Sarno isn't quite a doofus, he's a smart guy but a shadow of what guys with his authority would've been in the past. He just was greedy and ambitious enough to put himself out there on the spot while guys like Jimmy I and Solly D sat back in the shadows. The Ferriola/Infelise Crew from which he came was a ROUGH and scary bunch of guys. His mentor was a guy named Bobby Salerno whose son is now a high profile criminal attorney whose most famous clients are the Cicero guys.