I read the links you posted pmac. It looks like Gravano was having the conversation with Nino about Paul's supposed intentions.

Call me a conspiracy theorist if you like, but I think Gravano was playing "divide and conquer" against Nino and Big Paul. Gotti and Gravano feared Nino and so had to disarm him by putting it in his head that Paul was going to whack him and to just let Paul get whacked...by whomever, conveniently leaving out that they themselves (Gravano and Gotti) were going to be the very ones to whack Big Paul.

I very much doubt that Big Paul planned to whack Nino once Nino's trial was over.

Frank decicco was captain and he was no Sicilian.I don't think that Jimmy brown was sicilian.Even anastasia was not a sicilian,he was calabrian.So that's a huge load of crap.And if anybody was to be boss instead of Gotti it was Jimmy Brown Faila,not Gaggi.

The mere and simple fact that Gotti couldn't call Nino in to a meeting speaks volumes. Technically that made them enemies, but Gotti couldn't reach Nino to enforce rules of conduct befitting a Caporegime.

Million Dollar Question: Who broke him? Big Paul or Gotti?

He went to jail anyway so it dosen't matter.Nino was a badass,he would die with the gun in his hand.TGotti knew he shot the police officer,what do Ou think he would done to gotti or one of his guys.Real old school mf,laat of his generation

Paul

Nino was tough guy and knew that life as good as anyone, but not willing to die for a demotion or gotti being boss, he was playing the hand that was dealt.shame he had to die inMCC like that..nino was in great shape worked out everyday for years..stress can kill you..

I read where chin galente was very uset with gotti for the hit on castellano, big question. why didn't chin make a move on him? after the hit on paul. gotti really brought the heat down.

He did make a move. The car bomb that killed DeCicco was meant for Gotti, too. If the two families wouldn't have been tied up in a bunch of RICO stuff in the late eighties and early nineties, Gotti may have ended up being killed sooner or later.

lino and borriello

good point, chin was a much more intelligent man than gotti, personaly I thought gotti was very lucky some boss didn't whack him, he brought needless heat on all the families, I thought gotti was a dog, too bad chin missed.

they killed paul for nothing ,,he was going to get life..then they could have voted him down ,went to the commission laid out a case vs paul and said this is the will of our family.. might have worked..

In my opinion, gotti was UNDERestimated. You dont become boss of the most powerful family in the US because you are stupid. Truth is, gotti had a lot of leadership skills. Stone killers did whatever he said and street guys ( young and old) admired him. Every single boss of every family went down in the 1980's, not just Gotti. Gotti would of had maybe another 2 weeks on the street if he didnt get caught talking??? I mean really. The Us government wanted him. That was that.
Castellano was smart, he was caught in a bug. Tony Ducks was smart, he got caught on a bug. Scarfo never was caught on a bug and look where he is and either did casso and amuso. Look at all the heat chin gigante brought on the west side by walking around in a robe in plain sight. What about Tony Salerno talking outside his club in east harlem with various members. It was the media that gave LE such a hard on for gotti, they turned him into a movie star and The feds hated that.

The only reason Carlo Gambino died at home was because law enforcement lacked the technology they had for gotti. Today, no matter how low key carlo was, he would be in supermax.

there is a lot of truth to what you say, but, to my mind gotti just didn't play it smart, too much ego, he made himself a target. but the worst thing he every did was appoint his son boss. now that was not the smarest thing he ever did.

I have always wondered why more capos did not respond like Nino and refuse to bow down to Gotti. You got guys like Gaggi, Conte, Jimmy Brown, Marino and others who are supposed to be pretty strong and have been with the family for so long and they just laid down and let Gotti take over the family. At the meeting of the capos to decide on the new boss Gravano says him and Fat Ange walked behind the capos as they were seated for intimidation factor. Why were these guys that were so powerful so afraid of these clowns. They sat back and let Gotti take over the family and then run it into the ground and at no point did they try to do anything about it.

john did not take over the family alone, he had his crew.. all killers, decicco's crew all killers bklyn faction, sammy's crew all killers, frankie loc,bronx artuso was on the hit, he had piney and his crew, conte , gambino's, were heroin guys, gotti's crew were heroin dealers, paul played the you get killed for dealing.. the coup, had many other guys from different crews that were fed up with paul..nino was in trouble with paul..joe gallo was in their camp, the only push back fialla, marino and a few others could do, is just what happened sit back while chin and corrallo worked out the hits vs;s the coup. gotti was wrong for killing paul without permission, funny on tape he says cosa nostra till i die..he broke every rule of cosa nostra . i hope this gives some clarity..

There was also grumblings that he could have possibly flipped as well though, and when there is a question you can give it up. Many thought he became soft in his old age and with him so much in love with that nasty unibrow Colombian he was screwing and many thought there was no way he took a life sentence sitting down.

big paul flip? that would of been something. paul just wasn't on top of his familys goings on, he really should have been more street smart, he played right into gottis hands, gotti had to kill him or he would have to have answered to all his crews drug dealings.

Yes I think it was possible, after all look at Joey Massino. Many thought he would never flip either.

When the mafia needs to kill someone without a good enough reason the ..he may rat ..stuff starts..easiest way to justify killing..paul would never have flipped..my opinion..

would have died in jail like the rest of the bosses all nice and rich.

Where did you hear that Dixie? I've never heard that Paul might have flipped as a reason for his demise.

yes, that rumor was there after paul was killed..just nonsense..

Gotti was an idiot.

Gotti broke every rule? Well, chin sanctioned a hit on gotti with approval.
Chin had casso use a car bomb, thats clearly a rule breaker.
Every boss is dumb in hindsight. The old timers only seemed smart because law enforcement didnt have technology.
You can also say Merlino was,dumb, he broke the rules and now gets caught on a violation.
The worse boss in my opinion was Natalie. Gotti was a hundred levels above.

im with you. of all I read about him and the Gambino family, he stands alone as the absolute most ignorant boss who ever ran a family, the damage he did to the gambinos was horrific. how could anyone excuse his idiotic behavior.

what would you think if someone told you this.. "if you lived to 5000 you will never find a guy like me" natale was not recognized by gambinos

Nateale was a putz. We all know who ran that family. How can someone be straightened out one minute and elevated to boss the next?

one reason why NY paid him no mind

fialla was very sicilian