I remember Castellano's line in the HBO movie. I think the FBI made too much of that. At that point in history, the mob was about money. One of the resentments of Castellano is that he was too professional and would make comments praising the police, which is a slap in the face to wiseguys. I'm sure there was more personal motivation to kill him behind that than any Italian-Sicilian subtleties.

"...the successful annihilation of organized crime's subculture in America would rock the 'legitimate' world's foundation, which would ultimately force fundamental social changes and redistributions of wealth and power in this country. Meyer Lansky's dream was to bond the two worlds together so that one could not survive without the other." - Dan E. Moldea