Interesting post. I agree that Henry Hill isn't the most reliable of reference points. However I would say you have underestimated Burke's status within the hierachy.
Like Bufalino's driver John 'the rehead' Francis (ex-IRA) hitman there were associates of the mob who were more revered in status than made men because of how dangerous they were.
No one wanted to mess with Roy De Meo when he was an associate and besides, one thing Henry Hill did get right was the fact that in those days wiseguys (made men or not) were getting whacked, left, right and centre. It wasn't that strange for someone of a higher rank to be taken out. It was up to whoever did it though to cover their tracks.
Jimmy Burke was a more important figure in the New York underworld even if he could never be a made man. In the film you can see him telling the made guy that he was disrespectful, something an associate wouldn't be able to do you would think but obviously Jimmy Burke had the status to tell him that he was being a "little offensive, just a little bit". Also, it is implicated he was involved in the hit, but never received the same punishment as his status in the underworld dwarfed Billy Bats.
Another mob figure who was Irish with a very high status was Fat Tony Salerno's right-hand man John Sullivan. It was John Sullivan's job to execute the hits carried out by an another Sullivan (Mad Dog) on the West Side Of Manhattan in the 70's.
Another underworld gang that had equal parity with the Kansas City Mafia was Buster Wortman's East Side St. Louis gang that worked in cohorts with the Kansas/Chicago Outfit until the 80's.
Ray Flynn blew up John Spica (man alleged of having involvement out the hit on Martin luther King) in a deadly war akin to the Clevelend bombing wars of the 70's.
In fact what set this apart was that Ray Flynn's connections to the Outfit stopped him getting whacked but eventually he double-crossed the mob but unlike Danny Greene he won the war with the Kansas City Mafia by aligning himself with the Syrian mob and blowing his way to the top of the St. louis underworld.
He was a ruthless man, so dangerous that he actually managed to win a war against the mob in their prime be it against one of the less powerful mafia families. However, the Chicago Outfit could have intervened but for some reason did not.
Joseph Aiuppa would not challenge the move for Flynn to blow his way to the top of the Union, even though he was warring against the Kansas City Mafia. Again, hierachy wasn't important and it is mysterious as to why Joseph Aiuppa did not intervene. Flynn's status and his East Side Gang's long term connections to Capone dated back through Berne, Stoneking, Buster Wortman and so on. More light needs to be shed on this case but you get my drift. Hirachies are there to be challenged. often they were, succesfully and with approval of one made man to another of similar status in the underworld who wasn't a made man.
The war raged for control of Local 42 in St. louis. That the Outfit would relinquish control to an Irishman like Ray flynn is unthinkable you would think but not to those who know how dangerous and fearsome a power Flynn was in the underworld at that time. Ray Flynn won control though in a battle the Irish mob won.
http://www.americanmafia.com/Cities/St_Louis.htmlhttp://www.riverfronttimes.com/bestof/2008/award/best-book-by-a-local-author-582152/
