John Gotti

For other people named John Gotti, see John Gotti (disambiguation).

John Gotti
Status	Deceased
Occupation	Boss of the Gambino Crime Family
Spouse	Victoria DiGiorgio
Children	Angela Gotti Victoria Gotti John A. Gotti Frank Gotti Peter Gotti, Jr.
Parent(s)	John and Philomena Gotti
Criminal charge	Murder, conspiracy to commit murder, loansharking, racketeering, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling, tax evasion
Penalty	Life imprisonment

John Joseph Gotti, Jr. (October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002), commonly known as John Gotti, also nicknamed by the media as The Dapper Don and The Teflon Don, was an American mobster and boss of the Gambino Crime Family, one of the Five Families in New York City. He became widely known for his outspoken personality and flamboyant style that made him the poster child for mobsters, an image that persists even today.

He was convicted of racketeering (RICO), murder (13 counts), obstruction of justice, conspiracy to commit murder, illegal gambling, extortion, tax evasion and loansharking among others and sentenced to life in prison where he died.

Biography

Early life

John Joseph "Johnny Boy" Gotti Jr. was born October 27, 1940 to John Gotti Sr. and Philomena "Fannie" Gotti. He was the tenth child of thirteen, two of whom died in infancy. John Gotti Sr. was born in New Jersey to Carmine Gotti, an immigrant from the Neapolitan section of Italy. He and his wife struggled to make ends meet and raised their children in a low-income section of the South Bronx. When Gotti was twelve his family moved to Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, a very tough Italian neighborhood at the time.

As a young boy, Gotti had a quick temper and despised those who were more fortunate financially, and he aspired to be one of the mobsters he always saw walking around the neighborhood.

With his brothers Peter and Richard he became part of a local street gang that ran errands for the local wiseguys. 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. He was such a routine discipline problem that the school showed very little interest in his truancy.

In the early summer of 1954, Gotti and a few other hoods participated in a robbery of a construction site. While trying to steal a cement mixer, the mixer tipped over, crushing Gotti's toes. He spent most of the summer in the hospital.

When Gotti was sixteen he quit school for good and joined the Fulton-Rockaway Boys, a local teenage gang that stole automobiles, fenced stolen goods, and rolled drunks. It was at this moment in his life where he teamed up with Angelo "Quack-Quack" Ruggiero and Wilfred "Willy Boy" Johnson.

During his time with the Fulton-Rockaway Boys, Gotti was arrested five times. All the charges were eventually dismissed or reduced to probationary sentences.

Family

In 1960, Gotti met 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 Gotti, Jr., named after his uncle Peter Gotti. John and his family lived on 85th Street in Howard Beach.

According to numerous sources, Gotti had three illegitimate children, Annabella "Anna" Gotti, Lidianna "Linsay" Gotti, and Paul "Paulie" Gotti as the result of a longtime affair with Staten Island housewife Shannon "Sandy" Connelly, the wife of a Gambino soldier, Ed Grillo..After Shannon's murder in 1974, Gotti and his wife DiGiorgio had the guardianship of Annabella and Lidianna. Paul Gotti lives with his son, Terenzio "Teddy" Gotti, who is currently running a crew out of Charlotte, NC as the youngest member associated with the Gambino Crime Family.

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 police for being in an automobile that had been reported stolen from a rental car agency. Gotti spent twenty days in jail. Around this time Gotti was arrested often, mostly on petty crimes such as larceny, burglary, and bookmaking.

In 1966, he spent several months in jail for an attempted theft. In 1966, Gotti also became an associate for a crew headed by Carmine Fatico who worked for Aniello Dellacroce, underboss of the Gambino Crime Family.

Gotti's criminal career with the Gambinos began with fencing stolen goods from Idlewild Airport out of the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club in Ozone Park, Queens. Gotti became successful enough at this lifestyle to move his family to a nicer apartment in Brooklyn.

On November 27, 1967, Gotti and Angelo Ruggiero forged the name of a forwarding company agent and then took a rented truck to JFK's United cargo area and drove off with $30,000 worth of merchandise. A few days later the FBI began surveillance on Angelo and Gotti and caught them loading up more goods, this time at Northwest Airlines cargo terminal. Once outside the terminal Gotti's brother Gene pulled alongside Gotti's 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 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 $500,000 on the New Jersey Turnpike. Fatico urged Gotti to hire defense attorney Michael Coiro. 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 pleaded guilty to the United hijacking. Gotti spent less than three years at Lewisburg.

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 Bergin 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, and, at the age of thirty-one, Gotti became acting capo.

Dellacroce and Gotti were great friends from the beginning with much in common: They were both fierce, violent, foul-mouthed and clever. This friendship brought Gotti close to boss Carlo Gambino who ran the organization until his death in 1976 when Paul Castellano took over.

Gotti's crew, however, was caught selling heroin, against the rules of the family, and were to be disbanded. Unhappy with the way Castellano was running the family, Gotti and others in the family organized the shooting of the Gambino family boss, Paul Castellano, on December 16, 1985. Castellano was shot six times, along with his bodyguard, Thomas Bilotti, outside Sparks Steak House in Manhattan and Gotti took control of the family.

File:GottiOzoneParkcar2.jpg

John Gotti getting into his car on 101st Avenue in Ozone Park, Queens

Following his purported ascension to the top position of the Gambino family, Gotti became known as "The Dapper Don," appearing in public wearing $10,000 hand-tailored Brioni suits and reveling in media attention. 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 Bergin Hunt and Fish Club in Ozone Park, a neighborhood in Queens, which featured an elaborate fireworks display and became a major media event.

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 hired the Aryan Brotherhood for an unsuccessful 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. Gotti conducted popular Fourth of July fireworks displays with free food distributed to the neighborhood on holidays such as the 4th, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Gotti's son was supposed to be responsible for the shooting of a radio talk show host for "bad-mouthing" Gotti. However, many feel the shooting was retaliation for a vicious beating of a showgirl who worked at mob-connected "Show-world", run by "DeeBee Bernardo" who had dated Gotti (A Captain in the Gambinos murdered by Sammy Gravano), by a vigilante group connected with that individual.

The last trial

Gotti was long under intense electronic surveillance run by the FBI. His club, 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 discussing a number of murders and other criminal activities. The FBI also caught Gotti denigrating his underboss Salvatore "Sammy The Bull" Gravano.

On December 11, 1990 FBI agents and New York City detectives raided the Ravenite Social Club and arrested Gotti, Gravano, Frank Locascio, and Thomas Gambino.

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 murders of Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti.

Gotti was tried in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York before the Honorable I. Leo Glasser. 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. On April 2 1992, after only 13 hours of deliberation, the jury found Gotti guilty on all 13 charges.

During the trial, 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, 1992, Judge Glasser sentenced Gotti to life imprisonment without possibility of parole.[1] 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, 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 T.V. 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. (This is standard procedure for all inmates in the restricted units at this Supermax Federal Prison.) 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.

Prior to being placed in solitary, Gotti was paying fifty-thousand dollars ($50,000) a year to the Aryan Brotherhood, a notorious prison gang known as "The Brand." In July, 1996, when Gotti elected to stop paying protection money to the gang, he was retaliated against by another inmate. Gotti's attacker was a 28-year-old bank robber from the city of Philadelphia. Gotti then offered to once again pay his protection fee, asking a contract be placed on his attacker by the Brand. Gotti died of throat cancer before the contract was completed.[2]

Gotti appointed his caporegime son, John Gotti, Jr. as the family's acting boss who was helped by a three-captain committee to run the family.

Death

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. 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 was permitted to have him buried in the mausoleum at Saint John's Cemetery in Queens, next to his son Frank Gotti.

References in popular culture

• The Law & Order characters of Frank Masucci, Vincent Dalso and Vincent Russo and the Masucci crime family are all based on Gotti.

• Gotti was a frequent target of jokes, as well as some admiration. MAD Magazine featured Gotti, once imagining him as a guest on The Rosie O'Donnell Show. Another had him featured in "Scruples Questions We Would Like to See", where Gotti was asked a question from the board game Scruples: "Your best friend asks you to borrow $2,000 for one year. Do you charge interest?"

• In his song D'evils, Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z says: "I never prayed to God/I prayed to Gott-i".

• In his song This Is Why I'm Hot (Remix), rapper MIMS says "Yes I'm a Don, but not the one from Soul Train, Teflon Don, I'm a boss in my own frame" referring to John Gotti's nickname.

• In the song Keep It Comin by House of Pain John Gotti was mentioned (Free John Gotti)

• In his song Everyday Struggle, The Notorious B.I.G. mentions John Gotti.

• The Joe Mantegna character in Godfather III is based somewhat on Gotti.

• Gotti was portrayed by Armand Assante in the 1996 HBO film Gotti.

• Sonny Marinelli played the part of John Gotti in the 2001 TV movie, Boss of Bosses, which chronicles the life and death of Paul Castellano.

• The character of John "Johnny Sack" Sacramoni, from the TV series The Sopranos, has been widely compared to John Gotti. Especially since Johnny Sack tried, unsuccessfully, to kill his boss when he was serving under him and referred to the situation as being different from "Castellano". Also it is shown that Johnny had a penchant for wearing Brioni suits, just like Gotti. John Sacramoni died of cancer in jail after a sentence that all but crippled his criminal career, again much like Gotti.

• In The Simpsons episode My Sister, My Sitter, Dr. Nick Riviera's nurse has a checklist that includes "John Gotti's Disease" as a possible diagnosis.

• In the song "Hijack" by MC Chris, he refers to "the feds on the trail of Mister John Gotti."

• "King of New York," a 1996 release by The Fun Lovin' Criminals, is about Gotti and mentions him by name in its chorus.

• The album Happy 2B Hardcore 4 has a song by Vinygroover & Trixxy called "John Gotti's Revenge".

• In the film Waiting..., Andy Milonakis's character, Nick, raps saying " I'll pull out my shotty like John Gotti."

• Chicago-based rapper MC Gotti took his name from the legendary crime boss.

See also

• Thomas Bilotti
• Jay Black
• Bartholomew "Bobby" Boriello
• Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso
• Paul Castellano
• James Coonan
• Joseph "JoJo" Corozzo
• John "Jackie Nose" D'Amico
• Frank DeCicco
• Aniello Dellacroce
• William "Billy Batts" Devino
• Carmine Fatico
• Joseph "Joe Glitz" Galizia
• Gambino crime family
• Vincent Gigante
• Gene Gotti
• John Gotti, Jr.
• Peter Gotti
• Salvatore Gravano
• Frank "Frankie Loc" Locascio
• Alphonse Malangone
• Ravenite Social Club
• Angelo Ruggiero
• Bergin Hunt and Fish Club
• Mickey Rourke
• The Westies

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

External links

• The Smoking Gun
• The Smoking Gun: Blowing Up Gotti
• Complete Coverage Of The John 'Junior' Gotti Trials
• American Organized Crime - Gambino Crime Family - John "Johnny Boy" Gotti, Jr.
• John Gotti Running The Mob
• John Gotti Tribute Web Page