The post about the botched Costello assassination raised another question.
Why didn't Costello simply quietly remove Genovese from the ranks of the living as soon as Genovese had returned to NY?
Like Vito Corleone, was Frank slipping?
Geneovese was nothing but trouble for Costello almost as soon as he got back. Now the rules say you aren't supposed to get rid of a made man without cause but the rules are made to be broken, especially by the bosses. And anyway Genovese had provided plenty of cause right up until the time he made his move.
Costello was never on "the muscle end of the business" but all the same shouldn't a savvy boss like Costello have recognized the threat Vito posed?
"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming
Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
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