The only thing I would say is Stanfa was backed by Gambinos and put in power by Gambinos. Supposedly the Genovese were giving Natale/Merlino the go ahead and support during the Stanfa war. Now that last part could be completely off base or over blown, but it wouldn't surprise me if the Genovese supported Merlino/Natale to get Philly back under their influence (for whatever that was worth at that point). But like I said, I have no real factual backup for that, but thought it was a relevant thought. Pete the Crumb Caprio did in fact testify that the Genovese and Gambinos were conspiring with him to kill Borgesi, Mazzone, and Ligambi, which we've also discussed in recent threads.
I think that's actually true. From what I recall - and I'm basically summarizing this from what Pogo said on this subject on another board some time ago - the Genovese actually did support the Natale/Merlino faction. The reason for it was the "cold war" power struggle they had (and have always had) with the Gambinos. This latest was the result of the fallout from the Castellano hit. The Gambinos backed Stanfa so the Genovese backed Natale/Merlino. Much like the when the Gambinos backed the Orena faction in the Colombo war so the Genovese backed the Persico faction. The Genovese also backed Casso in his plot to kill Junior Gotti and Nick Corozzo as well as the earlier hits he had carried out like Bobby Borriello, Eddie Lino and Frank DeCicco.
And, as you said, later on there were Genovese and Gambino members plotting with Caprio to take out Ligambi, Mazzone, and Borgesi in order to expand their video poker operations into the Philadelphia family's territory.
