You beat me to the punch on that one TB !

I've always felt that the contract on Pistone was exaggerated, at the very least. It's been suggested that Paul Castellano, before his own murder, assured federal agents that Pistone was never in any danger.

It's been one of the most vehemently enforced "rules" wthin the US mafia, to never kill cops, reporters or prosecutors. Although I'm sure there have been exceptions, Pistone was just way too high profile to take a chance on killing.

Ordinary "victimless" crimes, such as bookmaking, would have become the focus of major investigations as a result and the wiseguys knew this. They hardly would have cost themselves so dearly in order to kill a guy who was really just doing his job.

As far as Pistone's balls ? Like bocces ! Bruno Kirby makes a great point on the DONNIE BRASCO dvd, that they all listened to hours and hours of wiretaps in studying their roles and all concluded that they, as ACTORS, couldn't have done the job that Pistone did under the constant fear of death that he was under.