Ricciardi said that Amuso and Casso sent for himself, Accetturo, and 2 others from New Jersey and then they tried to lure them to a different location but the 4 of them didn't go because they were worried they were going to get whacked.
They instead went and saw D'Arco at LaDonna Rosa restaurant.
I'm sure D'Arco exaggerated a lot to make himself sound more important but after the encounter with Amuso and Casso I'm sure he was scared going to see D'Arco. Especially when they took them in the basement and D'Arco was talking about there being rats in the family.
So Ricciardi probably was indeed 'shaking in his boots' like D'Arco said because of the whole situation they were in under Amuso and Casso and not so much that they were scared solely of D'Arco like he might have made it sound.
As for Gravano, D'Arco said they called him Sammy 'Bullshit' instead of Sammy the Bull and he said Gravano was ducking them cause he knew he was going to get whacked.
Probably all of it is about half true.
Agreed! Also, I think Casso was going after Gotti and Gravano over the failed shooting of Casso set in motion by Angelo Ruggierio. The Genovese also wanted revenge for the Castellano killing, so the Westside reached out to the Lukes to plant the bomb to kill Gotti, which ultimately only killed Frank DeCiccio.
So Gravano was watching his back because he and Gotti had made a lot of enemies quickly. That’s the context of Sammy “ducking†D’Arco iirc.
