Lombardo came from Phil Alderisio's old crew which eventually became the Grand Ave. crew. He rose pretty quickly and was given Las Vegas by proxy through Spilotro. He may have been the top guy on the streets when he was released from prison in '92 although he was severely limited by his parole restrictions but, as Richards_bar stated above, he could still communicate through Andriacchi. Once DiFronzo got out of prison he took a further step back and was more of a background figure, lending advice when needed.