chin-gigante is right, Newark only had one crew from Biondi until 1990 when Licata and Fresolone, first took it up with Pasquale Martirano and Anthony Piccolo about Napoli being incarcerated and needed an official capo on the streets. They felt they weren't getting anywhere with those two guys and decided to go see John Stanfa the other contender for the boss spot and boom, there are now two crews. Stanfa had the Gambinos backing, but if he did not create those two crews, he would not have much family support.
That's not quite right. There were concerns in the family over not having a capo on the streets but it wasn't to do with Napoli being incarerated. When Martirano fled to avoid prosecution in 1988, he left Licata, Attanasio and Fresolone (even though he was only an associate) jointly in charge of running the crew. Piccolo then shortly after changed this relationship so that Licata and Attanasio would be in charge of the crew while Fresolone would be in charge of passing messages to and from Martirano.
After a while there were concerns over not having an official acting capo in place. Martirano wanted Fresolone to do it and he was already treating him as a de facto made member, but Piccolo wouldn't allow it. Martirano pushed for Fresolone to be inducted but again Piccolo refused, saying that Scarfo wasn't approving any making ceremonies while he was incarcerated as he felt it would be like admitting he wasn't coming home anytime soon (Scarfo also didn't authorise any inductions during his incarceration from 1982-1984). When Martirano snuck back into Florida for medical treatment, Licata flew down to see him and was formally made acting capo.
In 1990, Piccolo eventually names Martirano (now living in New York as a fugitive) as his underboss and receives permission from Scarfo to induct new members, but only prospects from North Jersey. (This decision was influenced by the fact that Martirano was dying and kept pushing for Fresolone to be inducted). A day after he was made, Fresolone was upped to capo and given his own crew, which consisted of the guys he was made with. That's when the 2 Newark crews emerged - under Scarfo and Piccolo. Martirano then dies and Fresolone is whisked off into witness protection.
In 1991, Licata and Ralph Napoli are described as both being capos in North Jersey but they aren't getting along. Licata was paranoid in the late-1980s that Napoli was planning on taking over the family and had suspected him of being behind the Nicky Scarfo Jr attempted hit. Napoli was refusing to meet with Licata and was reportedly getting senile. In late 1991, Licata and Joe Sodano travelled to Philly to meet with Stanfa (now the boss), where they complained about Napoli and Stanfa agreed to take him down (this was recorded in wiretaps).
It was at this point, presumably, that Sodano was upped to capo and both he and Licata would continue going down to Philly together. Sodano was sent to prison in May 1992 and Licata continued going to Philly alone. At the time that Licata was sent to prison in early 1994, he was described as a capo.
Sodano gets out in 1994 and is killed in December 1996. In January 1997, Caprio is upped to capo to replace him. Later in 1997 Licata is released and in September 1998 he's indicted as a capo. So that's the last instance I can find of two North Jersey capos being out on the street at the same time. Licata goes away in 1999, leaving Caprio by himself.
After Caprio flips in 2000, Centorino was identified as briefly serving as acting capo. Then Licata was released from prison in 2003 and, for all we know, has been running the Newark crew by himself since then.
The initial split of Newark into 2 crews in 1990 makes sense as at that point they consisted of over a dozen members. But, to the best of our knowledge, no North Jersey guys were made from 1990 until 2007 and that, combined with the attrition from deaths and defections, explains how the 2 crews would naturally form back into 1 again by the end of the decade.
