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 a boss of the Gambino crime family after Paul Castellano , 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.

He was convicted of felony racketeering, 13 murders, obstruction of justice, hijacking, conspiracy to commit murder, illegal gambling, extortion, tax evasion and loansharking among others in his life time and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole 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 fifth 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 and dangerous neighborhood.

As a young boy, Gotti had to fight often as was common in that neighborhood, and he became a rough street fighter 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.

With his brothers Peter and Richard he became part of a local street gang. 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 a American girl Victoria "Angel" DiGiorgio, who gave birth to his children Victoria Gotti, John A. Gotti, Frank Gotti, and Peter Gotti, named after his uncle, John's brother, Peter Gotti. John and his family lived on 85th Street in Howard Beach. In 1980 his son Frank was accidentally knocked down and killed by neighbor John Favara's car. Although the death was viewed as accidental by the authorities, Favara later disappeared and is believed to have been kidnapped and murdered by members of John Gotti's crew while Gotti himself was conveniently out of town. Among those involved in the disappearance were the murderous brothers John and Charles Carneglia, John's brother Gene Gotti, his best friend Fat Angelo Ruggiero, and longtime enforcer Willie Boy Johnson.

According to numerous sources, Gotti may have up to three illegitimate children, with at least one being the result of a longtime affair with Staten Island housewife Shannon "Sandy" Connelly, the wife of Gambino soldier Ernie Grillo.. Grillo and Connelly's daughter Meghan is allegedly the spitting image of "Dapper John". Interestingly, Connelly herself is the illegitimate daughter of deceased former Gambino underboss Neil Dellacroce, John Gotti's mentor. Gotti would allegedly order Ernie Grillo out on missions so that Gotti could go to Grillo's home and have sex with his wife, Shannon Connelly.

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 stepfather's 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. Gotti owned a Queens flea market with Genovese crime family wiseguys Joseph "Joe Glitz" Galizia and Carlo DiPietro|Carlo, eventually Gotti and Galizia decided they wanted DiPietro out of the business, and Galizia killed DiPietro.

Dellacroce and Gotti were great friends from the beginning with much in common: They were both fierce, tough, street-wise, 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, and maybe killed. Gotti and others in his crew 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.

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 who had kidnapped and killed Carlo Gambino's nephew, 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 (they didn't stick). Gotti bribed or threatened jurors in several trials. He also made use of police informants to keep a step ahead of investigators. 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 "John Moschetto," 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 singer Jay Black and actor Mickey Rourke.
Prison

On June 23, 1992, Judge Glasser sentenced Gotti to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. 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. Gotti paid the notorious prison gang the Aryan Brotherhood $50,000 a year for protection. However, in 1996 Gotti insulted a black inmate on the prison yard with racial slurs. The black inmate later assaulted Gotti. Gotti felt completely disrespected and paid the Aryan Brotherhood $500,000 to kill Gotti's attacker. However, Gotti died of cancer soon afterwards and the murder was never carried out.

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. Gotti had the lower half of his jaw removed due to the cancer and was fed through a tube. In his last days, Gotti was allowed to die in a hospital and was instead kept in a cell. When his daughter and family came for a visit while he was in hospital, in his last days, and unable to speak, they were still not allowed a contact visit, but were kept behind a screen. 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.