Hey, that's the fun of it all, we can all have our own opinions formed out of this piece and debate. But just to be clear, I'm not saying Joey wanted Ligambi to induct his guys into his crew. But while Joey was in prison, Ligambi was the acting boss, so he'd be the one conducting all of the making ceremonies anyway. And he wouldn't necessarily be inducting those select guys Merlino wanted into his crew. He could've stated during the ceremony "such and such, you're under Mazzone until Joey comes home, your captain is Stevie, but he's not your official crew boss, he's just holding the seat for Joey" and those guys would've understood that they're under Merlino. But I think the fact that Ligambi didn't want to make the guys, proves that they just might be heading separate crews. Because Ligambi's reason for not inducting the three Merlino sponsored from the can, was that he didn't know the guys, that was the exact words that came from Licata. If they were in the same crew, why would Ligambi NOT know them or feel comfortable with them? And if they're in the same crew with Ligambi ultimately being a subordinate of Joey Merlino, wouldn't Merlino have had the ability to override Ligambi's feelings and pushed him to make his guys anyway? This also goes back to the discussion currently going on on this forum and others about the street power of an incarcerated Cosa Nostra boss. But in Joey's case, we know he was close to coming home then, his proxies (Mazzone & Johnny Chang, and maybe Ligambi)were strong on the street, so he pretty much would've had the authority to have whomever he wanted to receive a button during that select ceremony, yet for some reason it didn't go like that.

Again, this is all just my opinion and speculation. But right now, I'm actually leaning towards Shratweiser's piece being more of an accurate view into the Philly Mob than what most of us are claiming. Some insiders shared info long ago that was also stated in this piece, so they weren't all that far off. At the same time, none of them mentioned Ligambi still being recognized as the official street boss, Borgesi being a player, or Ligambi heading one of the four crews or "factions". So there was also a lot of information they misinterpreted or just didn't know. Another interesting thing, Johnny Chang. More than a couple of these same insiders have shared info that a lot of guys are looking at Chang sideways for his choice of friends and his whose he been hanging out with, some of those guys being known informants. I find the lack of any mention of him during this piece, interesting, when I think back on that claim made by some of the "in-the-know" posters.