It seems they answer to the Gambinos rather than the Genovese like they used to.,I wonder when that changed
Because the Genovese are smart. Why babysit bums? The Genovese play a much deeper game and avoid people who bring attention to them. These guys have associates who make Joey Merlino look like Henry Hill's driver.
There's always been an interesting dynamic when it came to the Genovese family, the Gambino family, and the Philadelphia family.
We know Angelo Bruno was tight with Carlo Gambino and one would tend to think that would give an influential edge to the Gambinos prior to Gambino's death. Yet it was the Genovese family that represented Philadelphia on the Commission after Bruno was killed. And it was the Genovese family that seemed to be the driving force that went after Bruno's killers and later Testa's as well.
When Nicky Scarfo took over, the Genovese appeared to have the influential edge, considering Scarfo was tight with Bobby Manna. Yet, after Scarfo went down it was Stanfa that appeared as boss, apparently with Gambino backing.
You then had the Stanfa vs Merlino war where the Stanfa faction had the nominal backing of the Gambinos and the Merlino faction had the nominal backing of the Genovese (due to Ralph Natale's connections).
Later you had people from the Genovese and Gambino families together plotting with Peter Caprio to take out Ligambi, Mazzone, and Borgesi in an attempt to expand video poker operations into Philadelphia territory, as well as take over that family.
Of course then you later have Ligambi and other Philadelphia guys sitting down to lunch with the Gambinos.
