If Spilotro had the muscle to take out the seven guys Funkster mentioned in his post the guys you mentioned would probably fall in line fairly quickly.

It's just not worth the trouble, which is part of the reason Spilotro was whacked because he was too reckless and power-hungry and the bosses were ready to just wash their hands of him at that point.

I imagine Sr. was talking tough to Jr., making it sound like he could whack a few guys and take over "if he wanted to."