My personal opinion is take a plea and pray they don't slap on additional charges later on. We know that now, but at the time I can see why he made the decisions he made
Then how do you explain the clear dominance of the Westside, who were the first family to see the necessity of the plea bargain? They were taking pleas BEFORE Gotti got popped in 1990. Look at all of the construction cases back in the '80s if you need proof of that. I'm not gonna get into it here. But I'm sure you can Google something.
The Luccheses followed suit, and they're as powerful as the Westside in some areas today (namely because they're partnered in so many construction projects). Frankly, the plea bargaining, along with the less violent approach that they're using today, is what allowed them to survive, and even thrive in some areas, where they would have been dead and buried (along with John Gotti) twenty years ago, if they were as batshit anti-government as he was.
And just for the record, Tony Megale took a plea against Gotti's orders back in '89, Gotti allegedly went insane, told him to rescind it, but it was too late. He couldn't go to trial after the plea. Gotti was arrested in the interim, Tony kept his stripes, and was actually UB for a while. Stand-up guy. Book smart AND street smart. He took another plea in 2006, and he's home in suburban Connecticut right this very minute. Who would you rather be?
