John Joseph Gotti Jr. ( GOT-ee, Italian: [ˈɡɔtti]; October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002) was an American mafioso and boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. He ordered and helped to orchestrate the murder of Gambino boss Paul Castellano in December 1985 and took over the family shortly thereafter, leading what was described as the most powerful crime 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 a protégé of Aniello Dellacroce, the family's underboss, operating out of Ozone Park, Queens. Following the FBI's indictment of members of Gotti's crew for selling narcotics, Gotti began to fear that Castellano would kill him and his brother Gene for dealing drugs. As this fear continued to grow, and amidst growing dissent over the leadership of the family, Gotti arranged Castellano's murder.
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 "the Teflon Don" after three high-profile trials in the 1980s resulted in acquittals, though it was later revealed that the trials had been tainted by jury tampering, juror misconduct and witness intimidation. Law enforcement continued gathering evidence against Gotti, who reportedly earned between $5 million and $20 million per year as Gambino boss.
Gotti's underboss, Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, aided the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in convicting Gotti; in 1991, Gravano agreed to turn state's evidence and testify against Gotti after hearing the boss make disparaging remarks about him on a wiretap 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 and loansharking. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole and was transferred to United States Penitentiary, Marion, in Illinois.
Gotti died of throat cancer on June 10, 2002, at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri. According to Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, the former underboss of the Lucchese crime family, "what John Gotti did was the beginning of the end of Cosa Nostra."
John Gotti was born on October 27, 1940, in the New York City borough of the Bronx. He was the fifth of the thirteen children (two had died at birth) of John Joseph Gotti Sr. and Philomena "Fannie" DeCarlo. Both of Gotti's parents were born in New York, but it is presumed that his grandparents were from San Giuseppe Vesuviano, in the Naples province of Southern Italy, because his parents were married and lived there for some time.
Gotti was one of five brothers who became made men in the Gambino crime family: Eugene "Gene" Gotti was initiated before John due to the latter's incarceration, Peter Gotti was initiated under John's leadership in 1988 and Richard V. Gotti was identified as a caporegime (captain, or head of a "crew") by 2002. The fifth, Vincent, was initiated in 2002.
By the time he reached the age of 12, Gotti's family settled in East New York, Brooklyn, where he grew up in poverty alongside his brothers. His father worked irregularly as a day laborer. As an adult, Gotti came to resent his father for being unable to provide for his family. In school he had a history of truancy and bullying other students, and ultimately dropped out of Franklin K. Lane High School at the age of 16.
Gotti was involved in street gangs associated with New York mafiosi from the age of 12. When he was aged 14, he was attempting to steal a cement mixer from a construction site when it fell, crushing his toes; this injury left him with a permanent limp. After leaving school, Gotti devoted himself to working with the mob-associated Fulton-Rockaway Boys gang, where he met and befriended fellow future Gambino mobsters Angelo Ruggiero and Wilfred "Willie Boy" Johnson.
Gotti met his future wife, Victoria DiGiorgio, who was of half-Italian and half-Russian descent, at a bar in 1958. The couple were married on March 6, 1962. According to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) documents, DiGiorgio was married previously and had one child by that marriage. 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.
As early as his teens, Gotti was running errands for Carmine Fatico, a soldier in the Gambino family, then known as the Anastasia family under the leadership of boss Albert Anastasia. Gotti carried out truck hijackings at Idlewild Airport together with his brother Gene and friend Ruggiero. During this time, he befriended fellow mob hijacker and future Bonanno family boss Joseph Massino, and was given the nicknames "Black John" and "Crazy Horse." It was around this time that Gotti met his mentor, Gambino underboss Aniello "Neil" Dellacroce.
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 on bail two months later, this time for stealing a load of cigarettes worth $50,000 on the New Jersey Turnpike. Later that year, Gotti pleaded guilty to the hijacking of Northwest Airlines cargo trucks and was sentenced to three years at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary.
Gotti and Ruggiero were paroled in 1972 and returned to their old crew at the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club in Queens, still working under Fatico. Gotti took responsibility for managing the Bergin crew's illegal gambling operation, where he proved himself to be an effective enforcer. Fatico was indicted on loansharking 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 1957 Apalachin meeting, but Fatico named him acting captain of the Bergin crew soon after he was paroled. In this new role, Gotti frequently traveled to Dellacroce's headquarters at the Ravenite Social Club in Manhattan 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.
After Emanuel Gambino, nephew to boss Carlo Gambino, was kidnapped and murdered in 1973, Gotti was assigned to the hit team alongside Ruggiero and fellow enforcer Ralph Galione to search for the main suspect, gangster James McBratney. The three men botched their attempt to abduct McBratney at a Staten Island bar when they attempted to arrest him while posing as police detectives, 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. He was able to strike a plea bargain, however, with the help of attorney Roy Cohn, and was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for attempted manslaughter for his part in the hit. Following Gotti's death, he was also identified by Massino as the killer of Vito Borelli, a Gambino associate murdered in 1975.
Remo Franceschini, a member of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) from 1957 to 1991 who specialized in organized crime, 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."