Other mistake: When the sex scene with Robert De Niro and his lover is over, you can see that he is wearing underwear.
Continuity mistake: When Dr Sobel is eating a dish of spaghetti in the restaurant, there is a dish of plain lasagna in the foreground. When Paul Viti's cousin arrives and the camera pulls back, the lasagna has melted cheese on top.
Continuity mistake: During the scene when Chazz Palminteri is in his office talking on the phone, a microphone appears a couple of time at the top of the screen.
Factual error: When young Vitti and young Manetta hijacked the farmer off his tractor, a John Deere 730, they pulled the hand clutch backward to go and pushed it forward to stop. On these tractors, the hand clutch operation is just the opposite. Additionally, the JD 730 was not produced until 1958. The mob meeting was in 1957.
Visible crew/equipment: During the scene when Robert De Niro meets Billy Crystal in his office, there is a flash of what I assume is the cameraman's finger over the frame. I believe it's right after Billy says, "So sorry."
Continuity mistake: In the big shootout at the end in the car park the huge machine gun fires into the warehouse leaving some bullet holes in the large corrugated door. In the next, wide shot of all the families running around in the warehouse the bullet holes are gone.
Chosen answer: That's how he dealt with facing certain death and then not being killed. Some would be silently grateful as you suggest, others wouldn't. Everyone reacts differently.
Captain Defenestrator