Why was Willie Boy Johnson allowed to live?

Even after admitting to John Gotti in person that he had been an informant for over twenty years, why was Willie Boy Johnson allowed to live and even earn (albeit totally cut off from the family) on the streets for about a year or more after the trial was over?

What finally prompted the decision to kill him?

He was a walking dead man for that entire year. It's not like Gotti suddenly changed his mind and had him killed. Johnson was dead from the get-go, but killing him during the trial would have looked bad. Nothing more to it than that.

Yeah but waiting a whole year? That was risky. Suppose Willie Boy decided that he'd be safer going totally with the Feds and testifying in that period.

Or suppose some hot head kid tried to clip Willie without permission in that period to score points, might've caused Willie to run to the Feds...The wait to kill him was risky and could've gotten a lot of people in hot water.

Yea but gotti told him he wasn't gonna whack him but that he couldn't come back into the fold and who knows wat else he said.he prolly thought he was ok after 4or5 months of not Getn touched

Today he'd be safe in a condo in Far Rockaway .

- Yeah Pizzaboy is right. It is all about timing, Killing him instantly would of caused alot of attention and fuss and the whole Gambino family would just stop as they wouldn't have another move.

He wasn't allowed to live, he's been murdered. It made better sense, as explained to murder him on a later date.

He was never allowed to live he was a deadman walking just like pizzaboy said. However Gotti knew that it would be too risky to kill him right away since willie boy was now a well known informant. So even though gotti was a moron he knew he had to be patient. Instead he asked for the bonnano's to take care of it since he was tight with Joe Massino. Tommy Pitera whacked willie boy in august 1988

Not for nothing, despite strutting around town and the media circus, Gotti was a very crafty guy overall.

well to be fair strutting around town with the FBI watching isnt too crafty lol

He was on the Castellano hit, correct ?

The FBI watches everybody especially the Boss. Gotti orchestrated the Castellano murder, brought the Bonanno's back into the commission, and according to various informants caused the Colombo war by encouraging and supporting his friend Vic Orena to officially take over the family against Persico. He also plotted with Sal Vitale who was running the Bonanno's while Massino was in jail to murder Massino when he got out so that Vitale would take over, this was told to Massino by Barney Bellomo. He had the DeCavs as a farm team doing hits for him, and he was instrumental in stopping the shooting in New England in the turmoil that followed the Patriarca Jr bust. Obcourse, there's also the fact that he was acting capo of an influential crew before he was even made and a protege of the Underboss of the family at that time.

Gotti wasn't as stupid as some of his critics make him out to have been. It's easy to criticize a dead guy from the safety of the Internet.

But as far as his legacy goes, all the stuff that Dapper just posted, while true, gets overshadowed by the way he brought it all down around him. To get near him was to doom yourself. His bad luck was contagious.

By the way, I remember that when Gotti died, the Russian television said "the USA prisoner n.1 is dead". Didn't they overestimate his importance? I mean, with guys like Manuel Noriega or Carlos Lehder in jail, was Gotti really considered the most important imprisoned criminal at the time?

"You know what? He did it the way he wanted, and he died the way he wanted," Basciano said on the recording, referring to John Gotti, his role model in crime and style.

Yup, and Vinny's leaving prison the same way. Feet first.

Yea, Vinny also did it the way he wanted. The vast majority of high ranking guys die in jail regardless.

No doubt, Daps. Being boss puts a bullseye on the back.