Neil in my opinion was the most ignorant mobster to believe in all that LCN crap he preached... In fact IF LCN which he loved to preach was real, then in theory he should have demanded to be boss seeing "underboss" is next in line

Yes old Carlo wanted Paul to be boss, but u can't just make rules as u go along. And Neil for whatever reasons (just got out of jail) or didn't have the stomach to fight a war, decided to respect Carlo's wishes & accept a lot of the crews that would kick up to him directly

Had he been more ambitious, and kicked off a war, which crews were willing to go to bat for either guy?

Paul side

Nino
Tommy Gambino (did he even have a crew at this stage?)
Frankie DeCicco
Toddo
Pat Conte?
Scotto ?
Marino
Jimmy Brown
Joe Gallo

Neil
Fatico/Gotti
Fat Andy Ruggiano?
Joe Piney
Ralph Mosca?

Frankie Loc?

I think everyone would have realised Neil (even on Paul's side) was the better boss because Neil wasn't as greedy as Paul who demanded a huge cut. And Neil understood the street guy better