Last night I had a dream that Carlo Gambino and Joe Ligambi had a cockfight using their noses.

I would ask you a question on this one PB. Nothing much is know about Phil Lombardo and you are from his heartland of the Bronx/East Harlem. The FBI and cops knew very little about this guy, but did you or any of your family know how powerful this guy was back in the day?

No. i only post on this site and most of the time on Irish stuff.

irish gangs are by far weaker than italian mafia in europe or the states

are you sure the Irish mob is definitely weaker than the Italian-American one today?

PB,
it states on Wiki for what its worth that Lombardo was Catena's protege when Genovese passed.

Why was Lobardo appointed over Catena as boss?

Catena's choice?

Interesting PB. Cheers.

Genovese was Capo of the Greenich village crew like Chin, not 116th.
So interesting dynamic. You had Genovese and Chin from Greenwich and Catena and Lombardo 116th.

So those two crews headed the family yet alternated leadership. Greenich (Genovese)-116 (Benny) -Greenich (Chin) -116 (Barney)

Interesting how intermingled those crews were with Lombardo favouring Chin and Chin favouring Barney.

Pretty sure Catena came up, and was later Capo, in Willie Moretti's Jersey crew rather than the Bronx/Harlem guys.

Genovese was Capo of the Greenich village crew like Chin, not 116th.
So interesting dynamic. You had Genovese and Chin from Greenwich and Catena and Lombardo 116th.

Possibly, along with the possibility that he was anointed by committee.

Of course, there are those who still believe that Funzi was the boss, and I respect their right to that opinion. But 116th Street was SO strong at that time, that it almost had to be a guy from the old Coppola crew.

Of course, Benny loved Vince so much that he handpicked him as his successor, even though Vince was a Downtown guy. But even then, the heaviest crew within that Family was 116th Street. That's why they indicted Salerno instead of Gigante for the Commission trial.

The Feds knew that the 116th Street Crew was the strongest in the Family by far. And with Salerno holding court out in the open every day, how could they not think he was the boss?

It was a brilliant strategy all the way around. Unless you were Tony Salerno. But Hell, he was only inside for about six years before he died, and he left behind an amount of money that looked like a long distance phone number. So I don't feel too bad for him.

Was Bobby Manna apart of the Village crew at one point ? I know he's a Jersey guy but he had an apt on I want to say Houston street for years.