I've wondered that a fear was that Big Paul loved his luxurious lifestyle too much to do prison time, and that, as he was 70, he was basically looking at dying in prison no matter what the sentence was. The fear as such was that he'd flip to avoid spending his last years in a prison cell.

My question to you is, if Paul wasn't clipped, would he have flipped?

I really have trouble seeing that. I mean his whole life was in LCN. And he would have been convicted in 1986, and at that time a boss flipping wasn't even considered an option by law enforcement. And it seemed like he was already planning on how things would run after he went to jail. So I really can't see it.

Like AdamRski said, I am pretty positive Paul was already formulating plans for how to run the family in the event he had to go to prison.

I'm sure Gotti and Friends were conducting whisper campaigns that spoke to the contrary though.

Yeah but I mean...Paul had gotten used to a certain standard of living, of being THE BOSS with his big mansion, live in maid and he treasured above all his credibility as a businessman. I mean, this is a guy who wouldn't even go to the funeral of his Underboss for fear of it touching his reputation as a legitimate businessman. He wasn't a guy who had done much time in prison (I think his longest stretch was 3 months in the 1930s?), so it's not like doing time came naturally to him.

It's easy to say "Fuck the Feds" in the early stretch of a trial but look at Gravano. On the streets Gravano had balls of steel, probably the last guy you'd expect to flip but when faced with a certain sentence of "from now on"...He couldn't stand the heat.

he would not have flipped it was not even something a boss or a FBI agent would have even considered at that time

As for a plan when he went to prison in capecis 1996 book on the rise and fall of gotti he says that paul had orginally told neil before he died that he was going to make a ruling panel with john gotti, tommy gambino and Thomas Bilotti gotti was angry at that believeing he deserved full control of the family

After neil died paul changed his mind planning to get rid of the gotti crew and make Thomas Bilotti his acting boss and Tommy Gambino his underboss. That is the biggest reason guys like decicco backed the plan to kill paul he was apparently angry he was not part of the leadership. Thomas Bilotti was disliked by most of the family seen as pauls driver and tommy gambino was just seen as a carlos son.

I honestly believe if paul had put anyone else in charge decicco or jimmy brown he would have never been killed but then again who knows what would have happened paul chose who he did the rest is history

I don't see him flipping. All those old school guys would've never flipped..From Bonanno to Castellano.

Bonanno wrote a book. Which to me is in the same ballpack as flipping. It's talking about things and people you swore an oath never to talk about with outsiders.

No way...

And went to jail for refusing to testify about it. Flipping is providing evidence against someone. What proved the commission case was recorded conversations. It had nothing to do with Bonanno. Valachi had already mentioned all of this.

I think it could have been a possibility, given that he was out of touch with the streets, hadn't done serious prison time and was used to a life of luxury, but I would put my money on no. He was still part of the older generation who are less likely to flip and with his money and power could have lived comfortably in prison.

Bonanno wasn't stupid, before he wrote the book u realise he would have got lawyers to go over his book/ the publishing company too. A lot of the people he spoke about were either dead or in jail

I think Paul had too much exposure to the life. His nephews were soldiers, his sons were in Mob-connected businesses and may have been considered targets for reprisal (maybe not, I don't know how "dirty" you have to be to be considered not a civilian) at worst, and at best, forced into competitive business and eventual bankruptcy.

By comparison, Bonnano was a relative outcast after 1968.

Well it's easy to say now- oh he could rat on underlings like Massino or give up other heads of families....

But the whole point of RICO was to go after the top guys in theory. Hence at the time, Paul being head of the family wouldn't have thought about flipping since he would have considered himself the biggest target. Not saying impossible but u have to understand the era and mindframe these guys were in back then (old school)

Nowadays a boss would rat on his mum if he could and Feds would welcome open arms

julianni says it was bonannos book that proved there was a commission, and that because of this he prosecuted the bosses

under the rico law. so in a sense joe bonanno gave julianni ammunition to prosecute. he should have not written that book.
exposing the existence of the commission.

In "Boss of Bosses," Kurins and O'Brian say that the other Dons and higher-ups worried that Paul would flip rather than go to prison and be away from Gloria Olarte, his Colombian housekeeper and mistress. I'm guessing that Gotti knew that, and figured that none of the other bosses would be too unhappy if he whacked Paul.

In effect, Bonanno had the last laugh on the Commission, which had rule in '63 that he was no longer boss of his own family, and installed Gaspar diGregorio in his place.

RICO became law in '70, so Bonanno probably knew about it. But, I doubt that he published his autobiography, with those passages about the Commission, deliberately to launch a RICO case.

Giuliani, BTW, is a major "Godfather" fan, and his interest in prosecuting the Mafia may have been stimulated by that.

i think thats bs paul was going to whack john and break his crew up i really dont think he would ever give john that power

The answer is no. The reason for that is Castellano wouldn't have been given the opportunity.

When Walter Mack headed up the investigations, the goal was to wipe out the mafia, turn Mulberry Street into a ghost town. Then Giuliani swooped in and appropriated the helm of the investigation for himself. The main change Giuliani made was to shift the targets of the investigation to only the top people, AKA the bosses, and then name it "The Commission Case". Originally, countless gangsters were probably going to be arrested all at once. After Giuliani you have a case being made against 6 or so individuals. Therefore Big Paul wasn't going to be offered a deal, and I doubt he would have taken it. He was too close to Carlo and the old school to flip like Massino did.

Giuliani protected the mafia.

I'm in the camp the he would have flipped too. Like was mentioned above, he was used to that "upper living" lifestyle and damn sure didn't want to lose Ms. Ugly Colombia. I think at that point he didn't consider himself a gangster, he truly thought he was a legit business man at that point.

https://books.google.com/books?id=VekCAA...nno&f=false

This article on Paulie shows that he was baffled as to how Joe Bonanno knew everything (the Castellammarese War, the founding of the Commission, Apalachin, Valachi, the Bananas War, etc.) all the way back to 1924.

But why did he change the plans? It would have been interesting and effective if they followed the original plan with mass arrests, would have been like the maxi-trial in Italy that was taking place at the same time.

Effective? Fuck that. This country was better off when the Mafia was effective, not these fuckin Russian bozos or the street thugs.

Those ones should be treated in the same manner too imo (mass arrests, long sentences etc).

I wouldn't think he would flip..but, if he was given a heavy or life sentence,you never really know.

It's worth mentioning that the same person who propagated all the stuff about Castellano having rat like tendencies went on to raise a son who actually ratted.

Guys like Steven Crea are throwbacks to guys like Castellano.

Castellano was the most natural successor to Gambino, Gotti sent the family back 20 years.

Why the hell should anyone give that dipshit's word any credence?