User blog comment:Martialmaniac/Illumi's necromancy/@comment-4828844-20151021095057/@comment-5780397-20151021225813

I think it's less likely than assuming he had manipulated the corpses. First, Illumi made clear that he needs a specific type of needles to create Needlemen, and that was not the type. Thinking back, this should be proof enough. Second, in the manga the "deceased" godfathers actually say "..." when Illumi talks to Silva, which seems to suggest they still have some form of consciousness. According to Dino, what Illumi says is close to "I have disposed of the grandfathers", but I don't think Togashi would have been so specific about the function of the transmitter only to make an exception while it was explained.