Originally Posted By: Moe_Tilden
Originally Posted By: CabriniGreen
Also, like was said in that Boss of Bosses book, that Criminal/Corporate CEO image Paul was so fond of, was kinda blown by the fact he had Billotti as his chief confidant....


That whole thing was propagated in order to sway people against Castellano in the first place.

I'm not saying it's untrue but it's probably grossly exaggerated.

If you asked the older guys like Marino, Gallo or Failla if Castellano was a gangster they would probably say yes, and if they were asked about Gotti and Ruggiero they would probably say they didn't have the mentality to rise above associate.

I mean look at the Diane Sawyer interview Billy posted. Gravano didn't implicate ANYBODY on the tapes the Feds got him on.

Gotti was implicating people left, right and center.

Yet Gravano is the bad guy?

Poor Frankie Loc deliberately staying monosyllabic in the tapes in order not to implicate himself in anything - and he's still in prison to this day because of this Gotti retard!

You telling me he doesn't wish now in hindsight that Castellano was boss in 1990??


Agreed 100%. Gotti didn't have the pedigree and wasn't groomed to be a boss from day 1 like Gambino or Castellano and it showed. Both of them were mafia royalty from Palermo. They were probably born rich from having their family in Cosa Nostra for decades, so it was more about loyalty, respect, and bloodlines for them than money. Reminds me of that George Anastasia quote about never make a poor man the boss.

Makes you wonder if Castellano had named Marino or Failla as underboss instead of Belloti if the Gotti takeover group wouldve respected and/or feared them enough as UB to not make a move on Big Paul.

"It wasn't very good parsley to begin with, and then the cat went and peed on it." -Sicilian proverb