John Gotti, also known as "The Dapper Don" and "The Teflon Don", was boss of the Gambino Family from 1986 until his arrest in 1992. He became widely known for his outspoken personality and flamboyant style which even put him on the cover of Times Magazine. Although many idolized Gotti, he wasn't that well liked within Mafia circles.
Early Life
1973: John Gotti mugshot
Gotti was born on October 27, 1940, to John Gotti Sr. and Philomena "Fannie" Gotti in The Bronx, New York. He was the fifth child of thirteen, two of whom died in infancy. Gotti's grandfather was an immigrant from the Campania region in Italy. When Gotti was 12 years old his family moved to Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, a tough Italian neighborhood at the time.
With his brothers Peter and Richard he became part of a local street gang which performed petty crimes in order of mafia associates. Gotti focused more on his street education and less on his formal one. He was constantly absent from school and when he was there he was labeled the class bully. When Gotti was sixteen he quit school for good and joined a street gang called the Fulton-Rockaway Boys.
It was at this moment in his life where he teamed up with Angelo "Quack-Quack" Ruggiero and Wilfred "Willy Boy" Johnson. In 1957 he was arrested for the first time after a gangfight. One year later he was convicted for burglary. All the charges were eventually dismissed or reduced to probationary sentences.
Family
In 1960, Gotti met and fell in love with Victoria DiGiorgio, and on March 6, 1962 they were married. They had five children together, Angela "Angel" Gotti, Victoria Gotti, John A. Gotti, Frank Gotti and Peter "Pete" Gotti. John and his family lived on 85th Street in Howard Beach.
According to numerous sources, Gotti had two illegitimate children as the result of a longtime affair with Staten Island housewife Shannon "Sandy" Connelly, the wife of a Gambino soldier, Ed Grillo.
Career
After his marriage Gotti tried working legitimate careers. He worked as a coat factory presser and a truck driver's assistant, but he was always drawn back to a life of crime.
In 1963, Gotti and Salvatore Ruggiero were arrested by the police for being in an automobile that had been reported stolen from a rental car agency. Gotti spent 20 days in jail. Around this time Gotti was arrested a lot, mostly on petty crimes such as larceny, burglary, and bookmaking.
In 1966, he spent several months in jail for an attempted theft. He also became an associate for a crew headed by Carmine Fatico who worked for Aniello Dellacroce, underboss of the Gambino Family.
Gotti's criminal career with the Gambino's began with fencing stolen goods from Idlewild Airport. Gotti became successful enough at this lifestyle to move his family to a nicer apartment in Brooklyn.
John Gotti with Sammy Gravano
On November 27, 1967, Gotti and Angelo Ruggiero forged the name of a fowarding company agent and then took a rented trunk to JFK's United cargo area and drove off with $30,000 worth of merchandise. A few days later the FBI began surveillence on Angelo Ruggiero and Gotti and caught them loading up more goods. Once outside the terminal Gotti's brother Gene pulled alongside his truck and they began to transfer the goods. The FBI swooped in and arrested all three men and found Gotti hiding in the rear of the truck behind some boxes.
In February 1968, United employees identified Gotti as the man who signed for the earlier stolen merchandise. The FBI arrested him for the United hijacking soonafter. Two months later, while out on bail, Gotti was arrested a third-time for hijacking, this time stealing a load of cigarettes worth $500,000. Fatico urged Gotti to hire defense attorney Michael Coiro. Later that year Gotti pled guilty to the Northwest hijacking and was sentenced to 4 years at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary. Prosecutors dropped the charges for the cigarette hijacking. Gotti also plead guilty to the United hijacking.
After he was released from prison he was placed on probation and ordered to find a legitimate job. Gotti was placed on the payroll of his wife's stepfathers' construction company where he reportedly never showed up for work but remained on the payroll. Meanwhile he returned to his old crew at the Bergen club still working under Fatico. When Fatico was indicted on loansharking charges, he used Gotti to oversee the day-to-day activities at the club. This helped get the attention of the Gambinos, specifically of Dellacroce. Gotti looked up to the elder Dellacroce and idolized him. In 1973 Gotti was indicted for the murder of James McBratney during a barroom fight. The murder was reputidly performed as a favor to Carlo Gambino, who ordered his killing after he had abducted and murdered his cousin.
Carlo Gambino passed away in 1976 and many thought Dellacroce would become his successor, but instead Gambino had appointed his cousin Paul Castellano as his successor.
John Gotti
Gotti and his crew disapproved Castellano as the boss of the family and were angered that Dellacroce was pushed aside. However, Dellacroce demanded that there would be no violence as long he was alive. Castellano's rule inside the family was one which irritated many and also banned drugs within the family. Dellacroce eventually became ill and died in December 1985. This immediatly gave Gotti and his associates the opportunity to get rid of Castellano. On December 16, 1985, it was time to act. Castellano and his new underboss Thomas Bilotti were on their way to the Sparks Steak House in Manhattan where they reputidly would meet with Thomas Gambino. When Castellano got out of the car he was approached by 2 gunman who fired 6 bullets in Castellano's body. When Bilotti got out to help he was also shot to death by another gunman. John Gotti and Sammy Gravano were the masterminds behind the killing and led to Gotti's elevation inside the family as the new boss.
gotti was extremely popular in his Queens neighborhood, where he organized free lavish street parties and festivals, and had a reputation for keeping street crime out. He also hosted the annual Fourth of July near his Bergen Hunt and Fish Club in Ozone Park, a neighborhood in Queens, which featured an elaborate fireworks display and became a major media event. Although he had success he was not that liked by the other mafia bosses in New York. Gotti killed a boss and this is a renegade act. The Lucchese and Genovese families wanted to kill Gotti in 1986, when they blew up his first underboss Frank DeCicco and executed 2 Gotti soldiers in 1990 & 1991.
Gotti was arrested several times throughout his career, and although he served time in both state and federal prison (including a manslaughter conviction in connection with the shooting death of a low-level Irish-American gangster named James McBratney in a tavern on Staten Island in 1973), in the 1980s he was referred to by the media as the "Teflon Don" as he avoided conviction on racketeering and assault charges. Gotti bribed or threatened jurors in several trials. He also made use of police informants to keep a step ahead of investigators. While in prison he alledgedly hired the aryan brotherhood for an unsuccesful murder-for-hire.
Gotti became something of a celebrity, and would frequently shake hands and pose for pictures with tourists outside the Ravenite Social Club in Manhattan, where he conducted business.
The Last Trial
Gotti was long under intense electronic surveillance run by the FBI. His club,
John Gotti with son
phones, and other places of business were all bugged. To get around this, he held meetings while walking down the street and played loud tapes of white noise. Eventually the FBI caught him on tape in an apartment above the club allegedly discussing a number of murders and other criminal activities. The FBI also caught Gotti denigrating his underboss Salvatore "Sammy The Bull" Gravano.
On December 5, 1990 FBI agents and New York City detectives raided the Ravenite Social Club and arrested Gotti, Gravano, Frank Locascio, and Thomas Gambino. The day after The New York Times featured an editorial sympathizing with Gotti over the arrest.
Gotti was charged with 13 counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, loansharking, racketeering, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling, tax evasion, and, for the first time, he was charged with the murder of Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti.
The federal prosecutor's evidence was overwhelming. Not only did they have Gotti on tape, they also had several witnesses to testify against Gotti. Philip Leonetti, former underboss of the Philadelphia Crime Family was prepared to testify that Gotti bragged to Philadelphia crime leaders that he had ordered Castellano's execution. Prosecutors also persuaded Gravano to testify against his boss with the promise of being entered into the Witness Protection Program.
Crowds gathered outside the courthouse to lend support to Gotti, and the court was filled with spectators including Peter Gotti, John "Jackie Nose" D'Amico, and celebrities like Jay Black and Mickey Rourke.
Prison
On June 23, Gotti was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. It was assumed that Gotti would serve his sentence at the new federal "supermax" facility at Florence, Colorado, but instead he was sent to the older United States Penitentiary at Marion in Marion, Illinois, where he was kept in a cell 23 hours a day. His cell was underground and measured eight feet by seven feet. He was allowed out of his cell one hour per day for solitary exercise in a concrete-walled enclosure. He was allowed two showers per week and one radio and a small black and white television set in his cell. Meals were delivered to his cell through a slot in the door. In other words, he was in virtual solitary confinement. While in Marion he had been confined along with convicted spies Jonathan Pollard and Christopher Boyce. Four days after John Gotti was imprisoned at Marion, his father John Gotti Sr. died of heart failure at the age of eighty-five.
Gotti appointed his caporegime son, John Gotti, Jr. as the family's acting boss who was helped by a three-captain committee to help him run the family.
Death
John Gotti grave
Gotti died of throat cancer at on June 10, 2002 at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, where he had been transferred once the cancer was diagnosed. His family claimed he had not received proper care in jail and that faulty dental work had aggravated the disease. Following his death, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn announced that Gotti's family would not be permitted to have a Mass of Christian Burial for Gotti. The church said that Gotti's family would be allowed to have a Mass for the Dead for Gotti only after he had been buried. The Catholic Church had taken similar action against other organized crime figures such as Paul Castellano; but unlike Castellano, Gotti's family were permitted to have him buried in the mausoleum at Saint John's Cemetery in Queens, next to his son Frank Gotti. Although his popularity, his wake wasn't attended by many collegues, such as the heads of other families. Joe Massino, head of the Bonanno familie and good friend to Gotti also wasn't present.
Birth: October 27, 1940
