Looking back on the whole gotti trial and gravano fiasco, could there have been alternative scenario between them instead of what really happened? Hypothetically, considering all the evidence against Gotti, could Gotti have let Gravano testify against him in order to get Gravano off the hook? I know this breaks a cardinal rule of LCN but if it seems Gotti is going to be 99% found guilty and Gravano is just insurance for the feds, could they have manipulated the FBI so that Gravano could have walked (not witness protection) and become acting boss for Gotti? Everybody knows the mafia exists "not-so-secret society", Valachi testified about the whole organiztion and even Joe Bonnano wrote a tell-all book which even helped with the commission trial. I know it seems absurd, but would there be a situation where the commission would allow for something like this? If this was ever to happen, I wouldn't see this as "ratting" but as gaming the system.

Thoughts?

As sociopatic and narcisistic as gotti was, i hardly think he would have liked that strategy. Taking the fall himself and letting sammy go doesnt sound like him. Especially when you factor in their strained relationship at the time and Gotti's policy regarding plea bargains. After beating the feds before i could imagine that gotti thought of himself as untouchable, and he wouldn't have given up without fighting the charges. Plus i doubt the other bosses would have liked the signal it sent to the lower level soldiers and capos. Just my thoughts.

Maybe that is the case but all the other people he testified against and led to the big house and basically broke the mob, not sure they would all be happy about that. Also I thought that the feds played tapes to sammy where gotti said he was going to take him out and didnt trust him?

Would never happen. Why would Peter Gotti go after him if that did happen?

Wasn't it John, who wouldn't let his brother Gene take a plea? That's how adamant he was on never admitting anything.

I believe Gotti would have put his efforts into getting to a juror, especially since he had success with that tactic at a previous trial.

You propose an interesting hypothetical,and it would be amazing cool if something like that actually succeeded. From what I understand,the opposite was true. Gotti not only nixed a plea bargain for Sammy,he made Sammy get a different lawyer than Gotti. Additionally, Gotti's team was going to move for separate trials.

The conventional wisdom is that after hearing the tapes,Sammy realized that Gotti looked at him as an opportunist,who only was interested in furthering his own interests.Gotti is heard saying basically that Sammy was killing guys so he could take over their businesses. Gotti expresses some paranoia as well, wondering if Sammy is trying to build his own power base.

Given the tapes,and Gotti's takeover of Sammy's defense strategy,Sammy realized that Gotti's team was going to paint Sammy as a loose cannon. If Sammy would have been tried separately,Gotti would have hung him out to dry,in the hope of fading heat for some of the murders off of himself.
After digesting all of this,and still stinging from Gotti's backstabbing on the tapes,Sammy realizes that his only shot is to turn informant.Otherwise,there was a real possibility that he would go down for the major charges,and that Gotti would either walk,or get convicted on less serious counts.

Maybe a scenario involving a different Boss or Family might play out like you mentioned,but the last thing that a guy like Gotti would do is take one for the team.He wanted to beat the case,and throw Sammy to the wolves.

I think a situation like this might also discourage the FBI from making other plea bargins, but I guess this is just a rare example where it could have been played out

Personally i think Paul's biggest mistake was naming Tommy Gambino and Tommy Billotti his successors if he went to jail. remember the main reason why Gotti was able to kill Big Paul was because Gravano and Decicco agreed to help him. Sammy and Frank had no interest in taking orders from Tommy gambino and Billoti. Without Sammy and Frank Decicco Gotti probably would have been killed long ago

I think a better scenario was the Boston cases with Saleme MARTORANO Flemmi Deluca etc They found a way to beat Rico by making agent Connoly the target. If everybody on a case flips and they have a big name to make it. The bad guys outsmart the feds.

Wasn't Sammy The Bull the but-for cause of Gotti's fall in the first place?

Gotti was oldschool he believed in fighting til the death

Never John was fight the feds to the end.

he was old school , he was tough but why the flash, it killed him, thats not old school, i think he prob thought bt that alot in marion, when he was in his cell not running away from the ab

I believe the flash saved his life.

The Genoveses and Luccheses had a contract out on his head. But due to his public persona and love for attention, he was always surrounded by the media and under constant FBI surveillance.

That was the main reason why the Chin and Vic/Gas couldn't whack Gotti. If Gotti stayed in the shadows, he would have been dead within a couple of years after taking over the family.

If anything, they should have wanted him around, keeps Gotti as the main target for the feds and takes the heat off them

I'm sure that's part of it, but they did try and blew up deciccio. After that they called a spade a spade and moved on. Maybe they would have kept trying if Gotti wasn't so popular, so you have a point; and the other point that agrees with your point is that gotti's profile made him a lightning rod for the feds which was ok with the other families who were not in the spotlight

I don't think they moved on after DeCicco. That blast was meant for Gotti, and he fought back.

Gotti's close friend, Angelo Quack Quack Ruggiero, hired Jimmy Hydell to whack Gaspipe. Based on their close relationship and the timing after DeCicco was bombed, I believe Gotti was behind the plot to kill Gaspipe.

Gaspipe was only wounded. He then went to kill everyone involved in the attempt on his life- Fat Vinny, Jimmy Hydell, and Nicky Guido (unfortunately, the wrong one). Quack Quack died from cancer in '89 before Gas could get to him.

In 1990, 4 years after the DeCicco blomb, Gas/Vic had the mafia cops whack Gambino capo Eddie Lino. Lino was considered Gotti's strongest war capo, and needed to go. The arrests and incarceration of Gotti and Gravano were what kept them alive, imo.

I dont think gotti and gravano would have lost to vic and gas. The gambinos were much bigger and the luccheses were killing dozens of their own at the time

Good point about the Luccheses being in turmoil, mulberry.

But the opponent was the Luccheses plus the Genoveses. Their combined power made them stronger than the Gambinos.