On this day, 23rd June, Mafia boss John Gotti, who was nicknamed the “Teflon Don” after escaping unscathed from several trials during the 1980s, was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty on 14 accounts of conspiracy to commit murder and racketeering.
Moments after his sentence was read in a federal courthouse in Brooklyn, hundreds of Gotti’s supporters stormed the building and overturned and smashed cars before being forced back by police reinforcements.
John Gotti was born October 27, 1940, in New York City in the Bronx, and grew up in a life of organised crime. After serving time for hijacking trucks and a revenge slaying, Gotti wrested control of the Gambino crime family in 1985. Gotti, who was educated on the mean streets of New York City, became head of the powerful Gambino family after boss Paul Castellano was murdered outside a steakhouse in Manhattan in December 1985.
The gang assassination, the first in three decades in New York, was organised by Gotti and his colleague “Sammy the Bull” Gravano. The Gambino family was known for its illegal narcotics operations, gambling activities, and car theft.
In 1985, the FBI had gathered enough evidence to place Gotti and Dellacroce under federal indictments for racketeering. Other associates were indicted on heroin trafficking charges. The drug charges infuriated Castellano, who punished illegal drug dealing with a penalty of death. As captain, Gotti knew he would be held responsible for the transgressions of his crew. To smooth over the situation with Castellano, Gotti asked Dellacroce to speak to the boss on his behalf.
But before an understanding could be reached, Dellacroce died of cancer. All goodwill between Castellano and Gotti dissolved when the boss didn’t attend Dellacroce’s funeral. Gotti saw the behaviour as disrespectful and, according to later testimony, he decided to take action. Two weeks later, on December 16, 1985, Castellano was gunned down while eating at the Sparks Steak House in Manhattan. Gotti was made boss soon after.
By August of 1986, John Gotti had become something of a local hero and icon in his Howard Beach neighbourhood. When it came time to face trial for the racketeering charges, Gotti and the other defendants were acquitted of their crimes. FBI officials later discovered that the jury foreman fixed the verdict. It was a crushing defeat for law enforcement officials, and Gotti became the mob’s symbol of invincibility, earning the name “Teflon Don” because charges against him “just wouldn’t stick.”
During the next five years, Gotti rapidly expanded his criminal empire, and his family grew into the nation’s most powerful Mafia family. Despite wide publicity of his criminal activities, Gotti managed to avoid conviction several times, usually through witness intimidation. In 1990, however, he was indicted for conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Paul Castellano and was arrested on a variety of charges in December 1990 and found guilty on multiple counts following the testimony of former associate Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano.
The FBI then turned the conviction of Gotti into an organisational crusade. After pressuring the Gambino family’s new underboss, Sammy Gravano into testifying against Gotti, the mob leader was finally convicted of murder and racketeering on April 2, 1992. It is estimated that, while John Gotti acted as boss, the Gambino family made more than $500 million in revenue from illegal activities such as gambling, drug trafficking, extortion, and stock fraud.
As a repeat offender, Gotti was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and sent to federal prison in Marion, Illinois. According to federal prosecutors, after his imprisonment, he appointed his eldest son, John “Junior” Gotti, as acting boss of the Gambino family. In 1999, his son pled guilty to racketeering charges and was sentenced to six years in prison.
While Gotti served his time, the Fatico crew moved from East New York to a storefront near Gotti’s home in Queens. The group’s headquarters was disguised as a non-profit organisation called the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club. After his release from prison in 1971, Gotti was designated as the temporary leader of Fatico’s gang while the captain faced loan-sharking charges.
John Gotti remained in jail until June 10, 2002, when he died in the federal prison hospital from complications with head and neck cancer.
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