Do you mean the Morello's? I dont know if they actually "sat back" as such, just as Turnbull said the mainm players went away for so long that by the tine they came back, thngs had moved far beyond them and new guys had come up.

Although apparantly The Clutch Hand had a go at taking on Masseria, but following the murder of a chief liutenant made his peace and served beneath. So I guess your kinda right looking at it like that.

Still, Guiseppe Morello in particular strikes me as pragmatic and vicious enough to have made the decision less out of fear then a question of economics.