Would you be surprised if say Gravano ended up on the national news tomorrow morning because they found him dead by an assailant?

Discuss.

Btw it wouldn't surprise me to be honest.

No. Because the 21 century wiseguy know that would be an idiotic and counterproductive choice, with the FBI and other government agencies competing to find the shooter, generating unwanted attention and probable flipping or big cases against the hierarchy.
Look at the Bulger case. He was killed by a 2 lifers that was only an associates and had nothing to lose.
Even the wannabes know that to kill a famous rat wont give them respect but only problems.

I doubt it, if one gets killed it will be by an outside the Mafia-type thing. If those kids Gravano had shaken down when he took over their ecstasy ring had killed him, I wonder if the government would have said Gotti or the Mafia did it. With all of them out there a few are going to get involved in crimes and one will eventually get killed by whomever they get involved with.

Regarding Bulger, many of those hard core prison inmates hate rats in a more passionate way than the Mafia. It's just a thing in prison with guys who learned that mentality in there.

If you have nothing to lose 'cause long sentences and you must earn a ruthless reputation to survive decade between the worst people on earth and another is if you have short sentences! Geas and DiCalogero was lifers so to kill a rats would help them now that Geas is in florence and Paul J. DeCologero is usp lee another high security prison.

In a word: no.

It's an interesting question though; even 20 years ago the answer may have been different.

The only caveat to my otherwise hard no is that I could see some lunatic who thinks they're in the mob or thinks they can impress the mob, or something like that, I could see some deranged person like that doing it. Otherwise, all these old rats are so irrelevant and are talking about stories from so long ago that while they are huge embarrassments they aren't worth deploying resources against today.

The last attempt was in 1997 when the Gambinos sent 2 men to kill Gravano and after the fbi understood that one of the two flipped and the other Huck Carbonaro was in prison to then.
The last rat whacked was riccobene brother in philly in 1993.

If Gotti never died from cancer do you think Gravano would have eventually been taken out? Interesting to think about as Gotti still would have been giving orders.

In my opinion no fucking way does Gotti go to his grave without having Gravano whacked. The only reason why Gravano is still alive is because Gotti passed away.

Furio, Geas and DeCologero in no way needed reputations to survive. They had already established themselves in prison.

Regarding Bulger, I have to suspicious of the BOP sending him to a prison like that and letting the inmates know he was there. Then, they leave him unprotected.

They set him up to get killed in prison. Its obvious.

I think so too, but I am wondering why did the prison authorities want him dead. Did he have compromising information that hasn't been disclosed yet?

This is obviously all pure speculation so it becomes impossible to say and therefore the likeliest assumptions will be made based on each individual's own bias. In other words, if you're a fan of Gotti then you probably assume the most favourable outcome for Gotti.

That's not to dismiss your assumption: I'd be inclined to agree that Gotti would have an obsession with getting to Gravano for as long as he's around. With that being said, he was around for a whole decade and nothing happened to Sammy. And all these years later when Gravano is presumably an easier target, I'd have to say that even if Gotti were still alive he'd be virtually irrelevant to the Gambino family today and I can't realistically see a group of fairly sophisticated guys like Mannino actually deploying resources against an old grievance, which, if successful will guarantee heat on a scale they haven't seen since the 1980's (and are probably less equipped to deal with today).

So in the end, I'm going to have to say no. I think a cool-headed mobster like a Barney wouldn't even consider it. Sammy did the damage he was going to do and can't do any more. There is no advantage to whacking the guy now. If you do, you argue that you restore some of the Mafia's fear. But likewise you invite the scrutiny of the government to pin the murder on you. It's two sides of the same coin and it's a conversation devoted entirely to risking money and freedom than making money. With no upside.