John Gotti | |
|---|---|
_2.jpg) 1990 mugshot of Gotti | |
| Born | John Joseph Gotti Jr. (1940-10-27)October 27, 1940 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | June 10, 2002(2002-06-10) (aged 61) |
| Resting place | St. John Cemetery, New York City, U.S. |
| Other names | The Teflon Don, The Dapper Don, Johnny Boy, Crazy Horse |
| Occupation | Crime boss |
| Predecessor | Paul Castellano |
| Successor | Peter Gotti |
| Criminal status | Deceased |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 5, includingJohn A. Gotti andVictoria Gotti |
| Relatives |
|
| Allegiance | Gambino crime family |
| Convictions | Hijacking (1968) Attempted manslaughter (1975) Murder, conspiracy, conspiracy to commit murder, loansharking, racketeering, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling, tax evasion (1992) |
| Criminal penalty | Three years' imprisonment Four years' imprisonment; served two years Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and fined $250,000 |
John Joseph Gotti Jr.[1][note 1] (/ˈɡɒti/GOT-ee,Italian:[ˈɡɔtti]; October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002) was an Americanmafioso andboss of theGambino crime family inNew York City. He ordered and helped to orchestrate the murder of Gambino bossPaul Castellano in December 1985 and took over the family shortly thereafter, leading what was described as the most powerfulcrime syndicate in the United States.
Gotti and his brothers grew up in poverty and turned to a life of crime at an early age. Gotti quickly became one of the Gambino family's biggest earners and aprotégé ofAniello Dellacroce, the family'sunderboss, operating out ofOzone Park, Queens. Following theFBI'sindictment of members of Gotti's crew for selling narcotics, Gotti began to fear that Castellano would kill him and his brotherGene for dealing drugs. As this fear continued to grow, and amidst growing dissent over the leadership of the family, Gotti arranged themutiny murder of Castellano.
At his peak, Gotti was one of the most powerful and dangerous crime bosses in the United States. While his peers generally avoided attracting attention, especially from the media, Gotti became known as "the Dapper Don" for his expensive clothes and outspoken personality in front of news cameras. He was later given the nickname "theTeflon Don" after three high-profile trials in the 1980s resulted inacquittals, though it was later revealed that the trials had been tainted byjury tampering,juror misconduct andwitness intimidation. Law enforcement continued gathering evidence against Gotti, who reportedly earned between $5 million and $20 million per year as Gambino boss.[4]
Gotti's underboss,Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, aided the FBI in convicting Gotti; in 1991, Gravano agreed toturn state's evidence and testify against Gotti after hearing the boss make disparaging remarks about him on awiretap that implicated them both in several murders. In 1992, Gotti was convicted of five murders,conspiracy to commit murder,racketeering,obstruction of justice,tax evasion,illegal gambling,extortion andloansharking. He receivedlife in prison without parole and was transferred toUnited States Penitentiary, Marion, inIllinois.
Gotti died ofthroat cancer on June 10, 2002, at theUnited States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners inSpringfield, Missouri. According toAnthony "Gaspipe" Casso, the former underboss of theLucchese crime family, "what John Gotti did was the beginning of the end ofCosa Nostra."[5]
John Gotti was born inthe Bronx borough ofNew York City on October 27, 1940. He was the fifth of the thirteen children (two had died at birth) of John Joseph Gotti Sr. and Philomena "Fannie" DeCarlo.[6][1][7] Both of Gotti's parents were born in New York, but it is presumed that his grandparents were fromSan Giuseppe Vesuviano, in theNaples province ofSouthern Italy, because his parents were married and lived there for some time.[6][8]
Gotti was one of five brothers who becamemade men in theGambino crime family:[9]Eugene "Gene" Gotti wasinitiated before John due to the latter's incarceration,[10]Peter Gotti was initiated under John's leadership in 1988[11] andRichard V. Gotti was identified as acaporegime (captain, or head of a "crew") by 2002.[9] The fifth, Vincent, was initiated in 2002.[12]
By the time he reached the age of 12, John Gotti's family settled inEast New York,Brooklyn, where he grew up in poverty alongside his brothers.[13] His father worked irregularly as a day laborer.[6] As an adult, Gotti came to resent his father for being unable to provide for his family.[1] In school he had a history oftruancy and bullying other students, and ultimately dropped out ofFranklin K. Lane High School at the age of 16.[14][15]
Gotti was involved instreet gangs associated with New Yorkmafiosi from the age of 12.[14] When he was aged 14, he was attempting to steal acement mixer from a construction site when it fell, crushing his toes; this injury left him with a permanent limp.[14] After leaving school, Gotti devoted himself to working with the mob-associated Fulton-Rockaway Boys gang, where he met and befriended fellow future Gambino mobstersAngelo Ruggiero andWilfred "Willie Boy" Johnson.[14][16]
Gotti met his future wife, Victoria DiGiorgio, who was of half-Italian and half-Russian descent, at a bar in 1958.[17] The couple were married on March 6, 1962.[18] According toFBI documents, DiGiorgio was married previously and had one child by that marriage.[19] Gotti and his wife had five children: Angela,Victoria,John Jr., Frank (d. 1980) and Peter. Gotti attempted to work legitimately in 1962 as a presser in a coat factory and as an assistant truck driver. However, he could not stay crime-free and, by 1966, had been jailed twice.[20]
As early as his teens, Gotti was running errands forCarmine Fatico, asoldier in the Gambino family, then known as the Anastasia family under the leadership ofbossAlbert Anastasia.[21] Gotti carried outtruck hijackings at Idlewild Airport (nowJohn F. Kennedy International Airport) together with his brother Gene and friend Ruggiero.[22] During this time, he befriended fellow mob hijacker and futureBonanno family bossJoseph Massino, and was given the nicknames "Black John" and "Crazy Horse."[22][23] It was around this time that Gotti met hismentor, GambinounderbossAniello "Neil" Dellacroce.[24]
In February 1968,United Airlines employees identified Gotti as the man who had signed for stolen merchandise; the FBI arrested him for that hijacking soon after. Gotti was arrested a third time for hijacking while out onbail two months later, this time for stealing a load of cigarettes worth $50,000 on theNew Jersey Turnpike. Later that year, Gotti pleaded guilty to the hijacking ofNorthwest Airlines cargo trucks and was sentenced to three years atLewisburg Federal Penitentiary.[22]
Gotti and Ruggiero wereparoled in 1972 and returned to their old crew at theBergin Hunt and Fish Club, still working under Fatico. Gotti took responsibility for managing the Bergin crew'sillegal gambling operation, where he proved himself to be an effectiveenforcer.[25] Fatico wasindicted onloansharking charges in 1972; as a condition of his release, he could not associate with known felons. Gotti was not yet a made man due to the membership books' having been closed following the 1957Apalachin meeting, but Fatico named him actingcapo of the Bergin crew soon after he was paroled.[26] In this new role, Gotti frequently traveled to Dellacroce's headquarters at theRavenite Social Club to brief the underboss on the crew's activities. Dellacroce had already taken a liking to Gotti, and the two became even closer during this time. The two were very similar — both had strong violent streaks, cursed frequently and were heavy gamblers.[27]
After Emanuel Gambino, nephew to bossCarlo Gambino, was kidnapped and murdered in 1973, Gotti was assigned to thehit team alongside Ruggiero and fellow enforcer Ralph Galione to search for the main suspect, gangsterJames McBratney.[18] The three men botched their attempt to abduct McBratney at aStaten Island bar when they attempted to arrest him while posing as police detectives,[28] and Galione shot McBratney dead when his accomplices managed to restrain him. Gotti was identified by eyewitnesses and by a police insider, and was arrested for the killing in June 1974.[29] He was able to strike aplea bargain, however, with the help of attorneyRoy Cohn, and was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for attemptedmanslaughter for his part in the hit.[10] Following Gotti's death, he was also identified by Massino as the killer of Vito Borelli, a Gambino associate murdered in 1975.[30]
Remo Franceschini, a member of theNew York City Police Department (NYPD) from 1957 to 1991 who specialized inorganized crime,[31][32] was asked in 1993 how he knew at an early stage that Gotti would become a major figure in the Mafia; he said, “He was charismatic and a leader. He wasn't a womanizer. He spent all his time with his men. He also had a very sharp mind and total recall. And he exuded toughness. There were few men who would go against him."[33]
On October 15, 1976, Carlo Gambino died at his home ofnatural causes.[34] Against expectations, he had appointedPaul Castellano to succeed him over his underboss Dellacroce. Gambino appeared to believe that his crime family would benefit from Castellano's focus onwhite-collar businesses.[35] Dellacroce was in prison fortax evasion at the time and was therefore unable to contest the succession.[36] Castellano's position as boss was confirmed at a meeting on November 24, with Dellacroce present. Castellano arranged for Dellacroce to remain as underboss while directly running the family's affairs.[37] While Dellacroce accepted Castellano's succession, the deal effectively split the Gambino family into two rival factions, Castellano's based in Brooklyn and Dellacroce's inManhattan.[37]
In 1976, the Gambino family's membership books were reportedly reopened.[38] Gotti was released in July 1977, after two years' imprisonment; he was subsequently initiated into the family, now under the command of Castellano, and immediately promoted to replace Fatico ascapo of the Bergin crew.[10] Gotti's crew reported directly to Dellacroce as part of the concessions given by Castellano to keep Dellacroce as underboss,[39] and Gotti was regarded as Dellacroce's protégé.[40] Under Gotti, the crew were Dellacroce's biggest earners.[10] Besides his cut of his subordinates' earnings, Gotti ran his own loansharking operation and held ano-show job as a plumbing supply salesman.[41] Unconfirmed allegations by FBIinformants claimed that Gotti also financeddrug deals.[40][42]
In December 1978, Gotti assisted in theLufthansa heist at Kennedy Airport, the largest unrecovered cash robbery in history. He had made arrangements for thegetaway van to be crushed and baled at ascrapyard in Brooklyn. However, the driver of the van, Parnell "Stacks" Edwards, failed to follow orders; rather than driving the vehicle to the scrapyard, he parked it near a fire hydrant and went to sleep at his girlfriend's apartment.[43]
Gotti mostly tried to distance his personal family from his life of crime, with the exception of his son John Jr., who was a mob associate by 1982.[2] However, on March 18, 1980, Gotti's youngest son, 12-year-old Frank, was run over and killed on a family friend'sminibike by a neighbor namedJohn Favara.[44] Frank's death was ruled an accident, but Favara subsequently received death threats and was attacked by Gotti's wife with a baseball bat when he visited their home to apologize.[45][46] Four months later, Favara disappeared and was presumed murdered.[44] Accounts have differed on what was done with his body. One account said that Favara wasdismembered alive with a chainsaw, and that his remains were stuffed into a barrel filled with concrete and dumped into the ocean, or buried somewhere on the lot of achop shop.[47] In January 2009, court papers filed by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn contained allegations that mobhitmanCharles Carneglia killed Favara and disposed of his body in acid.[48] Gotti is widely assumed to have ordered Favara's murder despite him and his family leaving on vacation forFlorida three days prior.[49]
Gotti was indicted on two occasions in his last two years as the Bergincapo, with both cases coming to trial after his ascension to boss of the Gambino family. In September 1984, he had an altercation with a refrigerator mechanic named Romual Piecyk and was subsequently charged withassault androbbery.[50][51] In 1985, he was indicted alongside Dellacroce and several Bergin crew members in aracketeering case byAssistant U.S. Attorney Diane Giacalone.[15][52] The indictment revealed that Gotti's friend and co-defendant, Wilfred "Willie Boy" Johnson, had been an FBI informant.[52]
Gotti quickly became dissatisfied with Castellano's leadership of the Gambino family, regarding the new boss as being too isolated and greedy.[53][54] Like other members of the family, he also personally disliked Castellano. The boss lackedstreet credibility, and those who had paid their dues running street-level jobs did not respect him. Gotti had an economic interest as well; he had a running dispute with Castellano on the split Gotti took from truck hijackings at Kennedy Airport.
Gotti was also rumored to be expanding into drug dealing, a lucrative trade Castellano had banned under threat of death.[53][54] In August 1983, Ruggiero and Gotti's brother Gene were arrested for dealingheroin, based primarily on recordings from abug in Ruggiero's house.[55][56] Castellano demanded transcripts of the tapes;[55][57] when Ruggiero refused, he threatened to demote Gotti.[58]
In 1984, Castellano was arrested and indicted in aRICO case for the crimes of Gambino hitmanRoy DeMeo and his crew.[59][60] The following year, he received asecond indictment for his role onthe Commission, the Mafia's governing body.[58] Facinglife imprisonment for either case, Castellano arranged for Gotti to serve as acting boss alongsideThomas Bilotti, Castellano's favoritecapo, andThomas Gambino in his absence.[61][62] Gotti, meanwhile, began conspiring with fellow disgruntledcaposFrank DeCicco andJoseph "Joe Piney" Armone and soldiersSammy "the Bull" Gravano andRobert "DiB" DiBernardo (collectively dubbed "The Fist") to overthrow Castellano, insisting, despite the boss' inaction, that Castellano would eventually try to kill him.[63] Armone's support was critical; as a respected old-timer who dated back to the family's founder,Vincent Mangano, he would lend needed credibility to the conspirators' cause.[64]
It had long been a rule in the Mafia that a boss could only be killed with the approval of a majority of the Commission. Indeed, Gotti's planned hit would have been the first unsanctioned hit on a boss of theFive Families sinceFrank Costello was nearly killed in 1957, and would have been the first on any boss sinceAngelo Bruno in 1980. Gotti knew that it would be too risky to solicit support from the other four bosses, since they had longstanding ties to Castellano. To get around this, he got the support of several important figures of his generation in theLucchese,Colombo andBonanno families. He did not consider approaching theGenovese family; Castellano's ties with Genovese bossVincent "The Chin" Gigante were so close that any overture to a Genovese soldier would have been a tipoff.[64] However, Gotti could also count on the complicity of GambinoconsigliereJoseph N. Gallo.[63][65]
After Dellacroce died ofcancer on December 2, 1985, Castellano revised his succession plan, appointing Bilotti as underboss to Thomas Gambino as the sole acting boss, while making plans to break up Gotti's crew.[66][67] Infuriated by this, and by Castellano's refusal to attend Dellacroce'swake,[66][67] Gotti resolved to kill his boss. When DeCicco tipped off Gotti that he would be having a meeting with Castellano and several other Gambino mobsters atSparks Steak House on December 16, Gotti chose to take the opportunity.[68] Both Castellano and Bilotti were ambushed and shot dead by assassins under Gotti's command when they arrived that evening.[69] Gotti watched the hit from his car alongside Gravano.[70]
Several days after the murder, Gotti was named to a three-man committee, along with Gallo and DeCicco, to temporarily run the Gambino family pending the election of a new boss. It was also announced that an internal investigation into Castellano's murder was underway. However, it was an open secret that Gotti was acting boss in all but name, and nearly all of the family'scapos knew he had engineered the hit. Gotti was formally named the new boss of the family at a meeting of twentycapos held on January 15, 1986.[71] He appointed DeCicco as the new underboss while retaining Gallo asconsigliere.[72][73]
Identified as both Castellano's likely murderer and his successor, Gotti rose to fame throughout 1986.[74][75] At the time of his takeover, the Gambino family was regarded as the most powerful American Mafia family,[76] with an annual income of $500 million.[77] In the bookUnderboss, Gravano estimated that Gotti himself had an annual income of no less than $5 million during his years as boss, and more likely between $10 million and $12 million.[4] To protect himself legally, Gotti banned members of the family from acceptingplea bargains that acknowledged the existence of the organization.[78]
Gotti often smiled and waved at news cameras at his trials, which gained him favor with some of the general public.[28] His newfound notoriety had at least one positive effect; upon the revelation of his attacker's occupation, and amid reports of intimidation by the Gambinos, Piecyk decided not to testify against Gotti, thanks toBoško "The Yugo" Radonjić, the head of theWesties inHell's Kitchen. When Gotti's trial began in March 1986, Piecyk testified he was unable to remember who attacked him. The case was promptly dismissed, with theNew York Post summarizing the proceedings with the headline, "I For Gotti!"[51][79] It was later revealed that Gambino mobsters had severed Piecyk's brake lines, made threatening phone calls andstalked Piecyk before the trial.[80]
On April 13, 1986, Frank DeCicco was killed in acar bombing following a visit to Castellano loyalistJames Failla. The bombing was carried out byVictor Amuso andAnthony Casso of the Lucchese family, under orders of Gigante and Lucchese bossAnthony Corallo, to avenge Castellano and Bilotti by killing their successors; Gotti also planned to visit Failla that day but canceled, and the bomb was detonated after a soldier who rode with DeCicco was mistaken for the boss.[81] Bombs had long been banned by the Mafia out of concern that it would put innocent people in harm's way, leading the Gambinos to initially suspect that "zips"—Sicilianmafiosi working in the U.S.—were behind it; zips were well known for using bombs.[82]
Following the bombing, JudgeEugene Nickerson, presiding over Gotti's racketeering trial, rescheduled to avoid a jury tainted by the resulting publicity, while Giacalone had Gotti'sbail revoked due to evidence ofwitness intimidation in the Piecyk case.[83][84] From jail, Gotti ordered the murder of DiBernardo by Gravano; both DiBernardo and Ruggiero had been vying to succeed DeCicco until Ruggiero accused DiBernardo of challenging Gotti's leadership.[85] When Ruggiero, also under indictment, had his bail revoked for his abrasive behavior in preliminary hearings, a frustrated Gotti instead promoted Armone to underboss.[86]
Jury selection for the racketeering case began again in August 1986,[87] with Gotti standing trial alongside his ex-companion Johnson (who, despite being exposed as an informant, refused toturn state's evidence[88]),Leonard DiMaria,Tony Rampino,Nicholas Corozzo andJohn Carneglia.[89] At this point, the Gambino family were able to compromise the case when George Pape hid his friendship with Radonjić and was empaneled as juror No. 11.[90] Through Radonjić, Pape contacted Gravano and agreed to sell his vote on the jury for $60,000.[91]
In the trial's opening statements on September 25, Gotti'sdefense attorneyBruce Cutler denied the existence of the Gambino family and framed the government's entire effort as a personal vendetta.[92] His main strategy was to attack the credibility of Giacalone's witnesses by discussing the crimes they committed before turning state's evidence.[93] During Gotti's defense, Cutler called bank robber Matthew Traynor, a would-be prosecution witness dropped for unreliability, who testified that Giacalone offered him drugs and her underwear as amasturbation aid in exchange for his testimony; Traynor's allegations would be dismissed by Judge Nickerson as "wholly unbelievable" after the trial, and he was subsequently convicted ofperjury.[93][94]
Despite Cutler's defense and critiques about the prosecution's performance, according to mob writers Jerry Capeci and Gene Mustain, when the jury's deliberations began, a majority were in favor of convicting Gotti. However, due to Pape's misconduct, Gotti knew from the beginning of the trial that he could do no worse than ahung jury. During deliberations, Pape held out foracquittal until the rest of the jury began to fear their own safety would be compromised.[91] On March 13, 1987, they acquitted Gotti and his codefendants of all charges, including loansharking, illegal gambling, murder and truck hijackings.[89] Five years later, Pape was convicted ofobstruction of justice for his part in the fix,[90] and sentenced to three years in prison.[95]
In the face of previous Mafia convictions, particularly the success of the Mafia Commission Trial, Gotti's acquittal was a major upset that further added to his reputation.[96] The American media dubbed him "The Teflon Don" in reference to the failure of any charges to "stick."[97]
While Gotti himself had escaped conviction, his associates were not as fortunate. The other two men in the Gambino administration, underboss Armone andconsigliere Gallo, had been indicted on racketeering charges in 1986, and were both convicted in December 1987.[98] Ruggiero and Gene Gotti's heroin trial also commenced in June of that year.[99]
Prior to their convictions, Gotti demoted Gallo, who retired to allow Gravano to take his place, while slatingFrank LoCascio to serve as acting underboss in the event of Armone's imprisonment.[100] The Gambino family also worked to compromise the heroin trial's jury, resulting in twomistrials.[101] When the terminally ill Ruggiero was severed and released in 1989, Gotti refused to contact him, blaming him for the family's misfortunes. According to Gravano, Gotti also considered murdering Ruggiero, and when he finally died, "I literally had to drag him to the funeral."[102]
Beginning in January 1988, Gotti, against Gravano's advice,[103] required hiscapos to meet with him at the Ravenite Social Club once a week.[104] Regarded by Gene as an unnecessary,vanity-inspired risk,[105] and by FBI Gambino squad leader Bruce Mouw as antithetical to the "secret society,"[106] this move allowed FBI surveillance to record and identify much of the Gambino hierarchy. It also provided strong circumstantial evidence that Gotti was a boss; long-standing protocol in the Mafia requires public demonstrations of loyalty to the boss.[106] The FBI also bugged the Ravenite, but failed to produce any high-quality incriminating recordings.[106]
Later in 1988, Gotti, Gigante and new Lucchese boss Amuso attended the first Commission meeting since the Commission Trial, located at the LaBar Bat Club in Manhattan.[107] Two years earlier, Casso had been injured in an unauthorized hit by Gambinocapo Mickey Paradiso.[81][108] In 1987, the FBI warned Gotti they had recorded GenoveseconsigliereLouis Manna discussing another hit on Gotti and his brother.[107] In order to avoid a war, the leaders of the three families met, denied knowledge of their violence against one another, and agreed to "communicate better."[109] The bosses also agreed to allow Colombo acting bossVictor Orena to join the Commission, but Gigante, wary of giving Gotti a majority by admitting another ally, blocked the reentry of Massino and the Bonannos.[107][110]
Gotti was also able to influence theNew Jersey-basedDeCavalcante crime family in 1988. According to the DeCavalcantecapo-turned-informant Anthony Rotondo, Gotti attended his father's wake with numerous other Gambino mobsters in a "show of force" and coerced bossGiovanni Riggi into agreeing to run his family on the Gambinos' behalf.[111] The DeCavalcantes remained in the Gambino family's sphere of influence until Gotti's imprisonment.[112]
Gotti's son, John Jr., was initiated into the Gambino family on Christmas Eve 1988.[113] According to fellow mobsterMichael DiLeonardo, initiated on the same night, Gravano held the ceremony to keep Gotti from being accused ofnepotism.[113] John Jr. was promptly promoted tocapo.[2]
In 1989, Gotti ordered the murder of real estate developer Fred Weiss out of concern that Weiss might become a government witness in exchange for leniency, ordering the DeCavalcante family to carry out the hit.Vincent "Vinny Ocean" Palermo and James "Jimmy" Gallo (unrelated to Joseph N. Gallo) shot Weiss in the face, killing him instantly, withAnthony Capo serving as their getaway driver. In 1990, Riggi appointedJohn D'Amato as acting boss of the DeCavalcante family when Riggi went to prison.
On the evening of January 23, 1989, Gotti was arrested outside the Ravenite and charged with ordering the 1986 assault oflabor union official John O'Connor.[114][115] In the back of the police car, he remarked, "Three to one I beat this charge."[116] O'Connor, a leader in theUnited Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBC) Local 608, who was later convicted of racketeering himself,[117] was believed to have ordered an attack on a Gambino-associated restaurant that had snubbed the union and was subsequently shot and wounded by the Westies.[114] After one night in jail, Gotti was released on $100,000 bail.[118]
By this time, the FBI had cultivated new informants and learned part of the reason the Ravenite bug failed was because Gotti would hold sensitive conversations elsewhere, either in a rear hallway in the building the club occupied, or in an apartment in its upper floors where the friendly widow of a Gambino soldier lived; by November 1989, both locations were bugged.[106][119] The apartment bug was particularly fruitful due to Gotti's frankness as he discussed his position as boss in meetings there. In a December 12 conversation with Locascio, Gotti plainly acknowledged ordering the murders of DiBernardo and Liborio Milito — the latter being one of Gravano's partners, killed for insubordination.[120] He also announced his intent to kill soldier Louis DiBono, who had ignored a summons to meet with Gotti to discuss his mismanagement of a drywall business he held with Gotti and Gravano. The FBI, however, misheard the namedrop and failed to warn DiBono, who was killed on October 4, 1990.[121] In another taped meeting on January 4, 1990, Gotti promoted Gravano to underboss, preferring him to lead the family if Gotti was convicted in the assault case.[122]
State prosecutors linked Gotti to the assault case with a recording of him discussing O'Connor and announcing his intention to "bust him up," as well as the testimony of Westies gangsterJames McElroy.[123] However, Gotti was acquitted of all six assault andconspiracy charges at trial on February 9, 1990.[124][116] After the trial, there were firework displays by locals. Jules J. Bonavolonta, director of the FBI's organized crime division in New York, stated, "With all this media coverage he's beginning to look like afolk hero... What the public should realize is that he is the boss of the largestCosa Nostra family, that he surrounds himself with ruthless killers and that he is flat out a criminal."[28]
It later emerged that FBI bugs had apparently caught Gotti discussing plans to fix the jury as he had in the 1986–87 racketeering case. To the outrage of Manhattandistrict attorneyRobert Morgenthau and state organized crime taskforce chiefRonald Goldstock, the FBI and federal prosecutors chose not to reveal this information to them. Morgenthau later said that had he known about these bugged conversations, he would have asked for amistrial.[125]
Gotti, Gravano and Locascio were often recorded by the bugs placed throughout the Ravenite (concealed in the main room, the first-floor hallway and the upstairs apartment) discussing incriminating events.[126] On December 11, 1990, FBI agents and NYPD detectives raided the Ravenite, arresting Gotti, Gravano and Locascio.[127][128][129] Federal prosecutors charged Gotti in this new racketeering case with five murders (Castellano, Bilotti, DiBernardo, Milito and, after review of the apartment tapes, DiBono),[130][131] conspiracy to murderGaetano "Corky" Vastola, loansharking, illegal gambling, obstruction of justice,bribery and tax evasion.[132][133]
Based on tapes from FBI bugs played at pretrial hearings, the Gambino administration was denied bail. At the same time, attorneys Cutler andGerald Shargel were disqualified from defending Gotti and Gravano after prosecutors successfully contended they were "part of the evidence" and thus liable to be called as witnesses. Prosecutors argued that Cutler and Shargel not only knew about potential criminal activity, but had worked as "in-house counsel" for the Gambino family.[134][135] Gotti subsequently hiredAlbert Krieger, aMiami attorney who had worked withJoseph Bonanno, to replace Cutler.[136][137]
The tapes created a rift between Gotti and Gravano, where the Gambino boss described his newly appointed underboss as too greedy, and attempted to frame Gravano as the main force behind the murders of DiBernardo, Milito and DiBono.[138][139] Gotti's attempt at reconciliation failed,[140] leaving Gravano disillusioned with the mob and doubtful on his chances of winning his case without Shargel, his former attorney.[141][142] Gravano ultimately opted to turn state's evidence, formally agreeing to testify on November 13, 1991.[143] He was the highest-ranking member of a New York crime family to turn informer until Joseph Massino in 2003.
Gotti and Locascio were tried in theU.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York before District JudgeI. Leo Glasser. Jury selection began in January 1992 with ananonymous jury that was, for the first time in a Brooklyn federal case, fullysequestered during the trial, due to Gotti's reputation for jury tampering.[144][145] The trial commenced with the prosecution's opening statements on February 12;[146][147] prosecutors Andrew Maloney andJohn Gleeson began their case by playing tapes showing Gotti discussing Gambino family business, including murders he approved, and confirming the animosity between Gotti and Castellano to establish the former's motive to kill his boss.[148] After calling an eyewitness of the Castellano hit who identified Carneglia as one of the men who shot Bilotti, they then brought Gravano to testify on March 2.[149][150][151]
On the stand, Gravano confirmed Gotti's place in the structure of the Gambino family and described in detail the conspiracy to assassinate Castellano, giving a full description of the hit and its aftermath.[152] Gravano confessed to nineteen murders, implicating Gotti in four of them.[153] Krieger, and Locascio's attorney Anthony Cardinale, proved unable to shake Gravano duringcross-examination.[154][155] After additional testimony and tapes, the government rested its case on March 24.[156]
Five of Krieger and Cardinale's intended six witnesses were ruled irrelevant or extraneous, leaving only Gotti's tax attorney Murray Appleman to testify on his behalf.[156][157] The defense also attempted unsuccessfully to have a mistrial declared based on Maloney's closing remarks.[158][159] Gotti himself became increasingly hostile during the trial,[160] and at one point, Glasser threatened to remove him from the courtroom.[156][161] Among other outbursts, Gotti called Gravano a junkie, while his attorneys sought to discuss his paststeroid use,[162][163] and equated the dismissal of a juror tothe fixing of the1919 World Series.[145][158]
On April 2, 1992, after only fourteen hours of deliberation, the jury found Gotti guilty on all charges of the indictment (Locascio was found guilty on all but one). James Fox, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's New York Field Office, announced at a press conference, "The Teflon is gone. The don is covered withVelcro, and all the charges stuck".[164][165] On June 23, 1992, Glasser sentenced both defendants tolife imprisonment without the possibility of parole, and fined them both $250,000 each.[133][165][166][note 2]
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Gotti was incarcerated at theUnited States Penitentiary atMarion, Illinois. He spent the majority of his sentence in effectivesolitary confinement, allowed out of his cell for only one hour a day.[6][169] His final appeal was rejected by theUnited States Supreme Court in 1994.[170]
On July 18, 1996, a fellow inmate named Walter Johnson punched Gotti in the prison recreation room, leaving him bruised and bleeding because, according to New York'sDaily News, Gotti had disrespected him with a racial slur. Gotti, desiring revenge, offeredAryan Brotherhood chieftains David Sahakian and Michael McElhiney somewhere between $40,000 and $400,000 to have Johnson killed. In August, McElhiney told two Brotherhood underlings to kill Johnson "if given the opportunity”, according to a federal indictment charging him and thirty-nine other gang members with murder, attempted murder, and racketeering. Johnson, however, was transferred to thesupermax prison inFlorence, Colorado.[171]
Despite his imprisonment and pressure from the Commission to step down,[172] Gotti asserted his prerogative to retain his title as boss until his death or retirement, with his brother Peter and his son John Jr. relaying orders on his behalf.[173] By 1998, when he was indicted on racketeering, John Jr. was believed to be the acting boss of the family.[174] Against his father's wishes, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years and five months' imprisonment in 1999.[2][175] He maintains that he has since left the Gambino family.[176] Peter subsequently became acting boss,[177] and is believed to have formally succeeded his brother shortly before Gotti's death.[178]
John Jr.'s indictment brought further stress to Gotti's marriage. Victoria Gotti, up to that point unaware of her son's involvement in the Mafia, blamed her husband for ruining her son's life and threatened to leave him unless he allowed John Jr. to leave the mob.[17]
In 1998, Gotti was diagnosed withthroat cancer and sent to theUnited States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners inSpringfield, Missouri for surgery.[179] Though thetumor was removed, the cancer was discovered to have returned two years later, and Gotti was transferred back to Springfield, where he spent the rest of his life.[180][181]
Gotti's condition rapidly declined, and he died on June 10, 2002, at the age of 61.[6][182] TheCatholic Diocese of Brooklyn announced that Gotti's family would not be permitted to have aRequiem Mass, but would be allowed to have a memorial Mass after the burial.[183]
Gotti's funeral was held in a non-church facility. After the funeral, an estimated 300 onlookers followed the procession, which passed Gotti's Bergin Hunt and Fish Club, to the gravesite. Gotti's body was interred in a crypt next to his son, Frank. Gotti's brother Peter was unable to attend because of his incarceration.[184]
In an apparent repudiation of Gotti's leadership and legacy, the other New York City families sent no representatives to the funeral. Numerous prosecutions triggered by Gotti's tactics left the Gambino family in shambles; by the turn of the century, half of the family's made men were in prison.[77]
Since his conviction, Gotti has been portrayed in six television films, three documentary series, three theatrical films and been a subject of lyrics in music.
Joey Zasa is a fictional character and an antagonist appearing in the 1990 filmThe Godfather Part III. Both Zasa's character and personality are partly based on John Gotti.
John Gotti was acquitted of Federal racketeering and conspiracy charges yesterday
| American Mafia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Gambino crime family Boss 1985–2002 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Capo di tutti capi Boss of bosses 1985–2002 | Succeeded by |
