I don't really understand, he ran what appeared to be a successful auto shop and was a made guy who I imagine was making a good living with that alone. I find it hard to believe he needed to resort to doing heroin for the extra cash. Am I missing something?
shareDid you watch the whole series? That sort of thing was happening to a lot of them. Look at the episodes where Tony is gambling.
Also, what gave you the impression it was a successful auto shop and not just a front? Been a long time since I watched, so it might have been obvious, I don't know. I don't remember it being shown too much though, until after his death.
I agree ducksoup, I feel like they also made a point of showing that puss's wife angie made it into something successful. Also, they showed her having to work at a grocery store after puss died, them a few seasons later shes driving a new corvette
shareIn Season 5 when Angie thanks Tony for giving her the auto shop, she mentions that "they did a lot of other stuff out of here." and Tony quickly changes the subject. Mostly likely the shop did ok, but Pussy mostly used it as a front to justify his life style to the IRS.
Pussy probably got into heroin for the same reason all these guys do things they know they shouldn't. Because they're greedy and stupid. He saw an easy way to make big money, and jumped on it despite knowing the high risk.
If we believe "To Save from Satan's Powers" then Pussy had been a rat for several years prior to the start of the show. During that time the FBI would allow him to make a living, but limit how much they would let him earn. And the knowledge that it was only a matter of time before he went into "The Program" probably stressed him out about how he would take care of his kids.
Her had 2 kids at private schools. One went to Villanova as I recall. All of the capos save for Ralphie had money problems and Ralphie stupidly was involved in millions of dollars worth of activities but never seemed to have a place of his own to live always shacking up with some woman.