Manna is basically an advisor at best. He really isnt consulted with from the outside. Inside prison, he is royalty but outside...not so much anymore.
Philly is controlled by outside forces. They do what they do, no doubt. That said, they know who the real powers are and when called upon, they listen. Its really a well known fact. They control philly but let philly control the day to day.
They have an on going working relationship with 2 families and partly with a third.
The north jersey crew gives orders on behalf of the guys in NYC.
Philly are basically a bunch of bookies and shylocks. Merlino gets involved with shit he has no experience with and finds himself in uncharted waters. He knows nothing about insurance fraud at that level. Whatever....it is what it is.
Im not downplaying merlino because some of the guys in NYC like him. After all, he did a solid 11 years.
New York was always a different breed than Philly. In fact, all of the violence perpetuated by scarfo back in the day was to basically impress the wise guys in NYC. New york controlled kennedy airport, philly didnt control a go cart track never mind a fuckn airport.
The crew in north jersey always had a solid relationship with the Lucchese thanks to mikey p. Also the gambinos to an extent.
Scarfo was close with bobby manna so that was the obvious hook with the genovese. Bruno had a history with the gambinos as well which had nothing to do with north jersey. Also, patty specs was both respected and liked by almost everyone in north jersey.