In hindsight, one can't blame the feds for believing Salerno was the boss. He was doing much of what a boss does. They just didn't know, as Cafaro later said, he had to put all major decisions on record with Chin.
How did the Chin enforce this though, like how did he make Salerno feel subordinate, did Fat Tony at all resent the Chin using him?
Salerno has widely been labeled as a "frontboss" for Gigante. I believe that the term was invented by the Feds or the prosecutors when they after the successful convictions in the Commission case had to explain the fact that Salerno actually was not the boss of the Genoveses. Instead of admitting that they actually had targeted the wrong guy (which could have endangered the conviction and maybe the entire case), they got off with claiming "well, Salerno was a frontboss".
This was an evasive maneuver and a tactic that had worked before. For example, after launching the war on the Mafia in the late 1950s, Hoover (who had denied the Mafia´s existence for many years) got off by saying "Mafia? It doesn´t exist. However, La Cosa Nostra do exist and we have been keeping track on these guys for many years!" By changing name of the organisation, he saved himself from embarrassment.
Salerno most probably held the underboss spot within the Genovese family. The underboss, according to the old Mafia tradition, is the boss´s alter ego. In many cases they were supposed to act and think the same. That is why a boss often sent his underboss to various functions such as meetings and induction ceremonies. This is how Gigante operated and it suited him ofcourse.
The idea of having a "frontboss" as an extra level within the hierarchy of a Family is totally out of whack (in my opinion).
Who would want to have such a position within the Family to protect and shield the boss and risk being caught? After all, the mobsters on the top, are not foolish.
![[Linked Image]](http://i1364.photobucket.com/albums/r729/michaeld78/Namnls000_zps164d4a3d.png)
