I almost hate to say it....

[Antiliar]

He probably did met with Chicago guys. There are reports of Chicago guys meeting with Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Tony Ricci, Fat Tony Salerno and Funzi Tieri. Probably a lot of other guys too. Chicago and the Genovese family were close going back to the days of Joe the Boss Masseria.

[B.]

From what I've gathered reading a lot of dialogue on MF between various members/leaders, Catena was the acting boss but gave Eboli pretty much full authority over the day-to-day actions in New York, while Catena focused more on Jersey. However, there were multiple complaints about Catena sending his brother Gene to meet with other family leaders instead of going to them directly, with some speculation that Gene Catena was making some of the decisions himself. There was a history of Gerry Catena being evasive before he was acting boss, too, as I posted that bit about the Cafarno murder recently where Cafarno was scheduled to have a golf meeting with Catena but Catena didn't show, which led to Cafarno complaining and giving Genovese additional justification to kill him. Knowing what we know of the family, Catena's evasiveness just reinforces the power he likely had.

[Antiliar]

I could see how Catena may have really hated prison and didn't want to die there like Vito. He probably wanted to retire in Florida as a wealthy grandfather. It fits with the fact that that's exactly what he did upon leaving prison. By using Eboli and his brother Gene, he put an extra layer of protection between him and the borgata. It may have worked since the prison sentence he ended up receiving was relatively short.

[Villain]

Heres one interesting doc regarding Eboli and Catena...

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... commission

[Selig]

Catena, far from being top Boss in 1981, or any other time, was simply Vito's Underboss. And that, I believe, was simply due to his connection to the Vegas skim. I don't believe he had any actual powerbase in the Family, apart from his own crew.

From what I understand, Lombardo took over as Acting Boss around 1965, with Vito's ok. Was made Official Boss reluctantly sometime after 1969, when Genovese died and called the shots until 1981 when he passed the power to Gigante.

The rest, Eboli, Tieri, Salerno, is just semantics. Lombardo held the power for nearly 20 years. When Genovese members were told to stay away, that wasn't being shelved or a demotion. He simply asked the new regime to keep everyone away from him due to ill health and because he didn't want any law enforcement trouble.

[Selig]

I don't believe Catena was underated. I think he is very overated presently. While he was a very rich guy, I think his lack of connections and his inability to understand mob politics made him a liability.

[Frank]

I don't agree at all about Lombardo being Vito's acting boss. The evidence points to Catena as Vito's acting boss and official underboss and Eboli as acting underboss,with Miranda as consiglieri from 1962 to 1969. Strollo was acting underboss until 1962.

[Frank]

When Vito died Catena became official boss and Eboli official underboss with Miranda as consiglieri.I think the forum members that did the lineage chart did a great job of clearing up that period of time. I thought the Lombardo as acting then official boss in that time period was proven false.

[Selig]

I don't believe there is any real evidence that Catena ever became official Boss. But you're free to believe whatever you want. I have the greatest respect for the research expertise of the guys who made that lineage chart, but I think some of it is guesswork, albeit informed guesswork. Maybe that's inevitable.

[Selig]

I think proven false is a little exaggerated. The FBI certainly believe Lombardo was Boss from 1969 onwards nowadays, it seems that one particular poster here has an issue with that and has persuaded others around to his way of thinking. Who knows, he may be correct. Possibly the scenario that Lombardo initially took over but handed the baton to Tieri after a serious stroke may be the case. But I think the fact remains that Lombardo had the final say is evident even if you look at earlier posts on this thread.

[Frank]

I respect your opinion too, do you believe Lombardo was acting boss from 1964 to 1969 too

[Selig]

From the docs on Mary Ferrell I think he took over from Catena as Acting in 1965, with support from Eboli, who sounds like a bit of a fanboy, and the top Capos, and was elected official Boss after Vito died, with Eboli as his underboss. I don't think he, or Catena, really wanted the job but Lombardo took it out of duty. It may well be that the confusion from then until Gigante took power was simply due to nobody wanting the heat.

[Wiseguy]

I think proven false is a little exaggerated. The FBI certainly believe Lombardo was Boss from 1969 onwards nowadays, it seems that one particular poster here has an issue with that and has persuaded others around to his way of thinking. Who knows, he may be correct. Possibly the scenario that Lombardo initially took over but handed the baton to Tieri after a serious stroke may be the case. But I think the fact remains that Lombardo had the final say is evident even if you look at earlier posts on this thread.

That pretty much sums it up.

[HairyKnuckles]

From the docs on Mary Ferrell I think he took over from Catena as Acting in 1965, with support from Eboli, who sounds like a bit of a fanboy, and the top Capos, and was elected official Boss after Vito died, with Eboli as his underboss. I don't think he, or Catena, really wanted the job but Lombardo took it out of duty. It may well be that the confusion from then until Gigante took power was simply due to nobody wanting the heat.

it seems that one particular poster here has an issue with that and has persuaded others around to his way of thinking.

I take this a little bit as an insult. I have gone through Lombardo´s FBI file. I have gone through Tieri´s file. I have gone through a close to a dozen of FBI reports on the Genovese Family dated in the 1970s and my conclusion is what I have said in this and other threads. I have posted evidence of Tieri being the official boss from around 1973 until he was taken down in 1981. I can´t believe there are still posters thinking Lombardo had the final say when he clearly didn´t. Is his unsourced Mafiawiki page that fucking persuasive? I don´t have a horse in this race other than the desire to find out the thruth. And I´m convinced that I have. I´d suggest that you file for Lombardo´s and Tieri´s FOIA files, that you file for FBI reports on the Genovese Family, that you read them like I have and then come back to state what your findings are. Until then, don´t say that I have an issue trying convince others around here to my way of thinking.

From the docs on Mary Ferrell I think he took over from Catena as Acting in 1965

What MF documents say Lombardo took over from Catena?

[Frank]

I thought the MF documents Hairyknuckles posted indicated Catena as acting boss and Eboli as acting underboss.