I always wondered about the relationship between Tommy Gambino and John Gotti. Was Tommy in some ways a non-threat to Gotti, despite his blood ties to Castellano, such that Gotti did not feel the need to eliminate him? Or was Tommy such a good earner, thanks to the Garment District, that Gotti could not afford to eliminate him? And yet, could not another mobster have gotten the same amount of money out of those rackets?

There is of course this remark by Gotti =

"I mean it sounds crazy, Georgie, but I was telling Frankie and Angelo, I'm gonna suggest to Tommy, we're gonna beef up his regime, Tommy Gambino, but we're not giving him no (expletive deleted) hotheads."

In any case, does anybody have any insight into the relationship between these two?

I read that Tommy met with Gotti and made peace. I don't think Tommy was a gangster willing to go to war and Gotti knew it too. Gotti had nothing to gain from killing Tommy but much to lose. It would have angered the old timers who came up under Carlo. Finding a smart gangster to run white collar rackets isn't easy either

Tommy was a white collar businessman all the way. Even when Gotti gave him Connecticut after Breezy got popped it was just a token gesture and in name only. Braciole was the true power there. But I don't think it bothered Tommy one bit. He never even wanted his own crew.

Tommy says to Paul on tape,

"You are so lucky, me, I never had a choice, like I want to do this or do that."

Dom, I'll finish off your quote fork Gotti," I like Tonmy, I don't want to hurt Tommy".

It's funny Tommy was prob the only person Gotti never bashed behind their backs on tape. He must have really liked the guy. But I wonder how much Tommy genuinely liked Gotti. He killed his uncle so I'm sure Tommy was only being courteous to stay alive

Tommy Gambino was probably the envy of most in La Cosa Nostra.
The man had a lot of money but never had to get his hands dirty like street guys do (Hijacking, Hits etc)
Because of who he was no-one would fuck with him.
After his father and Uncle Paul were gone, even Gotti realised it made sense to have him continue running the garment district

Johnny boy loved me.

my guess is he knew who he was and didnt try to portray himself as something other than what he was.

strictly a guess.

I think it also had something to do with respect for Carlo Gambino. Everyone still loved and respected Carlo even if they looked the other way towards Big Paul's death. Regardless of whether alive or dead, nobody would want to be the one that kills the legend's son.

And LE attention was already high enough from the Castellano hit. Would Gotti really want to add to that by killing Carlo's son?

Hmmm. If Gotti would have whacked Tommy, it might have started looking like ethnic cleansing or something. That would agitate the Sicilian faction of the Gambinos who were all Tommy's cousins or under the control of his cousins from overseas.

Not a good idea.

theres a clip of gotti praising gambinos money making abilitys and he calls him a sweetheart. then if your read Sammy the bull book he calls him a pansy and a fag dress maker Sammy took a lot of shots at people in his book he even tried to get franky loc killed saying if they won at trial him and frank would kill gotti and frank had to be the shooter. there a ton of survilance photos of gotti and tommy you figure from 1977 till got got life they where in the city closely.

Yea you have to take a lot of books like Sammy's with a grain of salt when it comes to "facts". Also most that griped about fags owned fag bars so go figure.

Yup, and don't forget that there were persistent rumors about Sammy's sexuality to begin with. But it's a Catch 22 with him. On the one hand he was a very effective witness. But on the other he was obviously a lying sack of shit.

Oh, and Frankie Loc is too fucking old school to have conspired with that midget to have JG killed. I never believed that nonsense for a minute.

Yea I still say he added some here and there "to get things going" and to stir the pot a little.

Just like his b.s. about just being a good little solider and if Gotti wouldn't have talked bad about him he wouldn't have flipped which is b.s. as well.

Yeah, that's boilerplate for a stoolie.

The rats' national anthem: "I did it for revenge, not cuz I'm scared of prison."

whats up with the short jokes?

Gravano got what he deserved. He will die a slow and painful death in a cold prison cell with no friends. Karma

He's out in a couple of years isn't he? He isn't that old. He could make it. In fact, you hear about loads of guys being released to halfway houses before their sentence is complete or being released period and you wonder why not Gravano? The guy is seriously ill, no?

LoCascio too was supposed to be on an oxygen tank a few years ago when he was trying to get out.

How can some guys like Furnari & Mangano get out before the end but Gravano & LoCascio have to sit on their hands?

Luck of the draw?

Moe the last mugshot of Gravano he really looked like shit. He's bald and everything, eyes sagging, face sagging too. I think he gets out in 17 or 22 I forget the date. I posted a link in one of these threads and can't remember which one.