He probably thought he was untouchable because of the close relationship he had with outfit heavyweight Joey Lombardo. Until Lombardo went to prison. When Joey was on the lam and went to Tony's brother Patrick, a dentist in the suburbs of Chicago where Joey was being treated for an abscess he told Pat that had he not been in jail they wouldn't have knocked down Tony and Micheal. I think Tony would have been dead in prison or natural causes soon enough had he not been murdered, he had a lot of health problems with a bad heart and a heavy smoker.