So crews or families are at “war”
It’s not threats, fights, shoot outs and ally to ally gun fights like in the movies, not even close.
Body counts seldom if ever get out of the low double digits. I am guessing for the duration of the A-B-C wars from the prelude to the final skirmishes the body count was less than 30. Mostly its saber rattling and banner waiving. In Utica in the 80s there were two Buffalo social clubs on Bleeker St and the Colombos and Buffalinos had their club literally right around the corner on 2nd avenue. There was a lot more posturing and waiting than “fighting”
The Rochester war came to central NY in 1976 when Al Marrone threatened to “bury” Dominic Bretti and Teeter Nole if they tried to take advantage of the Buffalo families instability and plant their flag, and they whacked him if front of their house on Cathleen St.
Buffalo beefed to the commission and Tony Ducks famously said “I don’t care who runs those cow towns” so the stand off went on for almost 12 years. In all that time, there were 6 killings, (All but one were Columbo’s) two shootings (one Buffalino, one Buffalo) and some beatings. In the end, the Colombos Bretti crew, now down to 4 or 5 backed down and sealed their own demise in Upstate NY with a stupid murder on a woman over a $2000 check, and any influence in Rochester when Sullivan whacked Fiorino and ended up robbing a bank in Utica for gas money to get home to NY.
These were some of the last battles in the ABC wars. The Falange/Carcone crew won the war, but didn’t get to celebrate long, because half of us were indicted a couple of years later.