John "Teflon Don" Gotti (27 October 1940 – 10 June 2002) was boss of the Gambino crime family from 1985 to 2002, succeeding Paul Castellano and preceding Peter Gotti. Gotti was known as a big earner and an ambitious boss, breaking several Mafia rules to rise to power; he killed his own boss, Castellano, without permission from The Commission. In 1992, he was sentenced to life imprisonment after his own underboss Sammy Gravano testified against him, and he died in prison in 2002.
Biography[]
Early career[]
Gotti in 1973
John Gotti was born in The Bronx, New York City, New York in 1940 to a family of Neapolitan descent; he was the brother of Gene Gotti, Peter Gotti, and Richard V. Gotti. As early as his teens, he ran errands for Gambino crime family capo Carmine Fatico, and he carried out truck hijackings at the JFK International Airport together with his brother Gene and his friend Angelo Ruggiero. It was around this time that Aniello Dellacroce took Gotti under his wing, and Gotti came to admire the late boss Albert Anastasia. From 1968 to 1972, Gotti was incarcerated at the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary for his cargo thefts, and he was again imprisoned in 1973 after murdering James McBratney. Gotti had fellow hitman Ralph Galione murdered for his poor handling of the hit, although Galione was a made man; Gotti was ultimately spared by Don Carlo Gambino because of Dellacroce's intervention, arguing that Galione deserved to be clipped due to his drug use and his ability to attract heat to the family.
Gotti was released from Green Haven in July 1977 after two years in prison, and the new Gambino boss, Paul Castellano, made him a captain. From here John Gotti took over his former capo Carmine Fatico's crew (Also known as the Bergin Crew or Gotti Crew). However, Castellano did not trust Gotti, who frequently broke Mafia rules and was critical of Castellano's business-minded approach to the Mafia (and his lack of street smarts). Gotti's crew would become the highest-earning of Dellacroce's crews, however, and Gotti earned the respect of his fellow captains. When Gotti's 12-year-old son Frank Gotti was killed in a car accident with his neighbor John Favara in 1980, Gotti's good friend Sammy Gravano - ignoring Gotti's orders to leave the accident alone - killed Favara in an act of revenge.
Takeover[]
Gotti during the 1980s
By 1985, Castellano had begun to seriously consider whacking Gotti; he had wanted him gone for years, starting with his murder of his crew member Galione. Castellano talked to the Colombo crime family about his family's weaknesses, and he sought their assistance in icing Gotti. Gotti saw Castellano as isolated and greedy, and he lost the respect of his lieutenants for making the family look weak, as well as for ignoring Dellacroce's wake after his death in 1985. On 16 December 1985, Castellano was shot in front of the Sparks Steak House in Midtown Manhattan, with Gotti inspecting the murder scene from a nearby car. Gotti was then elected the new head of the family.
Gotti would have to worry about instability within the Gambino family's ranks, as well as outside problems. While attending a nightclub party in 1986, he was approached by FBI agent Carmine Russo, who warned him that an FBI bug picked up a Bonanno crime family capo ordering a hit on Gotti for breaking Mafia rules by killing Castellano without permission from The Commission. His underboss Frank DeCicco would be killed by a car bomb meant for him, and Gotti later made peace with Vincent Gigante, ending the dispute.
At this time, Gotti would become a well-known public figure due to his flamboyant style and outspoken personality; when Romual Piecyk found out that he was testifying against "the John Gotti" for assaulting him, he denied knowing him, and the case was dropped. Gotti became known as "The Teflon Don" because no charges could stick to him, caused by jury tampering, juror misconduct, and witness intimidation. Gotti raked in hundreds of millions of dollars from construction, waste management, hijacking, loan sharking, labor unions, drug trafficking, bookmaking, labor racketeering, prostitution, extortion, pornography, the numbers racket, illegal gambling, and other criminal activities, becoming one of the most powerful mob bosses in the world.
Downfall[]
However, Gotti had to worry about the rise of his underboss Sammy Gravano, who seemed to be amassing too much power. Gravano took over Robert DiBernardo's union rackets after killing him for Gotti, who was told by Ruggiero and Gravano that DiBernardo was being subversive. Gravano also ran his own rackets and became "greedy" in Gotti's eyes, leading to Gotti and Frank Locascio having a conversation discussing their worries about Gravano's growing power. The FBI taped this conversation and used it to arrest the Gambino leadership in 1990, as the two mobsters discussed several murders on tape. Gravano decided to turn states against Gotti and the Gambino family, confessing to numerous murders and implicating Gotti in several rackets and killings. In 1992, Gotti was sentenced to life imprisonment, and he died of throat cancer in prison in Springfield, Missouri in 2002.