As far as I know, Ernie and Barney are from the same crew. It's the one that Fat Tony used to run. It's could be argued it's not only the strongest crew in the Genovese family, it's the strongest crew in the entire mob. Several of the family's leaders in recent years have come from that crew.
Exactly. That's the old Buckaloo crew that Sammy Black took over in the '70s. Then when Sammy got bumped up, he put Barney there. Barney was like a son to Sammy. And it hardly ever gets mentioned, but if Sammy Santora didn't die so young (natural causes), he'd have been Vince's successor for sure.
