Not to get off subject here... But just a thought I had while reading some parts of the thread. I agree with whomever stated that there was a natural interest for the Genovese to back Merlino. They would have backed the corner guy selling hot dogs if it was trying to shift power in its favor and away from the Gambinos. But more importantly, we have all been discussing how Chickie Chang Sr, Chuckie Merlino, etc were backing the Merlino faction from prison (I think that was the general consensus despite some contradiction from some sources). Where I am going with this is since the high ranking Scarfo guys seemed to be closest with the Genovese then they probably had connections with these guys even from jail. I think it's a strong possibility that the Scarfo guys (ex-Nicky) reached out to the Genovese guys and did some back room/cell politicking essentially striking the same deal that nicky made in '81 except using the Merlino crew as a proxy.