Paulie as boss? It'd be a disaster! Some guys are just born to be nothing but enforcers their whole lives, and he is one of them. Not much in the brains department to be honest. He was too insecure also. He had this childlike idolization with Tony. He wanted his every approval and kind words every time.

Must've been hard for Paulie to know how his aunt, (who turned out to be his mom) got knocked up by a guy named Russ. In some ways I even think he saw a father figure in Tony even though Tony was old enough to be his son.