Well if Tony died, which is what I believe. There's no doubt Paulie would've been a bad boss, he would've most likely ended up dead. Sil was in a coma, there's no telling if he would've ever recovered. Paulie would've took over the family, but before the fate of Tony he handed Paulie control of the Aprile crew, the Aprile crew was plagued with bad luck with all the bosses dying early into their reign. Janice killed Ritchie, what's his face died on the toilet, Tony killed Ralph. There's no reason to believe Paulie would've been the one to break that chain.