John_Gotti_an_American_Mafia_Don

John Gotti an American Mafia Don John Gotti had come from meager beginnings to become one most famous Mafia Dons in American history. John Gotti through a “a take no prisoners” attitude had become head of one of the largest crime families in American history. To understand how John Gotti became the head of the Gambino family one needs to know where he came from. John Gotti had earned his position with in the Gambino through profitable thefts and ruthless killings which allowed him to be promoted through the ranks of the family. John Gotti’s status and position helped him elude the law for several years. John Gotti had in the end been caught and paid for his crimes. Named after his father, John Gotti was born October 27, 1940 in the Bronx, New York. The son of a construction worker, John had five brothers which might have been his first exposure to organized crime as at a young age they became one of the neighborhood gangs. At the age of twelve John and his family had moved to a rough neighborhood in Brooklyn an area in which the Mafia had been growing. Moving to Brooklyn, may have been the just the push Gotti needed to start his life of crime. Gotti dropped out of school and joined up with one of the local gangs and where he began to commit small crimes. Gotti’s small crimes, confidence, and self assurance had earned him quite the reputation. Gotti’s reputation had brought him to the attention of some veteran gangsters (Neil Dellacroce), and this was John first step up the Mafia ladder. In 1966 Gotti had became involved up with the Gambino Crime Family. Gotti's specialty was hijacking trucks; he would hijack freights from Kennedy Airport which he would later fence the goods from. The hijackings had made Gotti a profitable member of the Gambino family making him a true asset to the family. John Gotti became close to the Gambino Under boss Aneillo Dellacroce. It seemed that John would continue to advance within the family until a series of arrest derailed his progress. A United Airlines employee identified John as the man who had signed for the stolen merchandise from a hijacking. John was later arrested by the FBI for the theft. While on bail for the United Airline theft John had been arrested again for hijacking a cigarette truck. Prosecutors ended up dropping the charges for the cigarette truck which most likely involved a plea bargain which lead to Gotti pleading guilty to the United Airlines hijacking which he was sentenced to three years in prison. While Gotti had been in prison his supervisor Carmine Fatico had been indicted on loan sharking charges, and this had in turn made Gotti the acting capo of his crew which meant he now reported directly to Boss Carlo Gambino and Under boss Aniello Dellacroce. After being promoted it seems that Gotti decided it was time to take some serious steps forward. In 1973 Gotti took the contract on James McBratney an Irish-American gangster. The contract on James McBratney might have been payback for a number of thefts or as punishment for his suspected role in the kidnapping and murder of Manny Gambino the nephew of boss Carlo Gambino. On May 22, 1973, James McBratney was killed by three men in Snoopy's Bar in Staten Island, New York. McBratney was killed in front of seven witnesses most of which without doubt had to decided that they had not seen anything for fear of reprisal. Eventually the killers were identified as Angelo Ruggiero, Ralphie “the Wig” Galione and John Gotti. More than two years later, on June 2,1975, Gotti had been charged with murder which was later reduced to second degree manslaughter which Gotti plead guilty to, for which he was sentenced to four years in prison. John was paroled no more than two years later, Gotti returned home on July 28, 1977. This conviction should have carried a stiffer sentence than four years in which he only served two of. John Gotti became a hard individual to convict escaping conviction, time and time again. When Gotti had been found guilty he was able to get off “easily” which helped him earn the nick name of the “Teflon Don”. The McBratney killing had helped Gotti move up within the Gambino family avenging the death of the boss’s nephew certainly could not have hurt his position in the family. Shortly after his release from prison he was formally initiated into the Mafia and became a "made man." While Gotti was in prison for the McBratney killing, the Gambino Family had seen a serious change in leadership. Carlo Gambino on his deathbed appointed Paul Castellano his successor over Dellacroce who had been Gambino’s second in command. This had caused a problem for Gotti who had preferred that his mentor Neil Dellacroce had been promoted to the top position. While Gotti held a grudge over the promotion of Castellano, his mentor Dellacroce had made it a point to keep the peace. One Castellano’s first orders, was that the family was to remove itself from the drug business. This proclamation was not embraced by many of the lower ranking family members who no doubt made most of their money from the up and coming drug trade. With Gotti’s earning being cut, John had decided it was time to do something about Castellano. Luckily for Castellano, Dellacroce who had always made decisions to keep the peace was able to keep Gotti at bay. In December 1985 Aniello “Neil” Dellacroce died of lung cancer at age 71. With Dellacroce no longer around to keep the peace, Gotti decided it was time for the weak, pretender to the thrown to be dealt with. It had been no secret that Gotti did not agree with the leadership of Castellano from the moment of his promotion over Gotti’s mentor Aniello Dellacroce. Gotti’s hate for Castellano was only further fueled by Castellano’s decision to ban drug sales. After the death of Dellacroce, Gotti had ordered a hit on Castellano. The hit on Castellano may have served several purposes: Gotti may have felt he was avenging the honor of his mentor who had been passed over as head of the family, Gotti had ignored the mandate to stop selling illegal drugs, the killing of Castellano might have been seen as a pre-emptive strike for fear of reprisals for ignoring the drug ban. Most likely the hit on Castellano was to pave the way for Gotti to assume the top position as the head of the family. In December 1985 Gotti’s contract on Castellano was carried out by four gun men, Castellano and his body guard Thomas Bilotti were gunned down outside the Sparks Steak house. John Gotti’s Teflon coating seemed to wear thin as the FBI was finally able to make a case stick. The FBI’s electronic surveillance had produced an audio recording of Gotti discussing a number of murders and other criminal activities. Some believe that Gotti’s discussion for murders and other crimes was not his largest error, but that of talking in a disrespectful manner of his second in command Sammy “The Bull” Gravano. The prosecution had let “The Bull” virtually walk on 19 murders which he had confessed to, in exchange for his testimony against John “The Teflon Don” Gotti. Would Gravano testified against Gotti without hearing the recordings' A commuted sentence would surely be enough to sway “The Bull” but the disrespect might have been the “icing on the cake”. Gotti was charged with 13 counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, loan sharking, racketeering, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling and tax evasion. After 13 hours the juror returned with a verdict of guilty on all charges. Gotti was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Leading to this statement from James M. Fox, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York office, “The don is covered with Velcro, and every charge stuck”. Gotti continued to rule over his crime syndicate from his cell in Marion, Illinois even though he was confined in his cell for 23 hours a day. John Gotti’s sentence of life in prison, ended up lasting about ten years. John Gotti had been diagnosed with throat cancer. After the diagnosis Gotti had been transferred to the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri for medical treatment. Gotti had his lower jaw removed and had been fed through a tube before succumbing to the cancer in June of 2002. John Gotti did nothing special as an American Mafia Don. Gotti killed people, stole things, sold stolen things, and ordered the death of those who stood in his way. Sadly none of this is extreme or special in Organized Crime. So the question remains what really made Gotti a household name' John Gotti was also known as the “Dapper Don” because of his expensive suits and well dressed appearance. John Gotti never shied away from the cameras or the media making him a very well known mobster across the country. In the end the sharply dressed, non-stick John Gotti ended up in prison where he died behind bars. Seeing how he was betrayed by his second in command it truly showed that there is no “Honor Among Thieves” even those who swore to burn before betraying the “family”. References Amoruso, David. (2008). John “The Dapper Don” Gotti. Gangster Inc. Retrieved from http://gangstersinc.tripod.com/John.html Capeci, Jerry and Gene Mustain. (1996) Gotti: Rise and Fall. New York: Onyx. Davis, John H. (1993) Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family. New York: HarperCollins. Maas, Peter. (1997) Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. May, Allan. (2009). John Gotti, The Last Mafia Icon. Retrieved from http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/gotti/woes_27.html