Am I the only one who figures in the event Paul goes down at the Commission Trial and Gotti doesn't have him clipped beforehand you're all under the assumption the Gambino Family would take orders from a hump like Tommy Bilotti just cause he's in a "figure head position"? Even from a 100 year setence from the Commission Trial before Paul would have given up the big seat he without question would've bumped Tommy back down and into the crew of a friend (someone like a Jimmy Brown for example). I think the only thing that would have or could have happened in this situation was that Paul from jail would make Neil the boss and Neil would then have set the Gotti wheel in motion regardless. I see Gotti coming out on top anyway it goes with Paul as boss. Neil was sick and on the way out but still would've been boss until he died, between his crew and Fatico's crew that Gotti was already running, the writing is kind of on the wall. With Paul out of the way so goes the juice of his allies in the family (not that they weren't still very powerful guys DB and Jimmy Brown as earners and Bilotti as a tough guy) and back we are to the Neil should've been boss when Carlo died debate. With the backing of Fatico and guys like Piney Armone and the other Gotti supporters, Gotti simply would've just been groomed for a bit longer before Fatico went away and Mr. Neil got sick. So what I'm saying is, if convicted and not murdered Paul from jail would have demoted Tommy and made Neil boss, or the would have been a captains meeting and Tommy would "step down" and Neil would have gotten a unanimous vote in my opinion. Half the family wanted him to be boss in the first place, the other half that favored Big Paul would have already gotten their way, seen Paul wasn't the right choice and then swung around to backing Neil. He'd had the support of the whole family much of whom disliked Bilotti anyway. I honestly think he goes from Underboss down to solider if Paul goes away.
Paul would never make Neil boss, if Paul was refused bail, by then Neil
was deathly sick anyway and by the time the trial kicked off, Neil was dead. Paul right away promotes Tommy as underboss- not only to reward his loyalty but to also keep the money flowing in the event Paul goes away for good.
Now, as u suggested, paul in the event he losses at trial he would bump tommy down and Jimmy brown up, sorry but that makes no sense
Paul probably knew he was going away at this point and making tommy underboss was for the reasons stated above. If he wanted to up jimmy brown or anyone for that matter, he would have chosen them as underboss to begin with
And again, if Paul was convicted at trial, he would still be alive and could possibly hold onto whatever power, try as he might, not to mention Gigante was a close ally. That's not to say Gigante would fight a war for him. And yes Tommy would only hold out for so long until he is overthrown but the idea of him as boss isn't far fetched. Blame Paul