Thanks IvyLeague. It's not totally clear (from books/internet reading at least) whether Stanfa had the Gambinos backing because G. Anastasias "Last Gansgster" book says when Ralph Natale says he reached out to Gotti when they were both in prison about Stanfa, Gotti said something to the effect of "Who's knows him?". But, other internet sources say Gambinos had his back.
Internet and books say that RN has embellished a bit regarding his stature in LCN. No doubt the guy is a stone killer; but was he well-respected in LCN? Doesn't appear so. Looks more like a a good "potential" puppet for Genovese's bidding in the Philly territories?
Scarfo SR. wanted to whack out Joey M. And Nicky SR definitely was aligned with Genoveses; Bobby Manna in particular. When Nicky SR was jailed, the Gambinos backed Stanfa in an effort to get some control in the Philly territory. Once Stanfa was jailed, did the Genovese's back Natale? If so, who from Genovese exactly backed RN? The Chin? Bobby Manna?
If this is the case, Did the Genovese's also back Joey M, directly or indirectly, either during the stanfa/merlino war, while Natale was in jail? OR after Natale went away for the final time, because of Natale's connections to them? If so, this leads to an interesting twist with Scarfo Sr. Scarfo would not be happy if his Genovese friends backed a guy who he wanted dead; especially Joey Merlino. But, it's always about the money.
Or...Did Joey M NOT have any backing from anyone in NYC? Did they decide Joey M and Philly had nothing going on? Or did they simply move around and beyond Joey M to get what they wanted down in the philly territories? Thus, Joey M was the leader of a Philly version of the LCN which appeared to struggle getting anything started; only some gambling, drugs, and internal strife?
If bookmaking/loan sharking /illegal gambling is the hub of LCN money, it seems that the reports of Joey M and his friends betting bigtime into LCN-controlled books in Philly may have contributed to the current state of Philly. Under Joey, did Philly LCN have any other rackets going? Do/did they control any unions?
Local news reports claim that Joe Ligambi has focused primarily on gambling in an effort to rebuild and that Joey M is still a gambler. They could clash if/when Joey M comes back to town and starts dicking the Bookies again Is Ligambi recognized by any family in NYC? If so, he's gotta know that Joey M's gambling philosophies are not gonna jive well and NYC LCN is gonna want it taken care of.
If NYC doesnt recognize Philly, where does that leave Philly in terms of how to classify the current organization? LCN or something less savy, like a gang from south philly who have similar initiation rigths as LCN, but plays by different rules?
thanks to any/all who can answer
There was sort of a "cold war" between the Gambinos and Genovese, with the former backing the Stanfa faction and the latter backing the Merlino faction. There was something a littler similar previously where the Genovese supported Scarfo, while Bruno had been closer to the Gambinos. It seems each of the two larger NY families wanted their guy running the show there. I don't think the Genovese had any love for Merlino or Natale necessarily but it was more a case of keeping the Gambinos from gaining more influence. Of course, alliances constantly shift in that world, and sometime later you had members of the Gambino and Genovese families plotting with Philadelphia family members to kill Ligambi, Mazzone, and Borgesi. Later on it seems Ligambi was recognized by New York. I would assume Merlino is now too.
The Philadelphia family had influence with the Roofers Union years ago. And with the HEREU Local 54 in Atlantic City up to the early 1990's. But they've basically been a street operation for the last 20 years. They're similar to the few other remaining small families outside New York. There's still some semblance of a hierarchy, but it's breaking down, and they're just making a living on mostly the bread and butter rackets.
