Nice find Oscar. I've heard the story about Strollo and Paul Gains before but had never read into it this much in depth.
I think the end was near for Youngstown regardless of this event, and regardless of the big ship failing (Pittsburgh LCN) in the very near future. This attempted murder definitely moved up the process a couple years, but with both Strollo brothers being so weak and ending up as rats it was only a matter of time. Maybe if Lenny wouldn't have been scared of Joey taking over his businesses before he went to prison. I could be wrong Oscar, but wasn't Lenny only going away for about a year or so? And Joey was already the captain at that time anyway. If he wanted to take Lenny's rackets he could have killed him just as easily, and he didn't. And almost the same scenario with the murder of Ernie Biondillo.
Strollo was down to running with bums like Jeff Riddle who thought that Lenny was gonna 'make' him and he was gonna be the first black guy ever inducted into LCN. If you are gonna ATTEMPT to kill a prosecutor, at least do it right and make sure the gun isn't a piece of shit and actually fires before you go out on the hit and that you've actually killed him before you leave the home.
Contrary to popular belief, neither Joey or Lenny were Capo's. The last Capo prior to Joey & Lenny was Vincenzo "Brier Hill Jimmy" Prato. Joey and Lenny were made in 1987 and were appointed co-bosses of the greater Youngstown area...and at the end of the day, a wise man from Warren, OH oversaw everything. Joey & Lenny couldn't take a shit before asking Charles "Charlie Murgie" Imburgia.
Also, Lenny never "ran with bums" but he did put his trust into an old friend and right hand man Bernie "The Jew" Altshuler. Bernie ran illegal gambling clubs that catered to the African American narcotics dealers and Bernie arranged the hit on Paul Gains. Keep in mind, Lenny sent Mark Batcho as the main trigger man in the hit...and his gun jammed. Mark Batcho was the bodyguard of Strollo's mob rival Ernie Biondillo and Batcho also shot former prosecutor and defense attorney Gary Van Brocklin in the leg in broad daylight in his office and Batcho also pled guilty to the murder of Lawrence Sisman, partner of Ernie Biondillo and Frankie Lentine in their strip club, The Palace in the Pines.
