Cisternino was a close associate of Allie Calabrese and Ronald Carabbia and committed several burglaries with his childhood friend Calabrese in the Cleveland area. Cisternino played a big role in the planning and execution of the murder of Danny Greene and had previously participated in several failed attempts to kill the Irishman, including once in a remarkable incident in March of 1977 in the parking lot of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport when John Nardi and Greene were returning from a meeting in New York City with Gambino Crime Family boss Paul Castellano. Cisternino and Allie Calabrese, had planted a remote-controlled bomb in the car occupied by Nardi and Greene. But the bomb did not go off.