Message #3034

[Bad Penny]

Here's a piece which I wrote for another forum which might serve as something of an epilogue to the above on the subject of repression producing rebellion among a people accustomed to freedom, albeit within an unusual (yet American) context:

The demise of the Patriarca Family, announced as fact at the end of the Hartford Courant article, appears, to me, to have been far less than permanent; indeed, there appears to me to have been a resurgence within the Family under the regime of Louis Manocchio to an extent which made Mr. Manocchio's (apparently) forcible retirement from the leadership position necessary in someone's eyes, be that someone the Commission or his own Family's Capi.  The final straw appears to me to have been the contract let by "The Saint" versus fellow Capo Bobby DeLuca.  I stand by my original analysis according to which this projected hit was never sanctioned by Mr. Manocchio (despite "The Saint" declarations to the contrary), but argue that this projected hit nevertheless represented a degree of disorder within the Family to an extent that SOMEONE with an interest in the Family saw Mr. Manocchio's leadership as being intolerably lenient.  One other aspect of clearly excessive leniency on the part of Mr. Manocchio is the incredible information leakage to the local Providence news media (which information leakage I trust I've documented to the satisfaction of everyone on this forum).  I've further indicated on many occasions my belief that the (apparently) far less lenient leadership of Mr. Peter Limone has effectively squelched this information leakage.  Furthermore, the fact of projected hit-target Bobby DeLuca's elevation to the dignity of Underboss of the Patriarca Family seems to support my claim that "The Saint's" contract was a rogue act undertaken of his own accord, while "The Saint's" own continued survival can, in my opinion, easily be attributed to his current sate of Federal incarceration as well as to his current state of ill health.

My overall view is that the Patriarca Family is, perhaps, an anomaly amongst documented American Mafia organizations, in that the individual clubhouses (known as "crews" within the rest of the US Mafia) seem, to me, to be particularly powerful.  This appears, to me, to have either been revealed by the late Mr. Patriarca's 1966 assassination of  Federal Hill fixture Willie Marfeo (for which hit Mr. Patriarca was convicted) or congealed as a result of that hit.  (My guess is that it was a combination of the two factors.)  In any event, Willie Marfeo's popularity on the Hill led many who would never have "ratted out" the Office suddenly to begin singing, to the extent that Mr. Patriarca spent few unindicted minutes through the rest of his life.

***

It's my idea that running the Patriarca Family is less a science than an art, in that balancing Family unity against the independence of the various clubhouses represents walking a tightrope to an extent which would challenge any would-be Family boss, no matter how talented.  I believe I've made clear my reasons for believing that Mr. Manocchio veered too far towards the side of leniency during his term as Boss.  It remains to be seen whether Mr. Limone will unify the Family under a stricter, more centralist regime, or will simply foster yet another rebellion amongst the Family's clubhouses, accustomed as they've been since the mid-1980's (with the evidence I've shown you concerning this trend's origin at least as far back as 1966), to a very high degree of independence.  (Furthermore, it's my understanding that the consumers of the Patriarca Family's illicit services were also a major factor behind the "Patriarca Family Mid-1960's Rebellion", which rebellion required a massive series of hits ordered from the Office to counteract, which hits, in turn, only stoked the fires of further rebellion.)