Would beaten and weakened Vito still retain his police/political contacts?
You see -- all these people are business men, their loyalty is based on that
I
One of the reasons that Vito accumulated great police and political power was that they regarded gambling as a "harmless vice," which made it easy for them to accept bribes to look the other way. Drugs, on the other hand, was "a dirty business,"
Vito also had the unions--a great source of votes and big contributions for politicians. As long as he tetained both rackets, he'd have his cops and politicians eating out of his hand.
