Definitely not, but Carmine Persico is not your average mobster. He is, and has been, the boss of New York's most violent Mafia family since 1973 and has been serving a life sentence since 1986. He has undoubtedly made numerous connections in the various prisons he's been at, and the Bernie Madoff saga proves that he has goons beneath him. Maybe these goons are mob associates currently at Butner. Maybe they're New Yorkers who are hoping to be hooked up with the Colombos upon release. Maybe Carmine's kicking them a bit of 'protection' money. Or, maybe Carmine Persico's legendary street and prison reputation is enough for certain groups of people to want to impress.
Prison connections are incredibly useful for the Mafia today, especially in the 21st century. I'll give you some big name examples - Ralph DeLeo, an out-of-state criminal from New England, was able to become the Colombo family's ACTING BOSS purely through a prison friendship with Alphonse 'Little Allie Boy' Persico. This is a guy that had never been a mob associate before meeting Allie Boy in prison. Thomas Farese was from Boston, met powerful Colombo capo Nicholas 'Jiggs' Forlano in the can, and upon his release partnered with him in a marijuana trafficking operation in Florida. By 2012, Farese was the Colombo family's acting consigliere, and he had even hooked up with Carmine Persico's daughter by then.
There are obviously far more examples, but the fact that somebody can become ACTING BOSS of a 100-man crime family based on a single prison connection alone, and also how someone can become an associate of a powerful Colombo capo after nothing but a prison friendship shows the importance of such connections. Off the top of my head, I also recall Colombo associate Joseph Petillo befriending Bonanno acting boss Vincent 'Vinny TV' Badalamenti in prison and getting Badalamenti's approval and guidance on various loans Petillo had to Bonanno associates. Prison connections are important, and prison cash (protection money) is just as important. Persico is not a poor man, and he is not a disrespected man.