Third ward councilman Mike Russo, the formerly accepted de facto leader of the Old Guard is deciding the time to be de facto anything in the background is a time overdue.

According to a report on InsiderNJ, Russo is actively negotiating with the pending Anthony “Stick” Romano for mayor campaign his list of demands not to run for mayor.

Earlier, MSV described Russo the heir to the Russo Clan as nominally behind Councilman Mike DeFusco’s bid for mayor.

Old Guard Russo magic however sees the fairy dust spreading out over the land and is thinking why wait four mayor years to rehabilitate his image on FBI surveillance tape.

Councilman Michael Russo strikes a pose during a City Council meeting in this vintage photo. He’s reportedly in negotiations with the pending Romano campaign whereby he either gets a big piece of pie with council picks, director and municipal selections or he throws his own hat in for mayor.

Some aren’t sure the negotiations will reach an acceptable conclusion for him as in 2009 when he told FBI informant Solomon Dwek on video he had selected all there of Beth Mason’s council at-large slate in her doomed campaign for mayor and would hold a veto proof “super majority” as he called it.

If negotiations fail to produce what Michael Russo demands, i.e., council picks, director selections and municipal jobs, expect to see Mike Russo for Mayor signs to quickly spring up all over Church Towers.

From the report:

With Councilman Ravi Bhalla announcing he’s running for mayor and receiving Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s endorsement, most political observers including this one anticipated Stick Romano entering the race this week. Perhaps Romano will or he won’t but Friday would seem to be a deadline for serious action. Lack of decisiveness is long past and Romano many believe must make his move with or without HudCo standing by his side.

Meanwhile, a blood feud erupted with a DeFusco fundraiser who once worked for Mayor Zimmer in a similar capacity and Romano earlier this week. The report says they were nose to nose at Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop’s fundraiser in a war of words over who has bigger cohones or some such fighting words.

According to the report, the showdown materialized like this: