If it is true that Joe made Bill his underboss over Gaspar DiGregorio and other experienced wiseguys, the question is why since Bill was essentially a babe when it came to the business.
Very simply... he was the don's son. This was at a time when Joe was being "beat up" on by the other members of the Commission, and I think he was sending a message to his own troops that he was still running the Family as he wanted.
Very true. Bill was hyper-loyal and worshipful to his father. Joe always had a radically independent streak that kept him from anything but a lip-service relationship to the Commission. Charlie Luciano tried ro bring him into the fold by making him "secretary" of the Commission, but Joe never really played ball. The Commission's attempt to unseat him ca. 1964 was nominally about his participation with Joe Magliocco in a plot to whack Carlo Gambino and Tommy Lucchese. But I think it was more about getting back at him for his independent ways. Naming Bill as consigliere provide a perfect excuse for his resentful cousin, Stefano Magaddino, to turn Magaddino's brother in law, Gaspar diGregorio, against Joe and Bill, thus "divide and conquor."
Both "Honor thy Father" and "A Man of Honor" are well worth reading, even if they'r emostly self-serving. Bill was his father's greatest apologist. According to Bill, Joe never even heard the word "dope"--it was all a plot by his foes to frame him.
