B. wrote: ↑Sun Dec 13, 2020 4:30 pm Another good point.
That's kind of what I was getting at about them playing musical chairs in the last 20 years. Mazzone was consigliere, then allegedly underboss in the early 2000s, then it comes out definitely he's consigliere circa 2010, now he's underboss. Ligambi was underboss, acting boss, and now consigliere. Borgesi's name has been bounced around the administration for the last twenty years, consigliere and acting boss.
Sure seems like the admin spots are just a way to stuff the admin with their loyalists, but regardless of their duties those positions still represent power in Philly. I'd be curious if a modern member flipped what they might say about the specific duties of any given Philly leader. Even though the leadership positions all seem to run together, they do hold fast to the structure.
And if you'll notice nothing really changed for Mazzone and Borgesi when they got those slots. They were already the two top powers under Merlino post Stanfa when they were still Associates and Soldiers so they really didn't gain any extra status with those titles and when they got the titles they still continued to engage in the same type of activity as they had before they got them.
We see the same thing with Joe Ciancaglini Jr. and Frank Martines under Stanfa. Despite being the number 2 they were still doing the same things that the lower ranks were doing (hits, dealing with gamblers, personally going out and beating up and shaking down bookmakers, etc). Nothing really changed for them nor did they seem to gain anything from that promotion. Similar to even when Merlino was the UnderBoss and Acting Boss.
It backs up the statement about the titles being meaningless because there is nothing organized about them.
Pogo