How was Joe '"Piney" Armone as underboss?
Figurehead or did he wield some actual power in his own right?
I bet all the Gambino guys respected him since he goes back to the 1940's.
I would also add two things that helped him being an influent figure :
- He was very close to Joe N Gallo, the Consigliere. To the point that Joe N Gallo kind of used Piney Armone and his crew as a surrogate crew for himself. Joe N Gallo would use Piney's guys for his business but also when he needed enforcers. So somehow Piney was operating at an administration level.
- Piney was a Queens guy and had close relationship with the other Queens-based crews in the Gambino Family : the Fatico/Gotti crew and Fat Andy Ruggiano's crew. These were two working crews with a lot of key soldiers in the family.
