Way he fucked up Martines and Pagano after that botched hit is the stuff of legends.
Yea too bad he ended up being a rat
John had no loyalties to anyone but himself. It's not his fault someone was stupid/desperate enough to induct him and make him a capo. It's nowhere near as egregious as someone like Joe Massino or Al D'Arco ratting IMO.
If I was a petty criminal and had the possibility of being inducted into a powerful crime family and benefiting from all that entails, I'd do it too. Even if I didn't have any family connections to it. Increase earning potential and have protection, or leave yourself at the mercy of people like Joey Merlino and George Borgesi? He had Sicilian blood and he made the most of it.
And the fact is whatever about old man Pagano, Frank Martines was a bona fide tough guy in his own right and John Veasey made him his bitch.
I don't know. I guess I have a soft spot for absolute mad men and renegades.
It's not like Al D'Arco talking about being a professor of La Cosa Nostra, and going on about the forest and the trees and how noble this thing of ours is, and then ratting as soon as the going gets tough.
Guys like Veasey and Colletti were just pure opportunists from the get go. So I think their ratting isn't as bad. There were no airs and graces about what they were.
And let's not forget. One of the rules of the mafia is that if you are told to do a piece of work, you do it, no questions asked. Steve Mazzone pussed out when he was supposed to go after Veasey because "Veasey was too much of a psycho". Yet this guy is supposed to be respected as a boss? When he wouldn't do the same thing he expects of a soldier?