eboli wrote: ↑Sat Sep 10, 2022 5:23 am
SonnyBlackstein wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 8:35 pm
eboli wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 2:01 pm
I'm sure it wasn't as cut and dry, but the biggest opposition against Bellomo took place while he was still in the can and while Leo was still on the streets.
You're referring to Leo as Barneys biggest competition?
Leo was an unknown until his promo to acting, not a long term player at the top?
You had guys like Farby, Ernie, Quiet Dom, BENNY EGGS!
I'd find it a little stretch Leo had trumps on the above or Tino.
Love to hear your thoughts.
I might start a thread for a more detailed explanation, but the basic timeline is as follows:
June 1996 - Bellomo and the rest of the acting admin get indicted; Bellomo won't be a free man until December 2008 after multiple court trials
1996 - Chin creates a committee (ruling panel) with an acting boss to run the family; Dom Cirillo is the first in a series of acting bosses; Cirillo was a Chin loyalist
1998 - Cirillo steps down after suffering a heart attack; Frank Serpico, a Bellomo loyalist, takes over as the acting boss
2001 - Serpico got indicted and stepped down, died a year later in custody; Muscarella, a Bellomo loyalist, takes over as acting boss
2002 - Muscarella is demoted/stepped down after his incarceration; Arthur Nigro, a Bellomo loyalist, takes over as the acting boss
2003 - Nigro got demoted; Cirillo takes over again
2005 - the year of the three acting bosses: Cirillo, Ianniello, and Leo; the first two stepped down after facing criminal charges; Leo got promoted just before Chin passed away
2007 - Leo got indicted as the Genovese acting boss; suspicions he was on his way to becoming official before his incarceration
2007-2010 - different ruling/rotating panels with Dentico, Mangano, Fiumara, Bellomo, and Muscarella being IDd as sitting members
For half a decade between 1998 and 2003, Bellomo loyalists ran the day-to-day operations of the Genovese family. Other influential members, like Barbato, Mario Gigante, and Longo, sat on the committee, but the actual family head on the streets was always one of Bellomo's guys. Chin approved everything, of course. And Chin's brother Mario was AB for a limited time during all of this, but he was the outlier.
This deal between Bellomo and Chin likely caused friction within the family. In the Ardito-Peluso tapes, there was an in-depth discussion of how 'some guys' felt unhappy with the arrangement. Peter Peluso believed Barney was a marked man at that time if he found himself on the streets before Chin.
Then Nigro got demoted, and the Genovese had three bosses who were not Bellomo loyalists, all approved by Chin. The last one of them was Leo. Since he was the last guy appointed by Chin, and Bellomo was facing life in prison, the FBI had some info he might become official in the near future, which never materialized, but he stayed as the acting boss for 18 months after Chin passed away. After Leo's indictment, the family abandoned the committee+acting boss arrangement and established a ruling/rotating panel.
When Fiumara sat on it, he was in deep shit legally, and his health was declining. The other known members, like Dentico and Mangano, were ancient and likely semi-retired by that point. Other than them, you have Barney and Barney's guy Ernie Muscarella.
Since Bellomo took over as official boss, he's packed the administration with his friends and close associates. Petey Red was the only known 'outsider' if you can even call him that.