After 50 or so years of service to the Family, in almost half a century of being in Cosa Nostra, surely Neil had seen guys come and go, guys he liked, guys he didn't like. How did Neil not spot that Gotti was both a hothead and loose canon, and that his crew (Angelo and the others) were nothing but a bunch of troublemakers who couldn't keep their traps shut?

I mean while Angie wasn't a rat, his verbosity pretty much gave the Feds a ton of info and helped them bug Big Paul. And Gotti's insuboridance and Angie's refusal to hand over the tapes was both a direct disrespect against the Boss and could've provoked a war; Why didn't Neil simply whack out Gotti and his crew to spare HIMSELF and the Family the stress, and appoint someone less hotheaded as Capo?

I mean given all his years in LCN, surely Neil should've seen Gotti wasn't Boss material? Why did he protect him? At the very least, why didn't he compromise and let Angie be clipped for not giving over the tapes? It may have been Gotti's crew, but Neil was above Gotti, so if Neil said "Angie's gotta go", Gotti would have to listen, or go himself.

I mean, from what I've read, Neil was an ice cold killer, low key, old school--not loud, egotistical and flashy like Gotti.

I mean I can understand, in a sense, Neil protecting John out of sentimentality, but why Angie?

For all practical purposes,Neil was a Boss equal to Big Paul. When Gambino passed him over,Neil was given control over the traditional blue collar Mob rackets by Castellano,to keep the peace and to keep Neil happy.Paulie knew better than to cross him.

I believe that Neil anticipated Paulie going away for a long time.Perhaps he felt that if he could bide his time until then,he could make a good case for taking over the Family.

If the Boss spot became vacant,I think that Neil would have moved into it,if not by popular vote,then by sheer force.
To do this,he would need an ally like Gotti,who was feared,ruthless,and above all,loyal to Neil.Keeping Gotti happy would be good strategy.

Had he lived, I think Neil would have been the next Gambino Boss,and Gotti would have been named Underboss. Neil saw Gotti's crew not as troublemakers,but as old school,ruthless thugs,much in Neil's own image.Had Paul vacated the top spot,these are the guys Neil would want in his personal army.

People wax rhapsodic about Mr. Neil--"Old School," "real Mafia," "loyalty above all"...bla bla bla. If he were all those things, he would have given up Quack-Quack and Gotti for all the reasons you said. He didn't. Why? Maybe because, even though he accepted Castellano as Don, he resented him and didn't want to bend over backward to be helpful. Quack-Quack was his nephew, and I guess in this case blood ran thicker than water. Gotti looked up to Neil as a father, and I suppose Neil felt the same.

But in the Mafia, you can never go wrong following the money. Ruggiero and Gotti were dealing drugs, and no doubt they kicked part of their earnings up to their capo. And, maybe--just maybe--those tapes that weren't turned over to Castellano had some talk of Neil's share--meaning that he could have been in mortal danger if the tapes had been turned over.

maybe just maybe the sky is green and the grass is blue.

as far as i know dellacroce didnt break any rules

From what I've read,Neil is actually taped telling Angelo to turn over the tapes. He berates him by saying that Ruggiero doesn't understand Cosa Nostra.He tells Gotti that Paul keeps breaking his back over the tapes and that,if Angelo keeps stonewalling,"we might have to roll it up and go to war". He also warns Quack-Quack ,that should it come to that, a lot of people could get hurt.I would bet that there's nothing connecting Neil to any drug business on the tapes. If there was,nephew or not,Cosa Nostra or not,Angelo would have a life span calculated in moments.

He was old school, dedicated to that life, but had gotten closer to Gotti than Big Paul. I don't think he was first Mafia member to stick with friend or close associate over boss, he's just the one we hear of. He was not close to Paul, from what I see, and dealt with Gotti and Ruggerio more over the years.

Is there a link to those tapes of Dellacroce saying they will wrap things up and go to war? I know they exist, but where are they on Youtube or on internet? I heard them once, poor quality version.

Neil did not want to go to war,he must have know he was not going to be around to become the boss.I think Gotti told him he was going to war after Neil died.I believed Gotti protect Neil like Neil protect Gotti and Ruggiero.

Paul would have stomped Neil out in seconds if it came to war. With one call to his buddy "chin" he would have had all the Westside after Neil too.

Paul couldn't be bothered with loansharking, making book, drugs and violence so why not "give it all" to Neil.

While not unlike others, Gotti and that Bergin Crew were selling huge amounts of heroin and that is against the rules. The jail time for that was something Paul wanted none of. Paul would rule Wall Street, the Garment District and the Construction Industry and read the WSJ every morning.

Do you think if it was stolen car ring that Ruggiero got busted for Paul would have asked for "tapes"...

I never understood why nobody ever threw John Gambino's name at Paul and the money he must of been getting from Gambinos dope pipeline. Everybody knew Gambino had a huge heroin pipeline going. He was found guilty in Italy in absentia and his brothers were popped over here in 1980 when the whole operation was publicly exposed. They beat that case but still, c'mon everybody and their dead mother knew the Gambinos were huge junk dealers. Chin, everybody must of known Big Paul was permitting heroin to be sold by certain made guys under him.

Probably pissed Paul off that they were sneaking it on the side for Ang's brother Sal. He didn't get his envelope, or did he? I guess not.

because gotti was dellacroce's guy

plus i'm sure dellacroce ain't care to much for castellano anyway

I don't know if Paul would have had an easy time taking out Neil.Neil was very well respected and feared by the street guys. Most of them would have rather had Neil as Boss anyway. Paulie had no real hard-core shooters besides Bilotti. His go-to guys were Jimmy Brown,Piney Armone ,Joe N. Gallo,etc. As for the Chin,I don't see any sitting Boss getting involved in an internal Gambino Family war. My opinion,Dellacroce was feared on the street by everyone. He had the whole "blue collar" faction of the Family behind him,and I don't see anyone,not even DeMeo,wanting to mess with him.

Chin, not wanting to get involved....???


heck, he tried to blow Gotti up....

If Paul had gone to him and said a throw-over is in the works, he would have had a 100 button men looking for Neil and his boys.

The FBI is digging at Jimmy the Gents old home today in Queens.
Jimmy was not stupid, but the FBI is.

You're right about the attempt on Gotti,and I knew it would come up when I posted,but I think it's a different situation and my reasoning is this:
1)Chin never accepted Gotti as a legitimate successor to Paul,but rather as a punk who hit the Boss without full Commission approval.
2) There was no internal Gambino conflict at the time. Chin wanted to kill Gotti out of revenge,and to try to maintain the Commission's authority. He wasn't taking sides,and I doubt any of the Gambinos (even Gotti) knew it was Chin at first.
3)No Boss is going to ask another Boss to help him win a war against his own soldiers. He would lose respect from the other Bosses,and be perceived as weak.
4)If any Boss did stick his nose in,he would be exposing all of his own people to revenge.
5)I think if Neil wanted to take out Paulie,he would have gone by the book,got Commission approval,and done it. Remember Neil was no Gotti,he was respected,and feared,and had been Underboss since Anastasia got killed.The other Bosses would have no problem accepting him as the new Boss.
Anyway,that's my opinion.

I think neil was doing everything he could to play referee between castellano and gotti/angelo, but if it came down to that castellano ordered their killings i belive neil and his old school thinking that "the boss is the boss is the boss" would be go along with it rather then go against paul and start a war. Just my opinion.

Neil protected Gotti and Ruggiero cause Gotti was his protégé. Gotti and Ruggiero were close. Neil was playing referee and trying to have Angelo give up the tapes to end Castellano's breaking his balls. Like Giancarlo said, Paul was probably mad at Angelo and the Gotti's sneaking the drugs on the side. Neil was dying and he knew it, I think he just had enough of Paul's bullshit and decided that "Hey, I am dying, why should I bend backwards anymore for Paul?" I think deep down Neil knew that Gotti was going to eventually kill Paul, if Paul did not go down in the trial.

I believe Neil was also Ruggiero's uncle. Gotti and Angelo were lucky that Paulie was such a misfit as a Boss. If any real Mob Boss(like Gambino or Chin)was in charge,both Gotti and Quack Quack would have disappeared the minute their tongues and gums formed the necessary shape to say "no" to releasing the tapes.

Dellacroce being the old schooler that he was,I don't doubt for a minute that he would have done the hits personally,if so ordered.He was also shrewd enough to realize that Paul was so concerned with his businessman image,that he probably would not resort to any unnecessary public violence.With possible legal troubles on the horizon,Paulie wanted to lay low. Therefore,Neil felt that they could just ride out the storm and see where the chips fell. Neil probably knew that if Paul was going to do anything ,it would have happened already.

True Lou Para, If it had been another boss like Gigante or Corallo, both Gotti and Ruggiero would have disappeared for refusing a boss orders. Though Gotti was trying to get many follows to join him in taking out Castellano, it wasn't till Paul decided not to go to Dellacroce's funeral, an insult, that many stopped being on the sidelines, and began to support Gotti's attempt in secret, unaware that Gotti had more fingers then he led others to believe.

Funny that people think Neil was a weakling. He organized the galante hit. The shooters met up at the Ravenite after the hit. Chin wasnt stupid and would want no part of an open war with Neil. Even the attempt on Gotti was a sneak job.

I agree,Neil was a lot of things,but a weakling wasn't one of them.In addition to his fearsome reputation as an enforcer and killer in his early days with the Gambinos,he got a lot of respect by never trying to be anything but what he was. During all of the years that he was Underboss,he stayed close to his roots and the guys knew that. He scared a lot of scary people,and Gambino,Castellano,Gigante,and the other Bosses never took him lightly.

I agree dellacroce was a scary individual everyone was scared stiff of him , he was equally as respected aswel . I for one wouldn't have liked a visit from father Timothy o 'Neil ha ha

Ruggerio was his nephew and he loved gotti

i mean lets not forget that for these guys it was real life. their fight or flight / instinct to survive kicked in. lets not forget that these guys are also criminals for a living. if i were neil and i knew i was on my way out, why would i lead my "son/ prodigee" to slaughter? just a thought