Paulie has seemingly betrayed
Paulie was indeed a traitor, but his betrayal was a calculated matter of business. He was selling out the Don to Solozzo and Barzini in hopes of getting a better, bigger deal from them than he got as a Corleone soldier. In short, it was largely impersonal, as such things go.
Show activity on this post. TL;DR. "What exactly did Paulie do to "sell out" Don Corleone?" He gave them information about Vito Corleone's daily journeys, and about the protection he had, so the gunmen could choose the best place to carry the assassination.
Having Paulie brought to the Corleone compound Sonny Corleone deduced that Gatto had sold out his father. Sonny ordered Clemenza to have Gatto killed as soon as possible, saying he did not want to see Gatto again.
Clemenza had already selected Rocco as his new protégé. While out in the countryside, Clemenza asked Paulie to pull over so he could "take a leak". While he was doing so, Rocco executed Paulie with three shots to the head.
Paulie has seemingly betrayed Vito—and thus the family—by selling him out. In The Godfather, this kind of betrayal is the worst of all sins. We see the matter discussed, in the Corleone family office, just before the viewer spends time in front of Clemenza's cozy abode.
Another popular anecdote floating around for years is that Sirico agreed to do the series as long as Paulie never became a “rat,” aka government informant, as the actor had a criminal past and took the issue seriously. It seems that is most likely accurate, as Schirripa noted that Sirico said, “I'll never play a rat.”
Many people might not realize that Paulie was a consistent villain in the series.
It could be due to Pauli's greedy decision to cut the church's funding or even his callous behavior towards his mother. This would explain the vision if it were simply Paulie's imagination - a hallucination brought on by his subconscious guilt.
Michael and Vito might have placed some of the blame for Sonny's assassination on Tom. Though it turns out that Carlo Rizzi plotted with Barzini to set Sonny up, Michael and Vito probably believed that Tom didn't do enough to stop Sonny from leaving the safety of the family compound that day to find Carlo.
Orson Welles - Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather (1972)
Marlon Brando was always Francis Ford Coppola's first choice for the role of Don Vito Corleone.
The only regret he seems to have about his life is that he couldn't keep Michael from getting involved in crime. This luxury of self-deception was denied Michael, and this is where the changes to Vito most benefit the film trilogy.
Brando didn't stuff his mouth with cotton for the movie
He did it for the screen test in order to make Vito Corleone “look like a bulldog.” For the filming of the movie, he had a dentist make him a custom mouthpiece to create his sagging jowls.
Ultimately, Tessio betrays Michael by helping arrange his assassination at a peace summit with Barzini and Philip Tattaglia. The summit will be held in Tessio's fiefdom in Brooklyn, where Michael will presumably be safe. In return, Tessio was to inherit the Corleone family upon Michael's death.
While in Havana negotiating with Roth, Michael discovers that Fredo is the family traitor behind the assassination attempt on him. After telling Michael that he has never met Ola, Fredo later carelessly tells Geary that he had been to a nightclub with Ola.
Don Philip Tattaglia then arranges a meeting between Brasi and Sollozzo. Sollozzo, not fooled by the ruse, impales Brasi's hand into a table while one of his men strangles Brasi to death with piano wire.
In the Season 6, part II episode Walk Like a Man, Little Paulie is badly hurt after being pushed out of a second story window by Christopher Moltisanti over a feud between Paulie Gualtieri and himself. He suffers 6 broken vertebrae.
But after seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary at the Bing, Paulie goes to his mother's room in Green Grove, her accomodation now being paid by her biological son. He quietly sits down next to her as they watch The Lawrence Welk Show together, and they silently reconcile.
As they argue in the parking lot, their waiter confronts Christopher about his poor tip, and when they dismiss him, he insults them. An enraged Christopher throws a brick at his head. The waiter collapses and has a seizure, causing a panicked Paulie to shoot him dead.
Apparently shot in the head. Though officially, according to HBO, his fate is ultimately unknown as he may have survived. Suffocated with a pillow in her apartment, after she caught him searching her bedroom for cash.
1) Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli)
Christopher Moltisanti may be the most loathsome lead character in TV history. Unlike Tony's love of animals or Paulie's humanizing foolishness, Cristopher has zero redeemable features.
Instead of Uncle June, Sopranos creator David Chase found him what was supposed to be a smaller role: Dimeo crime family captain Paulie “Walnuts” Gualitieri, who got his nickname by hijacking a truck he thought was full of TVs only to find it was transporting, well, walnuts.
In season two, when Tony becomes the family's street boss, while Junior remains boss only in name, Paulie is promoted to capo of Tony's old crew.
In The Sopranos season 4, episode 1, "For All Debts Public And Private,” Tony told Christopher that his father Dickie was killed by Barry Haydu, a New Jersey detective. According to Tony, Barry was taking orders from a criminal named Jilly Ruffalo, who had his eye gouged out by Dickie.
Jimmy Altieri was a season 1 Sopranos character who was whacked for being an FBI informant, which becomes a reflection of Tony's character.