I think that that is a bit overstated. Sindone, Caponigro, Testa, Idone, Narducci et al. were all plenty rich. He even left Riccobene alone and didn't get much if anything from him. The whole Bruno was starving his men theory comes from what Leonetti said Scarfo complained about. Well Scarfo, like Gotti, wasn't a great earner on his own and didn't make any money until he became boss and everyone was kicking up to him. The guys who were major earners were doing fine. His problem was that two of the big earners, Sindone and Caponigro, weren't satisfied with just being rich, they wanted even more.