Carol, How are you?

I have noticed a repeating pattern when characters in Mario Puzo's (RIP) die. They tend to have really strange thoughts just before their deaths. I'll try to recall them:

1] Santino experiencing "...for the first time..." the sense of fear. [The Godfather]

2] Don Vito Corleone wanting to keep his youngest son away from that yellow spot (resembling death). [The Godfather]

3) Turi Guiliano recalling the time when Aspanu and himself were running downhill from their mountains and he shouted "..I believe...I believe..." [The Sicilian]

4] Gronevelt thinking process linking back to his childhood/adolescence and the "dilemma" of killing a thousand "Chinamen". [The Last Don]

5] Portella thinking about who's going to tell his brother (Bruno) about his death. [Omerta]

My question is this: Did Mario have any beliefs about people's experiences just before death? Aren't those characters' thoughts just before death a little bit oddly familiar (in their strangeness)?Will we see any similar pattern in The Family?

Thanx Carol.