Why do you say this?
In addition, I understand that black holes have a gravity well that is not that wide, but exceptionally steep once entered. Perhaps this configuration means that most of its own gravity is swallowed up at long distances.
Ordinary stars may pull on every other object in the universe, but black holes only pull (with their full strength) on things inside their event horizons. Things outside are pulled on with a quantum tithe of gravitry, i.e.- Only those gravity "waves" able to escape the event horizon due to the fluctating nature of the quantum world near the edge of the event horizon.
Whut U ThAnk?