To some extent the surburbinizing of the mob has helped them spread their gambling rackets , especially with the internet as IMO wiseguy sports books are the biggest they have ever been , that's a guess on my part but I also guess that spreading out helped them re build their real estate and construction game in south jersey as heir had been a borderline construction boom in he area.
I was under the impression that the west side backed Merlino in the 90s while the Gambinos backed Stanfa . Funny how the mob has its own proxy wars like govt do ( power plays have similar moves I guess ). From my limited understanding the west side really built up their south jersey sports gambling book and even got into Philly when Merlino was away so my guess is they had to work something out .
I also agree and would guess the west side and philly have more going on as their territories overlap and had to of been bumping into each other a lot and gambling is one of those business that morph into a lot of other things connections and thus rackets
Yeah the Genovese supposedly backed Merlino/Natale in the 90s while the Stanfa was backed by the Gambinos, but it wasn't all the meaningful. Neither side was sending guys down to help either side in the Merlino/Stanfa War let alone anything else. I think it was more of a "we support and recognize you, but that's it" kind of thing. Now a days, it sounds more like the Gambinos and Genovese (and on a lesser extend the Bonnanos and Lucheses) not only recognize Merlino and the current Philly Admin, but they also have a lot of stuff going on together (joint rackets, etc). I mean just with the recent Merlino indictment (East Coast LCN Enterprise Case) we've seen all the stuff come out with regards to joint rackets and joint efforts between the Genovese and Philly Fam (Healthcare Fraud, Construction Safety School in Philly & NYC) in addition to the Gambinos and Philly Fam (Gambling sitdown with Anthony Cirillo/Carmine Gallo/Danny Pagano), lunch meeting in New Jersey at La Graglia with the Gambino higher-ups that Nicky Skins taped, the recycling/illegal dumping racket in South Jersey that Merlino Associate Bradley Sirkin was caught up in and tied to the Bonnanos/Gambinos/Genovese are just a few examples for instance.
With regards to the Genovese coming into S. Jersey and even Philly, we know that in the early 2000s when the Merlino guys were all going away for that RICO bust the Genovese were trying to go in and take them out and setup their own puppet admin in Philly. That never came to fruition, however, it shows that they've always wanted to have a presence in the area and that they overlap. I think now they just have a better working relationship. I've actually heard that the Genovese have a couple wirerooms and active bookmaking operation(s) setup literally in South Philly, but Ligambi gave their blessing to have them continue to operate, but Ligambi/Philly got a cut of it and are essentially partners in the book so there's definitely a working a relationship there, and much more so than the 90s.
Remember that Scarfo had a very similar setup/relationship with the Genovese Family back in the 80s and essentially how he came into power and was able to maintain his grip on the Family. He had joint stuff going with the Genovese in AC, which was where the real money was back at that time so pretty similiar stuff going compared to today... Same game, Different players!
