Was it one of Rotondo's crew, who operated under him out of NY, but was in the NJ family? No. Without a doubt no. Was it one of the NJ based men who operated out of NJ or even other parts of NY? Possibly. It's possible this came from within. Like I said, the dentist, by that I refer to Jesse Hyman, being introduced to the family might have had something to do with it. Also, don't forget the possibility that Rotondo made a comment about Gaspipe Casso, which may have led to the Lucchese's ordering it. However, I personally doubt the validity in that. I'm torn between that and the elder Gotti being weary of Rotondo's power. If you're ruling out Gotti solely because of Sammy the Bull, I would say to think again. How do you know for sure that he admitted to every murder but Rotondo's? There might have been more. Jimmy's own family does not know the actual truth, so I guess the world may never know. It's a shame, though. He was a great man.

so did a little looking. the last time his son Anthony rotondo testified at jr gotti's trial in 2005, jr lawyers ask him arnt you just made you blame jrs dad for your fathers death like you told the fbi in 2003 debriefings. hes says no I think it was the head of the 5 families. but it happened in Brooklyn and al d'arco,casso and fat pete were all Brooklyn guys and none of them ever admitted knowing about the hit in January 1988 at the height of vic amuso power and casso's. so it goes backe to me thinking it had to be chin and the westside. he mite have asked riggi;s ok most likely cause he was about rules and had westside guys do the hit. then gotti got pissed had 40 gambinos go to the funeral and surpousily chewed out riggi. carmine sessa never said it was the colombos and scarpa would have told the fbi. rotondo and 7 other mobster beat the loansharking charges in 1985 why wait till 88 to kill, unless the knew there was a upcoming indictment for the dentist union kickback progam, but even after he got hit there was no indictment. mystery. if the killers came from the riggi family vinny ocean would have known he was a capo. had to be chin. 1988 was the yr were gotti and chin were both making moves for total control on nj like a chess game. Genovese scarfo family got wipe out in 87 and nj was up for grabs.

I doubt that the turn out at Rotondo's wake was because Gotti was pissed, first off. Was it a show of power? Probably. Rotondo was very powerful in Brooklyn, which also means he had working relationships with many men, some from Gotti's crew, therefore they went out of respect. He was a very well-respected and well loved man. He practically ran the waterfront; he worked with Alberto Anastasia. I also doubt that Riggi personally approved this hit. Riggi and Rotondo respected each other well enough and to my knowledge were friends. Rotondo introduced Jessie Hyman to the family, and them Hyman turned over financial records to the Federal authorities. That action on Hyman's part nullified Rotondo's omerta. I have my reservations in terms of Casso ordering the hit. I still doubt that. The Chin was another theory that I had floated around for a while. Chronologically it makes sense, and many do believe it, but I'm still not really convinced. I feel like Vinny Ocean might have known about the hit; I doubt that Riggi directly ordered it, but I feel like Ocean knew. I know he was very close with the Rotondos, but the fact that Jimmy was found with a jar of fish on his lap always signaled me to Ocean, who owned a fish store. The only reason the hit would have come from within would have been because of Hyman. I don't think the hit's order came directly from one of the NY men who Rotondo worked with, but I never said I doubted it could have come from an NJ sanctioned member.

Wasn't this around the time that Gotti began to distrust Sammy The Bull, as we've been led to believe from various wiretaps and agents? If so, it's not that hard to believe that Gotti stopped feeding him literally everything he knew about.

Why would Gravano hold back on the Rotondo hit after he flipped? Why would he admit to 19 murders, including Castellano, but not admit to the Rotondo hit? Rotondo was a very powerful guy, so it's not likely that Gravano would not remember.

Mobsters badmouth each other all the time. Rotondo was hit in January 1988. Gravano was made underboss sometime in 1988 or 1989. Gotti was planning and discussing hits with Gravano up to the end. The Garofalo and DiBono hits both went through Gravano in 1990.

I doubt Vinny Ocean would have done Rotondo without permission from the boss and been stupid enough to put the fish on his lap to let everyone know about it.