Originally Posted By: Moe_Tilden
Originally Posted By: Tony_Pro
Originally Posted By: Binnie_Coll
yeah, don carlo was a clear thinker that's why he survived so long. but, bringing in the westies, castellano never had the brains Gambino had.


I don't think it was all that bad thinking. Yes, the Westies were a bunch of (relatively) small-time junkies and drunks, but it was clear that they were crazy enough to take on the gambinos. Why risk a street war with a bunch of unpredicable crazies and would bring a lot of heat from cops when they can be your crazies and people will be afraid that you could unleash the Westies on them.

Why do you think he kept DeMeo around for so long? He made money and everyone (even Costellano) was afraid of him. Costellano wasn't the best boss ever and he certainly was no Don Carlo, but he wasn't a dummy.


Were they?????!!!

Then what were Senter, Testa, Borelli, De Meo and Montiglio just off the top of my head?

All of them were addicted to various drugs and were borderline alcoholics.

And those are just the young guys aged between 25 and 40.

Even John Gotti was a degenerate gambler.

Most of the power players in the mob are aged between 50 and 70 so of course they aren't going to be doped up on opium.


You'll find no argument from me on that. But they (the westies) were all junkies/drunks from top on down to the lowest guy. My point is that it did made make them more unpredictable as the poster I was responding was reffering too. The Gambinos could put some brakes on Roy's crew (and they did when they ordered the Chris Rosenburg hit and eventually hit Roy), but with the Westies there were brakes and no lines to cross.

Last edited by Tony_Pro; 09/01/14 03:15 PM.
This life of ours, this is a wonderful life. If you can get through life like this, hey, thats great. But it's very, very unpredictable. There are so many ways you can screw it up.-Paul Castellano (he would know)

"I'm not talking about Italians, I'm talking about criminals."-Joe Valachi