In my opinion, gotti was UNDERestimated. You dont become boss of the most powerful family in the US because you are stupid. Truth is, gotti had a lot of leadership skills. Stone killers did whatever he said and street guys ( young and old) admired him. Every single boss of every family went down in the 1980's, not just Gotti. Gotti would of had maybe another 2 weeks on the street if he didnt get caught talking??? I mean really. The Us government wanted him. That was that.
Castellano was smart, he was caught in a bug. Tony Ducks was smart, he got caught on a bug. Scarfo never was caught on a bug and look where he is and either did casso and amuso. Look at all the heat chin gigante brought on the west side by walking around in a robe in plain sight. What about Tony Salerno talking outside his club in east harlem with various members. It was the media that gave LE such a hard on for gotti, they turned him into a movie star and The feds hated that.

The only reason Carlo Gambino died at home was because law enforcement lacked the technology they had for gotti. Today, no matter how low key carlo was, he would be in supermax.