Junior definitely had NY behind him at one point. I'll put it this way: Tony did NOT want to have to go to war with his uncle. I would tend to believe Tony when he said Junior had NY behind him. Junior goes back in the Family to the 1950s, if not even the 1940s. That's almost 40-50 years prior to 1998/1999, plenty of time to make lots of heavy contacts and connections. Carmine was Boss of the Lupertazzi from at least the 70s or 80s, when Tony was not really a major player. Junior would've taken a larger hand in things as Johnny Boy was dying, too.