John Gotti
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| John Gotti | |
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| Born | October 27, 1940 The Bronx, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | June 10, 2002 (aged 61) Springfield, Missouri, U.S. |
| Charge(s) | Murder, conspiracy to commit murder, loansharking, racketeering, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling, tax evasion |
| Penalty | Life imprisonment |
| Spouse | Victoria DiGiorgio |
| Parents | John and Philomena Gotti |
| Children | Angela Gotti Victoria Gotti John A. Gotti Frank Gotti (1968-1980) Peter Gotti, Jr. |
John Joseph Gotti, Jr. (October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002) was the boss of the Gambino crime family after the murder of the previous boss Paul Castellano. He became widely known for his outspoken personality and flamboyant style that eventually caused his downfall.
In 1992, Gotti was convicted of racketeering, 13 murders, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to commit murder, illegal gambling, extortion, tax evasion, loansharking and was sentenced to life in prison where he died 10 years later.
He was known by the media as the "The Dapper Don" because he wore expensive clothes and "The Teflon Don" after earlier prosecution attempts didn't "stick".
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[edit] Early life and family
Gotti was born to Italian-American parents John Gotti Sr. and Philomena "Fannie" Gotti. He was 12 when his family moved to Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn where he and his brothers Peter and Richard became part of a local street gang. A cement mixer tipped over when he tried to steal it, crushing Gotti's foot, giving him a limp that would last the rest of his life.
Gotti married Victoria DiGiorgio on March 6, 1962. They had five children, Angela (Angel), Victoria, John A. "Junior" Gotti, Peter and Frank.
A tough patriarch, John Gotti, subjected his wife and son to physical abuse according to FBI sources. This later became media fodder for the New York newspapers.[1]
Towards the end of his life, during a prison visit with his brother, daughter and grandson, John Gotti verbally degraded all three.[2][3]
[edit] Criminal career
Gotti's criminal career with the Gambinos began with fencing stolen goods from Idlewild Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport), which was the territory of the Lucchese family, specifically, the Paul Vario crew, which included such Mob kingpins as Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke.
In February 1978, United employees identified Gotti as the man who signed for stolen merchandise. The FBI arrested him for the United hijacking soon after. Two months later, while out on bail, Gotti was arrested a third time for hijacking—this time stealing a load of cigarettes worth $50,000 on the New Jersey Turnpike. Later that year, Gotti pled guilty to the Northwest hijacking and was sentenced to four years at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary. Prosecutors dropped the charges for the cigarette hijacking. Gotti also pled guilty to the United hijacking, and spent less than three years at Lewisburg.
After he was released from prison, Gotti was placed on probation and ordered to acquire legitimate employment. Meanwhile, he returned to his old crew at the Bergin club, still working under caporegime Carmine Fatico. Fatico was indicted on loansharking charges and made Gotti the acting capo of the Bergin Crew reporting to Carlo Gambino and Aniello Dellacroce. After Gambino's death, Paul Castellano, Gambino's brother-in-law, was elevated to the head of the crime family. Castellano was not respected by his underlings. When Gotti's crew was discovered to be selling heroin, against the rules of the family, Gotti and others, fearing reprisals, ordered the execution of Paul Castellano (he was shot six times along with his bodyguard, Thomas Bilotti, outside Sparks Steak House). Gotti then took control of the family.
Gotti was arrested several times throughout his career, serving time in both state and federal prison (including a manslaughter conviction in connection with the 1973 shooting death of low-level Irish-American gangster James McBratney, who had kidnapped and killed Emmanuel Gambino, Carlo Gambino's nephew). By the 1980s, he was referred to by the news media as the "Teflon Don" as he avoided conviction on racketeering and assault charges.
[edit] Death of Frank Gotti
On March 18, 1980, 12-year-old Frank Gotti, youngest son of John Gotti was run over and killed on a family friend's mini-bike he borrowed by neighbor John Favara, whose children were friends with Frank.
Police found Favara was not to blame in the accident, which was officially ruled accidental and no charges were ever filed against him. However, in the months after the accident, the word "Murderer" was spray-painted onto Favara's car. On May 28, Victoria DiGiorgio Gotti, Frank's mother, attacked Favara with a metal baseball bat, sending him to the hospital. Favara decided not to press charges and was planning to move out of Howard Beach. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), on July 28, 1980, before Favara and his family were able to move, he was shoved into a van by several men near his work. There were several witnesses to the abduction, and accounts ranged from him being beaten with a baseball bat, shot with a silenced .22 caliber pistol, or both. In January 2009, prosecutors claimed Charles Carneglia, an alleged mob soldier awaiting trial on five murders, dissolved Favara's remains in a drum of acid kept in Carneglia's basement.[4]
[edit] Post Arrest
Gotti was under electronic surveillance by the FBI; they caught him on tape in an apartment discussing a number of murders and other criminal activities. The FBI also caught Gotti denigrating his underboss, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano. On December 11, 1990, FBI agents and New York City detectives raided the Ravenite Social Club and arrested Gotti, Gravano, and Gambino Family consigliere Frank Locascio.
Gotti was charged with 13 counts of murder (including Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti), conspiracy to commit murder, loansharking, racketeering, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling, and tax evasion.
Gotti was tried in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York before United States District Judge I. Leo Glasser. The federal prosecutor's evidence was overwhelming. Not only did they have Gotti on tape, but they also had several witnesses to testify against Gotti. Philip Leonetti, a former Underboss in the violent Philadelphia crime family, was going to testify that Gotti bragged that he had ordered Castellano's execution. Then, Sammy Gravano agreed to testify against Gotti and Locascio, with the promise of being entered into the Witness Protection Program. Gravano subsequently pled guilty to a single count of racketeering as part of a plea agreement in which he admitted responsibility for 19 murders. On April 2, 1992, after only 13 hours of deliberation, the jury found Gotti and Locascio guilty on all 13 charges.[5]On June 23, 1992, Judge Glasser sentenced Gotti to life imprisonment without possibility of parole.[5]He was sent to the United States Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, where he was kept in a cell 23 hours a day.
While in prison, Gotti offered $100,000 to the Aryan Brotherhood to kill Walter Johnson, a mentally unstable black inmate who had assaulted him. The Aryan Brotherhood accepted Gotti's offer. The prison guards surmised that Johnson was in danger, and moved him to a different cell block, ultimately transferring him to another prison where Johnson was eventually paroled.[6][7] Gotti, during a prison visit with his family was recorded saying: "Being a nigger is an embarrassment."[8]
John Gotti died of throat cancer at 12:45 p.m. 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.[9] Gotti had the lower half of his jaw removed due to the cancer and was fed through a tube. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn announced that Gotti's family would not be permitted to have a Mass of Christian Burial but allowed it after the burial.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Gotti beat wife, tapes show; New York Post, 9 May 2008
- ^ Blowing up Gotti -Episode 5: I Got Nothin'
- ^ Blowing up Gotti -Episode 4: Gotti Blood
- ^ John Gotti neighbor was dissolved in acid, court papers reveal; Fox News, 9 January 2009
- ^ a b John Gotti - The last Mafia icon; at Crime Library
- ^ Duersten, Matthew."Who'll Stop the Reign?"; LA Weekly, 3 February 2005. Retrieved 27 October 2006.
- ^ Hughes, Jim. "Aryan Brotherhood makes home in state"; Denver Post, 24 November 2002. Retrieved 27 October 2006.
- ^ Blowing up Gotti -Episode 2: Parenting, Gotti Style
- ^ John Gotti dies in prison at 61; Mafia boss relished the spotlight; The New York Times, 11 June 2002
[edit] Further reading
- Blum, Howard. Gangland : How The FBI Broke the Mob. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993. ISBN 0671687581
- Capeci, Jerry and Gene Mustain. Mob Star: The Story of John Gotti. New York: Penguin, 1988. ISBN 0-02-864416-6
- Capeci, Jerry and Gene Mustain. Gotti: Rise and Fall. New York: Onyx, 1996. ISBN 0-451-40681-8
- Davis, John H. Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN 0-06-109184-7
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Gotti |
- The Smoking Gun
- The Smoking Gun: Blowing Up Gotti
- Bureau of Prisons image taken months before John Gotti's demise
- CarpeNoctem profile
| Business positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Paul Castellano |
Gambino crime family Boss 1985-2002 |
Succeeded by Peter "Petey Boy" Gotti |
