful.

1. Genovese
2. Chicago
3. Gambino

Powerful defunct families
Trafficante
Bufalino
Marcello

Profaci, Bonanno, Magaddino, Scalise, and LaRocco families had their own troubles to where they could not operate nationally and internationally effectively as they once did. I'll take the flack for placing the Gambino family in third, but the rankings are based not on memberships, but on business both legitimate and illegal that we know of.

Genoveses definitely wasnt stronger than Gambino back in 60s,especially in 70s.They started to grow with Salerno and Gigante in 80s and 90s

Not necessarily. The Genovese were still strong in certain rackets that the Gambinos never were involved in, including the Teamsters and casino gambling(Vegas, the Carribean, Europe). The Genovese, through guys like Jimmy Blue Eyes, Trigger Mike, and Patsy Erra were still the strongest family in South Florida. They had Morris Levy in the music industry. They had the Lee Morris agency in Hollywood. They just didn't have the one big out front boss that they had had previously, which made sense because the previous big bosses, Luciano, Costello, and Genovese, had been hounded relentlessly and had either deported, forced out, or died in jail. Chicago, the Genovese, and Gambinos were on equal footing at that time, Carlo Gambino was just the most recogizable boss at that time.

Speaking of NY we can say that the mob was controlling all the gay bars and the porn industry plus 5 family had formed a monopoly on the construction industry for which all contracts above a million dollars had to pay a bribe to the Mafia, same thing for the waste bussiness or the garment district.
The mob was the dog in the heroin traffick and speaking of single family the Genovese controlled the Fulton Fish Market and the union longshoremen along with the gambinos,the lucchese controlled the JFK airport and all the families was involved in the trucks hijiacking.

Out NY the Decavalcante controlled some construction rackets in North Jersey and some rackets but few things.

In Pennsylvania there was 3 family:

1)Northeastern Pennsylvania Mafia or the Bufalino crime family,that was the smallest (40 made men at its peak) where the boss Russell Bufalino that despite being a small family boss was most respect because was a sicilian born mobster and had ties with jimmy hoffa and with the teamster pension fund (1 bilion in those years) and controlled the coal mines unions and various rackets excpet the drug trafficking;

2)The Pittsburgh crime family or the LaRocca crime family (60 made men) that controlled the Local 1058 and expanded his activity in the Ohio and conflict with the Cleveland crime family when they expanded into Youngstown.

3) Philadelphia Mob or Bruno Family under the Angelo Bruno reign the family reached its peak with a crew in North Jersey,South Jersey and controlling Philly,Bruno controlled the bartender and the roofers unions and was against the drugs;


The Magaddino family controlled Buffalo,Rochester,the cities on the borders and had some crews in canada and had 100 made men before the rochester split in 1964 and the internal war lasted until the early 1980s.

In the 1960s the Chicago Mafia called the Outfit ruled on the other small family like a second commission,ithe Outfit controlled the Las Vegas skim because had the control of the biggest casinos,also controlled most politicians and cops in chicago.

In California there was the San Francisco,Los Angeles and San Jose crime family that apart LA had only 20 made men each and was defunct in the early 1990s while L.A. made men tried in 1997 to take the Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein rackets in L.V. and his killing gave too heat on the family and now its rumored that what remain was absorbed by Salvatore Gambino'son Thomas.

The Detroit Family was powerful because the city was still white and the family (50-60 made men) controlled everything and had an alliance with the sicilians for buy the heroin that come fron canada.

Sorry I don't have much infos on the other families.