ROY DEMEO WAS THE REAL CONCERN FOR PAUL CASTELLANO, NOT GOTTI OR RUGGIERO

We have talked about this before.  In fact, many people have, but there is a bit of the story that somehow gets lost in translation.  I'm not going to repeat what others before me have said.  I can simply give my opinion here based on one undeniable fact.

There has been so much talk, about the Castellano hit, and everything that encompassed that.  I'm not here to rehash that, but it's a side note to something bigger that was going on.  Many mob writers, and personalities have always sorta pushed the finger at John Gotti Sr in one way or another as the "vulture sitting in the corner just waiting.," and while I admit that's a pretty funny description, it's not really accurate what so ever.

In the mob, the ends always justify the means.  Sometimes, it can be over money, and turf, but you had better believe that in almost every single situation, someone gets killed to benefit a lot of other people, with exceptions. Salvatore Gravano had people killed over greed, and if you believe anything otherwise, then well....

So what exactly was the problem between Castellano, Gotti, Ruggiero and Dellacroce.  Well prior to Roy Demeo getting Castellano indicted?  Nothing.  It was business as usual.  The idea that somehow Paul was irate about drugs being sold is laughable.  Why?  He had his own cousins selling smack in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.  He was collecting drug profits.  So based on that, take that off the shelf.

It is true, Angelo Ruggiero was caught on wiretaps, and refused to give up "them tapes, because good people are on them tapes."  The issue really was Castellano was afraid those tapes would be used in his indictment.  The commission case.  The other issue is, Castellano wanted to see if Dellacroce was loyal to him or Gotti.  Need proof?  Castellano kept bellyaching about them tapes, but he already had copies of them, knowing what was on them.  It was a simple do as I say thing.  Dellacroce stalled, and we know how the rest of those events went down.  Castellano could have just had Ruggiero killed, but he didn't. He feared Gotti and Dellacroce.

Roy DeMeo was a bigger problem for Paul than anyone else.  Sure, a drug conviction would have given him a likely life sentence, but for everything Roy was up to, on Paul's orders, and permission, the drug issue was truly a moot point.  From the car thefts, to a ton of bodies, and drug use by butchers Anthony Senter and Joey Testa, and then the loose lips of Dominick Montiglio, it was all rolling downhill and quick.

That's why DeMeo was killed.  He was a loose end, and Castellano felt that if Roy was gone, perhaps he could push himself away from those crimes and he was getting nervous.  He forced Nino Gaggi to kill Roy.  Lots of people have speculated it was someone else, but believe me when I tell you it was Nino, Anthony, and Joey who shot and killed DeMeo.  They lured him to a garage and put a bunch in his head, face and hands.  To make matters worse, Anthony and Joey went after Roy DeMeo's son Albert in an effort to take his black book which contained the list of money and names of who owed Roy.

In the end, Castellano would have gone to prison for the rest of his life anyway, but at the time there needed to be a statement, and it was made.  Ends justified the means.  Gotti stuck up for a friend, and and his conglomerate. Everyone was on board, I don't care what authors say about Gigante and Casso wanting revenge(untrue) The idea that somehow Gotti went against all rules and protocol is a joke.  We have seen this stuff happen repeatedly over the years.  This is not an isolated incident and these mob pundits who claim otherwise obviously don't know the history of the mob.  How many times did Carlo Gambino have bosses killed, or have direct responsibility?  Try at least four.  So somehow Gotti is different?  Nope.

Mob writers try to weave in Gotti, and while I readily admit I used it here today, it's because in order to truly understand what happened you have to mention the players.  The only victim in this whole scenario is Angelo Ruggiero.  He was shelved and put aside.  Not because he was a bad guy, or didn't do what he was asked, but because he had been incredibly sloppy, and his own mouth was his undoing.  Many have asked me if I thought that it was justified, and I believe it was. The damage had been done, and believe me it was easier to shelve the guy than kill him.  Sometimes getting shelved is worse in that life.

History is always going to the point the finger at one, we all should know that by now, however now that you know that Castellano was in effect hammered by DeMeo, and had those tapes already, then does that change your mind?  Does it make you feel any different about the perspective?

Dellacroce was loyal to Gotti, and Gotti to Dellacroce.  We can argue that logic all day, but Castellano was loyal to nobody but his own pockets, and while murder in any case shouldn't be justified, in this case, it was, at least from the street perspective.