It's rather obvious to me that Mike Sarno was holding down the fort for Solly D while he was away. DeLaurentis & Sarno were both soldiers in the Infelice crew, with Sarno being much younger & lower on the totem pole. It's true that when all those guys went away, the younger next generation (Sarno & his cronies) were the only Infelice guys left on the street. All the Carlisi guys were locked up. So naturally, Sarno took the reigns of Cicero until his superiors got released. I just don't think they expected him to goof up like he did, that obviously wasn't planned.