Part of being a "standup guy" depends on how far the higher-ups are willing to go to help you--show you that they aren't going to abandon you. Gotti got no help from anyone when he went away on a hijacking charge--his wife even went on welfare. But, after Gotti was arrested in the McBratney murder, Carlo Gambino passed the hat among his caporegimes to hire Roy Cohn, one of NYC's highest powered lawyers, to defend Gotti. He got a light sentence as a result.