Was Carlos Marcello the most powerful man in la cosa Nostra?

He was a produce dealer.

You exaggerate.

I love these old nola mob threads

Joe Rogan ended his career and is still alive so no

At the time he had Kennedy killed you could say he was the most powerful man in America.

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As the don of New Orleans; he had two special privileges that no other don in the country had. 1.) He didn't have to ask permission of the heads of the other families to do anything. 2.) The other families could not come into the state or conduct business in the south without Marcello's permission.

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This is strongly misleading. Before Carlos took over, the old New Orleans organization (Matranga/Carolla) butted heads with Chicago, but Carlos negotiated a deal making New Orleans, essentially a branch of the Genovese family. At the end of the day, Chicago and Kansas City focused on their union deals, Midwestern vice and Las Vegas gambling (which Carlos also get a cut of, because of ties with Santo in Florida and for "services rendered"), New Orleans had more in common with New York as a port and more of the wave of late 19th century Italian/Sicilian immigration. The Chicago Outfit was practically born with prohibition - guys from the New York and Philly trying to branch out and so forth.

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these would have made this man extremely powerful.

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Because he was not involved in the day-to-day grittiness of NY, there was not much bad blood and he was often sought out to mediate disputes among those guys. His position was not seriously challenged during his lifetime, except by the authorities. To a certain degree the remoteness and his semi-autonomy made him a powerful mafia figure for decades.

He had it pretty good, as mob bosses go, but let's not pretend he didn't have to "answer" to anyone.

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NB4 thread (and OP) get whacked.

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Why would talking about a dead man get this whacked? Figuratively speaking, of course.

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Before Carlos took over, the old New Orleans organization (Matranga/Carolla) butted heads with Chicago,

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They met the goons at the train station and broke their thumbs and put them back on the train to Chicago

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but Carlos negotiated a deal making New Orleans, essentially a branch of the Genovese family.

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The only deal he negotiated was that Costello needed a place to place his slot machines since they were were thrown out of NYC by LaGuardia. Marcello offered him a spot to place them at what is now Southport Hall in exchange for a cut of the revenue.

Pretty sure you mean Carlos Mencia

He was gay, not many know that.

Nope

It's always been the heads of the Gambino and Genovese families