Should Paulie have been whacked?

Was Paulie being a "double agent" of sorts, playing both sides of the fence with New York and New Jersey a capital offense?

Consider his courting Johnny Sack resulted in two instances of Tony losing a good chunk of change, very nearly caused the murder of a fellow Capo, which in turn almost caused a hit to be put on Carmine, Sr., and in turn caused an (aborted) hit to be put on Johnny Sack. His betrayal marked the beginning of the deterioration of the NY/NJ partnership.

If I was Tony, a guy like Paulie, who already squawked to NY because he felt undervalued, is a liability. Sentimentality or no, he'd have to go.

Yeah I believe in real life, if a boss found out of a capo committing treason of that nature, he would probably be whacked (though in today's mob maybe he would be shelved).

To me, even though Paulie hated rats, he became one when he ratted to NY. He may not have been talking to the Feds, but he was still talking out of school and his mouth could've gotten guys killed--Worse than a guy ratting to the Feds, imo.

Paulie was certainly sweating bullets in "Remember When" on that boat with Tony. He kept seeing images of he and the guys whacking Puss while on the boat. While Paulie was for the most part a stand-up guy, I could also see times when Tony and/or Junior would have had him clipped.

Tony also would have had a real justification to whack Paulie after Paulie & Chris let that Russian guy slip away in Pine Barrens.

I always thought the writers would have brought that Russian back in one of the last episodes in attempt to exact revenge.

Paulie needed to be whacked just for wearing those white loafers after Labor Day .

And for that damn car horn tone!

Tony never really found out did he. He suspected it, but never got confirmation. That scene on the boat where he questions Paulie in the last season always cracked me up. Tony's not the best guy to take a boat trip with, and Paulie knew it .

Where's your fashion-sense Pizzaboy? The shoes matched those white patches of hairs on the side of Paulie's hair...

Are you kidding? That was hilarious. Classic Paulie.

Even though he was a rat fuck, Paulie was one of Tony’s top guys. If you kill all the vets you’re stuck with the up & comers.