Furio,

I read the book and saw the made for TV film..and in both Sammy said that between the time they grabbed him and killed him that the guy had a few instances where he could have either escaped or alerted cops.

In the film, the guy stayed true to the lifestyle that he chose and blew his chances to escape death.

Sammy says he gained lot of respect for the guy in the time that they were driving him to his execution, so he did the guy the favor by granting his last request.