In your opinion, didn't the other 4 families know who was in real power in the Genovese family during those times, that Lombardo was the "power behind the throne" or whatever, or was it only the law enforcement that took the bait? I mean, was this whole "conspiracy" and "front bosses" thing aimed only at law enforcement or was it meant to confuse the other families also?
Don't know about all the family's, but a Dec 12 1984 conversation recorded at the Palma Boys between Tony Salerno and Tony Ducks seems to indicate that at least the Lucchese knew about it.
Salerno was speaking about having one of his guys chase off another guy for coming around after he had been warned to stay away...
Salerno: well, sure enough he goes down there, and this guy gives him a whack...this kid goes to his mother, his brother goes to Ben. He sends that wiseguy to knock that fucking Carmines head off.
I come in Monday, he's telling me the story. I said "Ben, hey, what the fuck, you, you put me on...you gave me a fucking job over here, do you want me to take care of it or don't you?
Corallo: But does he reason with him?
Salerno: No
Corallo: Did you reason with him?
Salerno: He, he just lets you know about it. He just lets you know about it. I don't know what to do. I swear I don't. The first time I ever had an argument with him. So fucking disgusted with myself. I said "well, we gotta live with this guy". Yeah, I told him.
Corallo: You cant do that, see, you gonna, you gonna let this run from here downtown, is that what you want to do?...you wanna say "I throwed the fucking thing out". You want it, and you have to run downtown when you want something done?
Salerno: No, I'll retire. I don't need that
Corallo: I know you'll retire. I know you'll retire
Salerno: Fuck that shit. I wont take orders from that guy.
The conversation demonstrates that Salerno was not impressed that Lombardo(Ben) and Gigante(downtown reference)had second guessed him after giving him a job to do (front boss/street boss)and that Salerno was tiring of his own no-win role and would "retire" if things didn't change.
The fact Corallo brought up the downtown reference as to where Salerno got his orders from suggests he was at least aware of the setup.
