Back in the old days, you'd have guys like Frank Costello or Joe Bonnanno or ever lower tier guys who'd rather risk death or long time imprisonment instead of violating Omerta.

Someone like Costello could've spilled everything he knew after he being nearly killed, potentially shattered La Cosa Nostra, he had no reason not to; There was no place left for him in the Mob. Same goes for Lucky Luciano. All being loyal to the Code did was make his life harder, got him deported from a country he loved, foiled at every later turn.....

Yet so many of these guys, big and small--and that even goes for hot heads and loud mouths like Gotti and Angelo Ruggiero--took their time like men and didn't say a word, even though their lives would've been much easier had they chatted with the FBI.

Why is it, then, that so many of the modern breed of Mafiosos are so afraid of prison that they'd rather snitch than do time? People say Sammy Gravano only snitched because of John Gotti, but that's not true--a prison psychiatrist found that he had a "pathological fear of prison."

What I don't get is...Every guy goes into this life knowing that jail is a very likely possibility. They accept that and get their button knowing they could be pinched and sent away forever at any time. Why even step into that life at all, if you're afraid of the consequences of said life?

Why are so many so willing to roll on their friends rather than keep their Oath and face time?