It also could be perceived and I know some may not agree that.
Gotti's Crew in the mid 80's was so fierce and feared that nobody on the street would dare come up against them directly.
The Chin, who was the head of the commission and had the full backing of the commission did not make a direct move against Gotti.
As the head of the commission, Chin had an obligation to enforce the rules and not by pussy footing around, the same way he did when Philadelphia took out Bruno without permission.
He came in and starting "OFFING GUYS"
As Salerno said on the tapes "YOUR DEALING WITH THE BIG BOYS NOW THE COMMISSION"
Casso who was a PSYCHO, even though he thought that Gotti, was behind the hit against him, still was too scared to declare war against Gotti and his crew.
The two families would only dare sneak attack Gotti's Crew when they weren't looking.
By using a Bomb, to make it look like the Sicilians did it.
Using the Mafia Cops, so it wouldn't trace back to the Luke's.
At that time mid 80's.
The Bonanno's were subservient to Gotti
The Colombo's, Orena Faction who should have won the war were subservient to Gotti
The Decalvcante's were subservient to Gotti
These are FACTS.
After he died I feel that alot of people are re-writing history and telling a different story.
Gotti was afraid of Chin, etc...
I dont see it that way
I dont think that facts support that theory
You are correct on all points BH. He held different degrees of influence over all three of those crews at the times through they're sitting or interim leaders.The only point I wanna make is that you have that wrong about Chin and Gotti. Chin was cautious about Gotti, but make no mistake about it. Gotti was extremely hesitate to go against Chin. He feared and respected him as an extremely capable and powerful leader. Both bosses viewed one another that way. Because of it they basically played a chess game with one another. Smiling to each other while they worked against one another behind the scenes.
To declare "open warfare" against another borgata was tantamount to the destruction of Cosa Nostra. Period! Not since 1929 and the days of the Castellammarese War have two different families openly fought each other on the streets.
Good Point
I agree
However, you rarely ever see that scenario framed that way.
Its usually more so how powerful Chin, was and how bad of a boss Gotti was and that Chin was the real boss of bosses.
As I said in the past Gotti was not from my neighborhood however, there were more "GOTTI" Mini-Me's running around than could count.
It was Gotti this and Gotti that...
Now 20 years after he died
The story that is being told isn't really how it played out at the time.
I dont really see it or hear it being told for they way that it was.
Through the eyes of made members and from the inside out they could look at his time at the helm and easily see the mistakes that he made.
That is from a damage perspective.
Through the eyes of a civilian the story is way different.
That story is more so as I am telling of Gotti, the "FOLK HERO"
The truth is every boss made their fair share of mistakes.
1) Start with the Colombo's, Persico at the head for as long as he was and is to this day is wand was a huge mistake for that family. From what i can can see personally there isnt much wealth among its members.
2) Bonanno- Joe Bonanno who gave Guiliani the blue print for the commission case, Donnie Brasco, Joe Massino and whole administration flipping, the Boss, Under boss, 3-4 Capos filling at the same time.
3) Luchesse's Tony Ducks appointing Gas Pipe and Amuso as boss and U.B. that destroyed that family.
4) Gambino's Castalleno under his leadership the family had two factions and was divided, because of Castalleno's leadership or lack thereof it paved the way for Gotti to do what he did with out challenge.
5) Westside- Chin made the mistake with not killing Savino which lead to the windows case and all the fallout that followed that case. Which was the case that had Casso, whacking so many of his guys...
If you were to rate bosses from worst to best worst being #1.
Which bosses did the most damage to their families.
1) Joe Massino
2) Casso/Amuso ---> They were like one person.
3) Persico
4) Gotti
5) Chin
If you were to grade families in terms of strenth today what would that look like?
1) WestSide
2) Gambino
3) Luke
4) Bonanno
5) Columbo
