First he was indicted on charges of contempt of court after he had refused to answer questions in front of a grand jury regarding the Bananas War. In this case, I think he was sentenced to a short prison term but the sentence was reversed due to his bad health.
That's what puzzles me the most. So many mafia bosses who seemed quite intelligent and whom the police and the FBI were never able to catch for any serious crime did prison time for refusing to answer questions. They could have made something up, the usual "I am a honest businessman, I don't know anything", instead of provoking the judges by refusing to say anything.
Well...Keep in mind that they can incriminate the mobster and catch him with a lie if he speaks up, even if he is just saying "I don´t know nothing". In many cases they can show evidence of the contrary. So in the long run, it´s safer to just plead the fifth.
An alternative would be (and maybe a better one) if the mobster would say "I really don´t remember" I guess, but it´s always safer to plead the fifth.
Actually the mobsters usually go free after "giving" testimony. It´s only when the court has granted the mobster immunity that they can charge him for contempt of court. If they don´t do that, they have nothing on the mobster if he pleads the fifth.
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