Agree to disagree...I see what you're saying and there are always two sides of an argument, but "most" of those guys had goomah's on the side, I mean Chin even carried an entire family with children with his mistress. If Paul sided with Chin on Construction rackets, he probably saw a lot of opportunity to make money, which in all fairness, the Genovese Family controlled construction...so I look at that as a good move. As far as the wake, he was under indictment and had a court hearing scheduled for a "media frenzy" topic on organized crime, why be visible at a gangster's wake when the entire world is watching you? It was the final nail in the coffin in Gotti's eyes. Paul looked at himself as a businessman, he was a racketeer. Plus, he had many legitimate businesses in NYC and his goal was to set his family up financially, not bet 25 dimes on a football game like Gotti.

Undeserving as boss? LOL...That's the way Carlo wanted it, who is in a position to question what Carlo wanted for the future? NOBODY! Carlo made most of those guys...they didn't make him and Carlo made no secret that he wanted his family run by blood. If I'm not mistaken, wasn't his son Thomas "handed" the entire garment district rackets? What did Thomas do to deserve it? Blood is thicker than water and that was obvious when Gambino married his first cousin...but that's the way the old timers did things.

Name me one perfect boss...all bosses have made mistakes with personnel going back to the beginning of time. The Gambino Family was much better off with Castellano than with anybody with the last name Gotti. We could sit here and dissect every boss's decision across the board from Accardo, Giancana, Gambino, Castellano, Gigante, Bufalino, Bruno, DeCalvacante, Patriarca etc...You make the best decision at the time for the particular situation you are faced with...If hindsight was 20/20, everybody on this forum would have done something in their life a little differently.