Everyone knew to stay in their neighborhoods. There was none of this multicultural and diversity crap with different peoples mixing beside summer festivals, generally run by churches with highly ethnic parishes.
It was possible to safely navigate the city and as a white kid I didn't feel too much like a minority unless I was in an ethnic neighborhood of European extraction. Forget about West Philly. No go zone. The writing was literally on the walls of where not to go. Forget about going north of Spring Garden, if my memory isn't failing me. There was order. There was segregation. The mob enforced it. The cops enforced it.
Sorry for the long winded post, I'll get to the point. Was Philadelphia better run by the mob or by the Democrats today in the absence of the mafia? I'm not old enough to know what it was like in the 50's when there was a Republican machine that ran the city. Note: I moved away from the Philadelphia area when I was 18 and went to college. I had no desire to live there again and still don't. That was almost 40 years ago. It wasn't all that great then and it certainly is a hell hole today.
I started out around 9th & the blvd then Kensington, Juniata, Tycony, University City (41st &Woodland) and finally, the Art Museum Area (19th & Fairmount).
IMO, Unions were the behind the scenes power, the Teamsters in particular. The two main powers behind/vying to control the unions are known/easy to figure out.