My two cents is that both groups were in the wrong. Bonanno was "planting flags all over the world" and trying to be top boss, but Gambino/Lucchese were taking advantage of the situation and trying to gain more power themselves. We're talking about a bunch of ruthless criminals here.

In this great rant by Tommy Eboli, he seems to think Gambino/Lucchese are setting Bonanno up to look bad.
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=94973&search=%22philip_lombardo%22#relPageId=2&tab=page