He went along after Gotti declared himself boss. He had no choice. Gotti simply named him consigliere to extend an olive branch to the other pro-Castellano factions in the family, guys like Jimmy Brown, and others. And he quickly took him down in favor of DeCicco when he felt like he was safe from retribution within the family.

No, according to Sammy Joe Piney was along from day 1. He might not have played a part but he was consulted and asked to "bring over the old timers" once it was over with

Sammy said him and frank decicco spoke to him in person & he informed them Joe Gallo was made aware too. "He doesn't want no part but will go along with it".

Sammy & franker proceeded to ask Piney what happens if Gallo tips off Paulie? piney tells them "I'll kill him".

Sammy," that was good enough for us"

I guess I didn't realize frank decicco was so powerful-influentiAl. A thought I had, did gotti then get lucky that frank d got killed so early into his reign? Or did frank have enough clout that he could have had gotti ear to help make better choices? Or would he eventually jus hit gotti?

Gangsterport, I have a couple of questions, why wasn't Bobby Boriello part of the fist? He was closed to John and a capable shooter. Was he killed like Eddie Lino because Gaspipe and the Chin thought he was in on Paul's hit? Is it possible Sammy the Bull didn't include him when he ratted to the Feds that he was involved>

For being such good friends, DeCicco had no issue it seems with killing Gotti himself if things went bad. The killing Gotti comment was his own words, I have no reason to doubt that if he hadn't been killed, Gotti would've been dead, he was too public. DeCicco weren't fond it, neither was Sammy The Bull or a lot of Gambino members for that matter, as well as the rest of the families. DeCicco came from the "Bath Beach Mafia" group, whom pretty much all of the guys who came up under that umbrella, preferred the typical low-key, in the shadows, make money not headlines approach to LCN, which included Castellano, whom according to most sources DeCicco was extremely close to during the late 70s-early 80s. Castellano took DeCicco under his wing as his protege and placed him in the unions, allowing DeCicco to rise in power and funds, and his crew was one of the crews Paul really relied on, along with Nino Gaggi's Veterans Club guys, and the DeMeo crew. Somewhere along the lines that relationship changed. DeCicco would go to the Ravenite & Bergin to conduct business with Dellacroce & Fatico on behalf of Castellano, thats where he met Gotti and the two became close, he wasn't initially going to either place simply to see John Gotti.


And these are Franks own words in regards to Gotti, as said by Gravano, "John's fucking egos too big, I could be his underboss, but he couldn't be mine. Look, he's got balls, he's got brains, he's got charisma. If we can control him to stop the gambling and all his flamboyant bullshit, he could be a good boss. Sammy, I'll tell you what. We'll give him a shot. Let him be the boss. If it don't work within a year, me and you, we'll kill him. I'll become the boss and you'll be my underboss, and we'll run the family right."

This was right after Bilotti & Castellano were murdered, well into DeCicco & Gotti's "very good friendship". And he still spoke without hesitation of taking him out. Of course DeCicco wasn't even around for that long, but Gotti never quit his gambling, in fact he lost more money than he earned as boss because of his addiction, and he never quit the "flamboyant shit". Had DeCicco still been around, I have no doubt he would've hit Gotti.

I've read the first statement. But the second I have never known about until now. Do you have a source for that? Was it in Sammy's testimony? Not saying I don't believe it, but just for reference purposes. The first statement just pretty much adds on to what I said I think, the guy had no choice. He was old, and was on his way out anyways, he wanted to retire. And with the young guard making it's move, he most likely realized that the old time ways were done and would never return. I don't think he would've gone to war with Gotti if he went against him, he didn't have the manpower or will at that point.


But I stand corrected. I got him mixed up with Joe Gallo.

to be honest i dont know i have heard from some infromers that he was one of the backup shooters. i know he did not pick gene because he did not want his own blood involved

if he was not picked (though i think he was there) it was prob he was too low down he only got made in 1988 they did not want to take risks but rampino was a back up shooter the guy was a junkie and was not made but then again he was a bergin crew member for a long time. Bobby only starterd assoaiting with gotti in the 80s gotti prob did not trust him enough

i dont even think sammy knew who most of the shooters were esp the back up shooters they were all johns guys the main shooters though i think sammy knew john carneliga etc

gaspipe had him whacked because it was a messgage to john because bobby was very close to john. For years everyone thought it was this guy in the westside some crazy guy who was stabbed to death in 2004 but it turns out he had nothing to do with the murder

frank decicco was one of the most respected guys paul made a big mistake when he was choosing his acting bosses should have put decicco as acting boss or underboss guys would listen to frank.


Frank said once to sammy if john is a bad boss him and sammy would kill him and that he could be johns underboss but john could never be his underboss


but saying that i dont think frank would ever try anything because frank and john were close before paul i mean frank used to go to the bergin sometimes the ravainite as well he used to meet john alot they were very good friends



the main plotters against paul who nicknamed themselves the fist were john gotti, angelo ruggeriao, sammy gravano, Robert DiBernado, frank decicco, joe piney and john carnleiga

bobby was made before jr