Here's my 2 cents. Deal and die is an outdated policy that only a fool follows in the mob. The logic behind it was that drugs bring long prison terms and that creates rats. Only problem with that is, while the mob was trying to not piss off the government with drugs, the government was busy rewriting laws to lock wiseguys up for life over other shit. Now I'm always reading articles about wiseguys getting 30 and 50 years for the usual rackets. So fuck it. Just deal drugs and get that money, they're gonna give you 100 years either way...
That's basically how it is today. In just the last 10-15 years we've seen numerous mob drug cases, particularly in New York. Less so in the small families left elsewhere but that seems due more to not having the manpower or "business diversity" to compete and really be major players in the drug trade.
Was there a lot of made men that were actually killed after being caught dealing? I've never heard of it happening.
That's just it. While some will use comments or edicts made by bosses like Castellano, Gigante, Corallo, Accardo and others as an argument to prove the "deal and die" rule, a close examination shows it was more "Only deal with permission...and don't get caught." Castellano took drug money off John Gambino while telling the Gotti crew not to deal. Gigante (despite his own past drug conviction) supposedly makes a pact with Castellano to kill drug dealers in their families but then appoints Bellomo (a known drug trafficker) the acting boss of the family. Corallo complains about drug dealing on tape but then gives the OK for Amuso and Casso (known drug traffickers) to take over the family. And when Accardo was running the Outfit, you had top guys like Fifi Buccieri and Turk Torello involved in the drug trade.
