Maybe it was just between him and Meldish, no wiseguys involved, and the Black guy has no choice but to take it on the chin. Mickey Meldsish was broke and doing petty drug deals with a bunch of nobodies towards the end. It could just be that he owed money and layed down on the wrong guy. The shit happens with street gangs every day. And that's what Meldish had lowered himself to towards the end. Petty drug deals with street gangs.

Why do people have to keep dragging Matty into this shit? The poor bastard is 80 years old, heading off to jail on one charge and trying to work out two others. They just love to blame the guinea gangster.

I've just come to the conclusion that Jerry Capeci is a self-hating piece of shit who envies other Italian Americans with real money. Fuck him. I've lost total respect for this guy. The Mafia that made him famous as a journalist doesn't really exist anymore, so he's lowered his standards, just like Anastasia did with that piece of shit book about Alite.