ShotgunTheRifle wrote: ↑Sat Sep 14, 2024 1:14 pm
B. wrote: ↑Sat Sep 14, 2024 11:30 am
Loose-knit? I thought this was a tight-knit circle of best friends.
To be clear it was always Scott pushing this narrative that these child friends have this unbreakable bond and no one will ever snitch on anyone in that circle. Then he reports that his best friend dethroned him. I think its something that he should have at least touched on. Again those are the rules, no one should be surprised. But if you have sources, are you not digging deeper into that part? Seems like you are throwing you sarcasm at the wrong people.
I'm responding to some of the posts and comments making their rounds but I'll happily be equal opportunity and include Scott if he leaned into the unbreakable childhood bonds story though he seems to believe Merlino was taken down despite that.
I've made the same point that Merlino's run has heavily used those types of bonds and that's very "Cosa Nostra". The mafia originally comes from relatives, paesans, and people from the same small community who have known each other their entire lives and even over multiple generations. Philly isn't exceptional in that regard and this has made them very traditional in a roundabout way, not unlike the Persico faction, etc. That said, Cosa Nostra is also a story of mafia politics causing issues despite those bonds. I mean this is a Family where brothers were trying to kill each other. Scarfo and Chuckie Merlino were friends forever too until they weren't. When people start thinking the lifelong friendships of some members supercedes info that Merlino was taken down and shelved, it just goes in the face of everything we know about the mafia.
I don't think this means Merlino is suddenly hated in Philadelphia. These guys might well still love the guy but are they willing to lose all recognition, sever their ties to other Families, and deal with the toxic fallout of Merlino's activities just because "Joey's cool"? Capeci says he was told that no, the rest of the leaders sided with Cosa Nostra and that's unsurprising. If conflicting info came out from a good source I'd consider that valuable too.
EDIT: There is a sharp difference too between bonds stopping someone from flipping vs. taking down/shelving someone. Much different thought process in the life.