John Gotti: The Teflon Don Essay Example
John Gotti: The Teflon Don Essay Example

John Gotti: The Teflon Don Essay Example

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  • Pages: 15 (3932 words)
  • Published: November 8, 2017
  • Type: Case Study
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“There was nil that my male parent loved more than being a mobster. Not money. non even us. He felt that anybody that truly lived this life like he did. at the terminal of the twenty-four hours you have to decease or travel to imprison. ” – John Gotti Jr. Who is John Gotti? Depending upon who you ask this inquiry to. your reply could change. Turning up in my vicinity in Far Rockaway. Queens John Gotti is a fable and person people look up to. At the same clip you can inquire other people about John Gotti and they will state you that he was a ruthless hood and a threat to society. Either manner you look at it John Gotti made his grade here in America and he was known all across the state for being the foreman of th

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e largest and most powerful of the five households in New York. the Gambino offense household. I will non speak about my sentiments on John Gotti in this paper but I will give you his life narrative from his birth in the Bronx to his decease in prison and allow you be the justice. John Joseph Gotti was born on October 27. 1940 in the Bronx. New York. John was the 5th kid of Philomena ( Fannie ) and Joseph Gotti. who were Italian Immigrants.

Joseph and Fannie Gotti besides had twelve other kids ; four of which who would besides go made work forces. or members of the Mafia. John’s younger brother Gene Gotti was really initiated before John was due to John’s captivity at that clip. During John’s clip as foreman of the

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Gambino offense household he had his brother Peter Gotti initiated despite John’s belief ( and that of many others ) that Peter did non hold what it takes to be La Cosa Nostra. Peter earned himself the moniker “the dumbest don” after the captivity of John Gotti. Gene Gotti. and John Gotti Jr. when he assumed the place of Boss of the Gambino offense household. The other two brothers were Richard Gotti. who would be revealed as capo in 2002. and Vincent Gotti. John Gotti spent his early old ages turning up in poorness. John Gotti’s male parent Joseph Gotti was a twenty-four hours labourer who ne'er had regular work or a steady beginning of income. On top of Joseph Gotti’s jobs with happening nice work so he would be able to supply for his household. he besides had a gaming job. This was a immense job because he was the lone gaining member of the big household. John Gotti came to resent his male parent for non being able to supply the household.

By the clip Gotti reached the age of 12. he was already an errand male child working for an belowground nine. This nine was headed by Carmine Fatico. a capo in the Gambino offense household. Fatico was an early wise man Gotti until John was introduced to Aniello Dellacroce. who became his wise man for life. Gotti had his first tally in with the jurisprudence in 1954 when he was caught with friends trying to steal a portable cement sociable that tipped over and crushed the toes of his pess. He had to be hospitalized for a piece and as a consequence

he is purportedly losing a toe or two. By 1956. Gotti had dropped out of Franklin K. Lane High School and was named the leader of the Fulton-Rockaway Boys. This pack is where he meets and befriends Angelo Ruggiero and Wilfred Johnson. who besides become Made Men in the Gambino offense household. When Gotti moved with his household to Ozone Park in Queens. New York. Gotti became a cardinal member of the Gambino highjacking crew. Along with his brother Gene and Ruggiero. Gotti began commandeering trucks at what would come to be known as John F Kennedy International Airport.

This is where he was introduced to and befriended hereafter Bonanno offense household boss Joseph Massino. It was here that they were given the monikers of “Black John” and “Crazy Horse” . In 1968. Gotti was arrested for the highjackings. While out on bond. Gotti was arrested once more for a highjacking on the New Jersey Turnpike. Gotti pleaded guilty to the Northwest Airlines highjackings but the charges were dropped on the New Jersey Turnpike coffin nail highjackings. Gotti served three old ages in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary for the highjackings. After his release in 1972. Gotti returned to the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club to work with Carmine Fatico until subsequently that twelvemonth when Fatico was indicted on loansharking charges. Despite Gotti non yet being a Made Man. Fatico named him the moving capo of the Bergin crew. It was at this clip that Gotti and Dellacroce grew closer because Gotti would often come to the Ravenite Social Club to brief Dellacroce on his crew’s activities.

In May of 1973. Emanuel Gambino. nephew of Carlo Gambino who was

the current caput of the household. was kidnapped and murdered despite the payment of a $ 100. 000 ransom. Gotti was tasked to take out the adult male responsible along with Ruggiero and Ralph Galione. The primary suspect was an Irish mobster by the name of James McBrantley. Gotti and his male child found McBrantly in a saloon in Staten Island. While Gotti and Ruggiero go over and seek to take him someplace. Galione comes over and shoots McBrantley in the center of the nine for everyone to see. Gotti would be arrested for this slaying one twelvemonth subsequently after being fingered by many eyewitnesses. one of which was his friend Wilfred “Willie Boy” Johnson. Gotti was able to strike a supplication deal so he would merely function four old ages in prison for attempted manslaughter. After the Death of Carlo Gambino in 1976. Paul “Big Paul” Castellano became the foreman of the Gambino offense household. Upon his release in 1977. John Gotti was instantly initiated into the Gambino offense household. Gotti was instantly promoted to capo of the Bergin crew. replacing Carmine Fatico.

Castellano kept Dellacroce as his underboss and gave him control over 10 of the 23 crews. including Gotti’s Bergin crew. Gotti’s Bergin crew was the largest earners of all of Dellacroce’s crews. Gotti besides ran a loansharking concern on the side on top of taking his cut from all the money that his subsidiaries made. Gotti had many people working for him and he made them all make regular visual aspects at the Bergin and would acquire annoyed if person didn’t cheque in within 48 hours. he kept this modus operandi when

he moved to the Ravenite Social Club. In 1980. Gotti’s boy Frank Gotti was killed in a traffic accident by their neighbour. John Favara. Favara was abducted and ne'er to be heard from once more. many believe him to be dead. Despite the belief of some people that Gotti killed Favara himself. the Gotti’s were on holiday in Florida at the clip of his abduction. John Gotti Jr. . future caput of the Gambino offense household. still believes that his male parent most decidedly had something to make with his disappearing though. In his staying old ages as capo of the Bergin crew. Gotti was indicted on two separate occasions.

He would non travel to test for either of these instances until he was crowned boss of the Gambino offense household. One of these instances came in September of 1984 ; Gotti was arrested for the assault and robbery of a icebox maintenance man named Romual Piecyk. Piecyk found his auto blocked by a dual parked vehicle outside of the Cozy Corner Bar in Queens. Piecyk laid on his auto horn until Frank Colletta. the proprietor of the dual parked auto and Gambino household associate. came out. smacked him across the face and took his hebdomadal payroll check out of his shirt pocket. When Piecyk began to contend back. Gotti came running out and smacked him across the face and reached into his girdle and told him “you better acquire the f*** out of here! ” Piecyk went and got the constabulary and they returned to the saloon and arrested Gotti and Colletta. The 2nd indictment came in 1985 when Gotti along with Dellacroce and other

Bergin crew members were the marks of a racketeering instance. headed by US Attorney Diane Giacalone. It was the latter instance that revealed Gotti’s close friend. Willie Boy Johnson. to be an FBI source.

When Gotti found out wholly he had to state to Johnson was “I’m gon na give you a base on balls. and I give you my word no 1 will trouble oneself you. Gotti told Willie Boy. After we win this instance. you won’t be able to be in the life once more. But you’ll acquire a occupation. you’ll have your household. and you’ll be all right. ” As the foreman of the household. Paul Castellano had banned Made Work force from the Gambino household in covering with drugs under the menace of decease. In 1983. Angelo Ruggiero and Gene Gotti along with a few others were all indicted on diacetylmorphine charges. The indictment came approximately through bugs placed in the place of Angelo Ruggiero. utilizing grounds given to the FBI by Willie Boy Johnson. Along with the negotiations of heroin trades on these tapes there were besides some comments made about Castellano from Ruggiero on at that place. Castellano’s chase to hear what was on these tapes would be the beginning of the terminal for him. Although John Gotti was non on any of the tapes and they could do no connexion to him. Castellano was still looking to keep Gotti accountable. In fright for his life. Ruggiero went to Dellacroce to see if he could plead his instance to Castellano that they were merely screening out the personal businesss of his brother Salvatore Ruggiero. a large clip diacetylmorphine trader who

had no ties to the household.

The narrative was plenty to keep Castellano off until he received the tapes. In the spring of 1985 Castellano began pressing for the tapes once more but backed off when he found out that his underboss. Dellacroce. was deceasing of malignant neoplastic disease. He figured that if he waited for Dellacroce to decease. there would be cipher he had to worry about halting him from acquiring the tapes. Castellano was able to hear the tapes that summer and began explicating a program of action but would keep off on seting that program in gesture until Dellacroce died. Gotti knew Castellano. who was ne'er a fan of Gotti and wanted him out of the household. would hold him killed so he began a secret plan of his ain along with Frank DeCicco. Sammy Gravano. Joseph Armone. and Robert DiBernardo. When Dellacroce died on December 2. 1985. it was clip for one of the sides to do their move. Castellano did non demo up at the services for his former underboss and that angered Gotti and other members of the household and besides members of the other four households. For Gotti to hold the caput of his household killed. he would foremost hold to travel to the caputs of the other households in New York for permission.

Gotti got the necessary ballots from the Bonanno. Colombo. and Luchesse households for the hit. “The Fist” . which is what the five work forces went by. had the perfect set up. They figured that a small over a hebdomad before Christmas. around first-come-first-serve hr. between 5pm and 6pm that the streets would be flooded with

likely over a 1000 people making at that place holiday errands. They figured the hit would merely last a few seconds and the confusion from the terror after the gunfires went off would do for the perfect flight. The four designated taws were Vincent Artuso. John Carneglia. Eddie Lino and Salvatore Scala. The designated back-up taw. Anthony Tony Roach Rampino. would be standing across the street from Sparks Steak House. while Angelo Ruggiero. Joseph Watts and Iggy Alogna would be stationed at 46th Street and Second Avenue to assist with the flight. Frank DeCicco would be inside the eating house where a meeting was to take topographic point.

He would be joined at that place by capos James Failla and Daniel Marino. who were non portion of the secret plan. On December 16 Big Paul had arranged to run into Dellacroce’s boy Buddy Dellacroce at Sparks Steak House on East 46th Street. Frank DeCicco set it up. Castellano was traveling to pay court. to explicate why he had non come to the aftermath and offered commiserations. to do damagess. It wouldn’t be until the afternoon of the planned slayings that the existent hit squad knew who their marks were. Huddled in a park on Manhattans Lower East Side. the group went over the concluding inside informations of the slaying secret plan. The four taws were dressed likewise long light colored trench coats and black pelt Russian manner chapeaus. The logical thinking for this was to pull attending to the outfits. non the work forces have oning them. Gotti and Gravano parked a Lincoln. driven by John himself. up the block in sight of the forepart of

Sparks Steak House. Moments subsequently Thomas Bilotti. Big Paul’s new underboss. pulled up following to Gotti’s auto at an intersection and waited for the visible radiation to alter. Using a walkie-talkie Gravano notified the others that Castellano was nearing.

Bilotti steered the Lincoln into an unfastened infinite in forepart of Sparks and got out. As Castellano stepped out of the vehicle. the hit work forces moved in. Large Paul was hit six times in the caput and killed immediately. When the shot began. the unarmed Bilotti ducked and looked through the driver’s side window merely to see his boss’s executing. incognizant that slayers were now taking at him. As the taws assigned to Bilotti opened fire. Artuso’s gun jammed. However. the gunshot from the 2nd bravo dropped the freshly crowned underboss. Carneglia. who had finished blaring off at Castellano. ran over to the other side of the auto and put the coating touches on Bilotti. After the really public violent death of Castellano and underboss Bilotti. Gotti found himself in the media spotlight a batch and was widely suspected to be responsible for the slayings. Gotti became known as the “Dapper Don” for his expensive suits. manus painted ties. and meticulously groomed silver hair. At the clip of Gotti’s coup d'etat. the Gambino household was regarded as the most powerful American Mafia household. which is why during this clip he was regarded as a foreman of foremans.

The Gambino offense family’s estimated one-year income was about five hundred million dollars. Harmonizing to Sammy “The Bull” Gravano. Gotti was conveying in approximately ten to twelve million dollars per twelvemonth. In an effort to protect himself and his subordinates

lawfully. he banned any Made Man from taking a supplication understanding that acknowledges the being of the household. Gotti’s celebrity came to impact the result of his old indictments from 1984 and 1985. By the mid to late 1980s. John Gotti had gone from the “Dapper Don” to the “Teflon Don” because of the failure to do any charges stick to him. When Gotti went to test for the 1984 assault and robbery of Romual Piecyk. Gotti benefited from his new celebrity. Piecyk received many phone calls and the interruptions to his work new wave were cut. Fearing for the worst. Piecyk went into concealment. hoping he would non hold to attest. When Piecyk was forced to attest he said he could non retrieve who his aggressors were. Because of his random loss of memory. the New York Daily News came out with a headline that read “I Forgotti! ” On April 7. 1986 the jury choice for Gotti’s RICO instance began.

With the success Gotti had in intimidating Piecyk in his anterior instance. he decided to utilize the same tactics to crush this instance. Dennis Quirk was the first informant to be approached by Gotti’s work forces and was murdered right before he had to attest against Gotti’s co-defendant. Charles Carnaglia. The events to go on in the following few yearss would take Judge Nickerson to prorogue the test. On the forenoon of April 9. a bomb menace was called into the courthouse. uncluttering it instantly. On April 13. 1986. underboss Frank DeCicco was killed when his auto was bombed following a visit to James Failla. The bombardment was carried out by Lucchese capos Victor

Amuso and Anthony Casso. under orders of foremans Anthony Corallo and Vincent Gigante. to revenge Castellano and Bilotti. Gotti besides planned to see Failla that twenty-four hours. but canceled. and the bomb was detonated after a soldier who rode with DeCicco was mistaken for the foreman. While Gotti’s test had been postponed. he remained in gaol because his bond had been revoked for grounds of bullying in the Piecyk instance. Pretrial gestures were handled on August 18. 1986.

Judge Nickerson had ruled that there would be an anon. jury to protect jurymans from bullying and the jury would non be sequestered. or isolated. Cutler claimed that such a jury creates fear that is misplaced and deprives the suspects of a just test. Bruce Cutler. John Gotti’s attorney. went at the credibleness of the prosecution’s informants like Edward Maloney and Mathew Traynor. naming them low lives and trash. This would come to be known as “Brucifying” . it was a ticket that Cutler would lief have on. Along with depriving the credibleness of some of the prosecutor’s informants. Gravano was reached out to in order to offer his ballot of non guilty to guarantee a hung jury. This man’s name was George Pape ; he offered his ballot for 60 thousand dollars. On March 13. 1987. they acquitted Gotti and his co-defendants of all charges. In February 1986. the Bankers and Brokers Restaurant in Battery Park City was under building.

The eating house was under the direction of Philip Modica. whom police described as a Gambino crime-family soldier. Modica was non utilizing brotherhood carpenters in the building. which disquieted John F. O’Connor. The concern agent and head runing

officer of Manhattan-based Local 608 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & A ; Joiners. O’Connor responded by holding the eating house trashed one February dark. doing some 30 thousand dollars’ worth of harm. When Modica took his ailment to Gotti. he ordered that O’Connor be busted up and the assignment was given to members of the Westies. a pack of Irish hoods from the Hell’s Kitchen subdivision of Manhattan. At 6:40 in the forenoon on May 7. O’Connor was waiting to come in an lift in the anteroom of a midtown Manhattan edifice that housed his brotherhood offices. Westies gang member Kevin Kelly at O’Connor shot four times. injuring him in the butt. left leg and hip. The brotherhood functionary was rushed to St. Clare’s Hospital. where he shortly recovered. On the eventide of January 23. 1989. John Gotti was arrested outside the Ravenite Social Club and charged with telling the 1986 assault of brotherhood functionary John O’Connor.

There were bugs planted in the Ravenite Social Club and in an flat above the nine in which Gotti had frequent meetings where he spoke freely about Gambino household concern. They used these tapes in test when they heard what they thought to be Gotti stating person to “Bust him up! ” in mention to O’Connor. Although they had these tapes for a piece. cipher warned John O’Connor about what might go on to him. Gotti’s defence attorney’s. Cutler and Shargel used this in test stating that If the tapes weren’t clear plenty to warn O’Connor. so they are non clear plenty to convict Gotti. Along with the bad sound quality of the tapes and some Brucifying.

Gotti was finally acquitted on all counts due in portion to the testimony of O’Connor himself. O’Connor testified that he was ne'er told his life was in danger or that anyone was traveling to “bust him up” . The defence was trying to turn out that since the research workers had non warned O’Connor. they had no grounds that named him as the mark of Gotti’s “bust him up” remark. O’Connor besides testified that there were internal struggles within the brotherhood at the clip he was wounded and that he had many enemies. On December 11. 1990. FBI Agents arrested John Gotti. Sammy Gravano. and Frank Locasio.

This was the 4th indictment for Gotti since he came to power after telling the violent deaths of Paul Castellano and his underboss Thomas Bilotti. However. this was the first clip that Gotti would be indicted for the latter slayings. He would besides be indicted for the slayings of Robert DiBernardo. Liborio Milito and Louis Dibono. Along with those slayings. Gotti would besides be charged with the confederacy to slay Gaetano “Corky” Vastola. loansharking. illegal gaming. obstructor of justness. graft and revenue enhancement equivocation. Gotti and his codefendants were one time once more denied bond. Along with Gotti being denied bond. Bruce Cutler and Gerald Shargel. were disqualified from being able to stand for any of the suspects in this test due to some recordings that proved them to be working as “in house counsel” for the Gambino offense household. The tapes besides created tensenesss between Gotti and Gravano. The tapes showed Gotti depicting Gravano as excessively avaricious and attempted to border Sammy as the chief force behind the

slayings of DiBernardo. Milito and Dibono. Gravano decided to turn state’s grounds in 1991 and attest against Gotti. The instance was tried in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

The presiding justice was US District Judge Israel Leo Glasser. For the first clip of all time the jury was kept anon. and wholly sequestered in a Brooklyn Federal instance. The prosecuting officers. Andrew Maloney and John Gleeson. opening statements were given on February 12. 1992. They played tapes from bugs planted in the Ravenite Social Club and the flat above the nine that had Gotti discoursing Gambino household concern. violent deaths that he ordered. and showed the animus he had towards Big Paul which besides gave him a motivation for the violent death of the former caput of the household. On March 2. 1992. Sammy “The Bull” Gravano began his testimony. Gravano told the tribunal about Gotti’s ranking as the caput of the household. He besides told the tribunal about Gotti’s function in the Castellano and Bilotti hit and gave them every item of the hit. Gotti’s defence provided no existent aid. All of Albert Krieger’s. Gotti’s new defence lawyer. witnesses’ testimonies were dismissed except for one and that was the testimony of Gotti’s revenue enhancement lawyer.

The prosecution rested its instance on March 24 and John Gotti was convicted on all histories on April 2. John Gotti was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of word on June 23. 1992. James Fox. the manager of the New York City FBI. announced at a imperativeness conference. “The Teflon is gone. The Don is covered with Velcro. and all the charges stuck.

” Gotti was sent to function his sentence at the US Penitentiary in Marion. Illinois. Gotti finally died of pharynx malignant neoplastic disease in June of 2002. John Gotti would non be able to hold his funeral in the church due to the petition of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn. After the funeral. 100s of people followed the hearse which drove through Gotti’s old vicinity and past the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club.

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