Again, Youngstown was considered wide open until the early 60's. DeNiro had "friends" in Cleveland but was not a member. He was a competitor of the Naples brothers as well as the Youngstown Calabrese organization who called all the shots in Youngstown, run by Paul Romeo & Dominic Mallamo. Wars over the numbers racket happened quite often, as it was all about greed.
You mentioned that Sandy Naples was affiliated with Buffalo at some point, which I gather means Joe DiCarlo. DiCarlo was out of Youngstown by the late 50's, but I think May says that the papers reported at that time that DiCarlo was trying to get re-established in Youngstown. If that was so, then Sandy would be a logical ally for him, and also a target for anyone who did not want DiCarlo back. May also says Sandy was using junk, at least part of the time, which I imagine would make other mobsters distrustful of him. That gives at least two reasons for hitting Sandy, but does anybody know or guess who ordered the job?
