Supervixen
06-10-2002, 10:56 AM
NEW YORK (June 10) - John Gotti, who swaggered,
schemed and murdered his way to the pinnacle of
organized crime in America only to be toppled by
secret FBI tapes and a turncoat mobster's
testimony, died at a prison hospital Monday while
serving a life sentence, law enforcement sources
told The Associated Press. He was 61.
The former Mafia boss died in Springfield, Mo., said
the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity. He
had suffered from throat cancer and had been
moved to the prison hospital from the
maximum-security federal prison in Marion, Ill.
Once known the ''Dapper Don'' for his fine
double-breasted suits and the ''Teflon Don'' after a
series of acquittals, Gotti was sentenced to life in
1992 for racketeering and six killings. His victims
included ''Big Paul'' Castellano, whom he succeeded
as boss of New York's Gambino crime family in 1985.
Gotti reigned for six years as the nation's most
high-profile mobster, passing himself off as a
plumbing supply salesman while strutting about in
$2,000 Brioni suits and sneering at law enforcers
who kept trying to put him behind bars. Some crime
chroniclers called him the most important gangster
since Al Capone, a comparison Gotti did not
discourage.
When he finally was convicted by a federal jury in
Brooklyn, James Fox, the FBI agent in charge in New
York, said: ''The Teflon is gone. The don is covered
with Velcro.''
In the end, Gotti's leadership of the Gambinos led
to the loss of power and money for the crime family,
because his high profile attracted so much attention
from prosecutors.
His undoing was Salvatore ''Sammy Bull'' Gravano,
his onetime closest confidant and underboss who
turned government witness.
When Gotti moved to take over the Gambinos, they
were the biggest and most powerful of the city's
five Mafia families, with 300-plus ''made'' members,
2,000 ''associates'' and fingers in every pie,
including the garment district, garbage hauling,
construction, extortion and loan sharking.
He took charge by murdering Castellano, who had
angered Gotti and others with, among other things,
his ban on drug trafficking. By some accounts, Gotti
feared Castellano was plotting to eliminate him, so
he carried out a pre-emptive strike.
Gotti and Gravano watched from half a block away
as a hit squad in matching raincoats ambushed
Castellano and his driver outside a Manhattan
steakhouse on Dec. 16, 1985. They then cruised
brazenly past the scene to make sure the pair were
dead.
Gotti's seizure of power made him a criminal
celebrity. He appeared on the cover of Time
magazine and was glamorized as a gangster the
law couldn't bring down.
Already in 1984, he had walked free when when he
was charged with attacking a motorist over a minor
traffic dispute. The alleged victim refused to identify
him in court, inspiring a tabloid headline, ''I
FORGOTTI.'' In 1987, Gotti beat a federal rap in
Brooklyn by bribing a juror, and in 1990, another
apparent payoff helped win his acquittal in the
attempted murder of a union official.
Embarrassed federal authorities finally made gains
through electronic surveillance, planting bugs in
Gotti's Manhattan headquarters, his social club and
an apartment that Gotti borrowed for private
discussions.
In 1990, FBI agents arrested Gotti, Gravano and
crony Frank Locascio on charges of racketeering
and murder, the key charge being the Castellano
rubout.
At pretrial hearings, prosecutors played tapes of
Gotti delivering profane, egotistic tirades about
''whacking'' people and other mob topics. He said a
crony was murdered because he ''didn't come in
when I called.''
Weeks before the 1992 trial, Gravano cut a deal
and became the star witness.
During the trial, Gotti smirked, preened and feigned
boredom as Gravano explained the tapes and
admitted his own participation in 19 murders.
Prosecutors called him a more important witness
than Joe Valachi, who had first exposed La Cosa
schemed and murdered his way to the pinnacle of
organized crime in America only to be toppled by
secret FBI tapes and a turncoat mobster's
testimony, died at a prison hospital Monday while
serving a life sentence, law enforcement sources
told The Associated Press. He was 61.
The former Mafia boss died in Springfield, Mo., said
the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity. He
had suffered from throat cancer and had been
moved to the prison hospital from the
maximum-security federal prison in Marion, Ill.
Once known the ''Dapper Don'' for his fine
double-breasted suits and the ''Teflon Don'' after a
series of acquittals, Gotti was sentenced to life in
1992 for racketeering and six killings. His victims
included ''Big Paul'' Castellano, whom he succeeded
as boss of New York's Gambino crime family in 1985.
Gotti reigned for six years as the nation's most
high-profile mobster, passing himself off as a
plumbing supply salesman while strutting about in
$2,000 Brioni suits and sneering at law enforcers
who kept trying to put him behind bars. Some crime
chroniclers called him the most important gangster
since Al Capone, a comparison Gotti did not
discourage.
When he finally was convicted by a federal jury in
Brooklyn, James Fox, the FBI agent in charge in New
York, said: ''The Teflon is gone. The don is covered
with Velcro.''
In the end, Gotti's leadership of the Gambinos led
to the loss of power and money for the crime family,
because his high profile attracted so much attention
from prosecutors.
His undoing was Salvatore ''Sammy Bull'' Gravano,
his onetime closest confidant and underboss who
turned government witness.
When Gotti moved to take over the Gambinos, they
were the biggest and most powerful of the city's
five Mafia families, with 300-plus ''made'' members,
2,000 ''associates'' and fingers in every pie,
including the garment district, garbage hauling,
construction, extortion and loan sharking.
He took charge by murdering Castellano, who had
angered Gotti and others with, among other things,
his ban on drug trafficking. By some accounts, Gotti
feared Castellano was plotting to eliminate him, so
he carried out a pre-emptive strike.
Gotti and Gravano watched from half a block away
as a hit squad in matching raincoats ambushed
Castellano and his driver outside a Manhattan
steakhouse on Dec. 16, 1985. They then cruised
brazenly past the scene to make sure the pair were
dead.
Gotti's seizure of power made him a criminal
celebrity. He appeared on the cover of Time
magazine and was glamorized as a gangster the
law couldn't bring down.
Already in 1984, he had walked free when when he
was charged with attacking a motorist over a minor
traffic dispute. The alleged victim refused to identify
him in court, inspiring a tabloid headline, ''I
FORGOTTI.'' In 1987, Gotti beat a federal rap in
Brooklyn by bribing a juror, and in 1990, another
apparent payoff helped win his acquittal in the
attempted murder of a union official.
Embarrassed federal authorities finally made gains
through electronic surveillance, planting bugs in
Gotti's Manhattan headquarters, his social club and
an apartment that Gotti borrowed for private
discussions.
In 1990, FBI agents arrested Gotti, Gravano and
crony Frank Locascio on charges of racketeering
and murder, the key charge being the Castellano
rubout.
At pretrial hearings, prosecutors played tapes of
Gotti delivering profane, egotistic tirades about
''whacking'' people and other mob topics. He said a
crony was murdered because he ''didn't come in
when I called.''
Weeks before the 1992 trial, Gravano cut a deal
and became the star witness.
During the trial, Gotti smirked, preened and feigned
boredom as Gravano explained the tapes and
admitted his own participation in 19 murders.
Prosecutors called him a more important witness
than Joe Valachi, who had first exposed La Cosa