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.
Those stats Junior could claim would only bury him deeper.
The more that could be taken away from the weak old regime, makes it a more easy move for the new young regime to claim.
Tony took the backdoor, smooth and most lucrative route to the Top. Which actually was the best move since the timeline Is not exact.
