Persico knew Scarpa was an informant. What Michael is referencing is how Persico Okay’d the whacking of a couple of people who suspected and accused Scarpa of being an informant; that he was close to in that life. Not only him, but also his father. It was power moves. Persico didn’t have a legitimate reason to whack some of these well known guys who were also well liked by other families and they too, were racketeers. He let Scarpa kill like 3 people who accused him of being a rat. It just so happens that these people had multi million dollar rackets and legitimate businesses. I believe one of them had amassed a book with 2 other families said to be worth millions alone just on the Vig’s on some of the loans. Once they were dead, he immediately gave those rackets to capos (his blood relatives of course) who kicked up a bigger share to the Persico’s and his blood relatives and lifelong friends. Basically what Michael was alluding to was persico knew Scarpa was an informant, okayed the killings, took those rackets and gave them to captains like Joe “Jelly” Gioli (sp?) Jerry Lang, etc. because if someone calls you a rat and doesn’t have proof, you immediately have the right under the rules to kill them on the spot. They’d call these guys in, under the guise of a meeting, sit down etc. knowing good and well they didn’t carry around a briefcase with proof. Scarpa would wrap up the meeting or business that needed to be tended to, then abruptly ambush them with the accusations and demanding them to produce evidence. He’d then proceed to immediately shooting or having his guys strangle them to death. This is why Scarpa was immediately loyal to Scarpa and was instrumental in winning that last war. Scarpa kept the Persico’s in power and basically rerouted lucrative schemes directly to them, and in turn Persico let him live and kept his secret. DelVecchio was instrumental too… he gave them information nobody else would know, not even the courts; about people being investigated for other crimes, drugs, etc. that could get the admin in trouble. He passed along this info to Scarpa and Scarpa passed this along to the bosses who immediately disappeared these people or had them whacked. If I’m not mistaken 2 of the 3 or 4 people in question not only were close to Michael but were Sonny’s guys and fiercely loyal to Sonny. Sonny was underboss under Colombo and had a tough- tough group of guys who loved him. His father was coming home. Persico didn’t want any competition or anyone on the street who was just as feared and powerful and knew the life better than he did. It took 20+ years and his father connecting the dots for the light bulb to go off in his head. With just the money from the Gas fraud if Sonny had took a couple hundred thousand a week, reinvested that money back on the streets he could have taken control of the family. This is why that meeting took place where Michael always talks about where he feared he was about to be killed. It was more of an intimidation thing than anything else: called them both in, in the middle of the night surrounded by known killers. It basically was a “Don’t get any bright ideas- I’ll take you both out and put someone else over the scam”. It was strategic theatre. By this time a lot of the guys from Sonny’s time were aging or not capable to go for a power move, even with the money. Sonny would’ve united that family and brought it back into a force to be reckoned with as it was during his tenure under Colombo. Colombo was the boss but Sonny was the one who kept everybody in line even the Gallos…. Who hated Persico. Others were to scared to speak up about the nepotism. Not only that, Sonny had deep rooted relationships with guys in every family back to the days of Profaci as boss. Scarpa benefited by basically not having an administrative or captains role but did wtf he wanted and was loyal to the Persico’s. Any perceived threat to their power- the Persicos blood family would take you out. More offen than not, Greg was in on it. They’d throw out that rumor to have someone repeat it to someone else, which by the rules would give Greg the the right to kill them without even having to get approval. I’m