John Joseph Gotti Jr. (years of life: October 27, 1940 - June 10, 2002) was an Italo-American gangster who became the boss of one of the most influential American Gambino mafia families in New York.
Biography
John Gotti was born in the South Bronx, New York, in the family of Fanny and J. Joseph Gotti. He was the fifth of 13 children in the family, and his father supported such a large family with his meager salary from his daily work.
John and his brothers grew up in poverty and turned to a criminal life at an early age. Gotti, aged 12, worked as an au pair in an underground club run by the head of Gambino's largest local organized crime family, Carmine Fatiko. Gotti quickly gained fame, becoming one of the largest borrowers of the criminal family and the protégé of the younger boss of the family, who later became his mentor - Gambino Aniello Dellacroce, operating in the Ozone Park area in Queens.
Under the influence of the Gambino family, Gotti became the captain of the Fulton Rockway gang. He participated in robberies and car thefts. Gotti went to Franklin C. Lane High School, leaving her at 16.
By the age of 18, Gotti was already associated with the gang of Fatiko. Although he tried to stay free from crime and worked in a coat factory and as a truck driver's assistant for some time, he soon returned to crime. John constantly participated in murders, conspiracies to commit murders, usury, trafficking in heroin, racketeering, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling, committing underground crimes, tax evasion, etc.
Crime "career"
Gotti began to engage in a full-fledged criminal career immediately after he contacted Carmine Fatiko. He and two of his brothers, Gene and Ruggiero, began hijacking trucks at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
He was arrested by the FBI in 1968 for “hijacking United.” Even when he went on bail, he was again arrested for hijacking on the New Jersey Highway. In those years, he spent about 3 years in Lewisburg Federal Prison.
He and his brother Ruggiero began working at the Bergin Club of Hunters and Fishers, led by Fatiko. Gotti began managing Bergin's illegal gambling. Soon he became an active KAPO (representative of one of the highest “steps” in the criminal ladder) of the Bergin team in 1972.
In 1973, Gotti was arrested for the murder of Irish-American gangster James McBratney, along with the team assigned to him by Carlo Gambino, for the murder of his nephew Emmanuel Gambino. He received 4 years in prison.
After his release in 1977, Gotti was consecrated to the Gambino family. Gotti practiced usury and financed drug deals.
In 1980, his youngest son, Frank, died in a minibike accident at the hands of a neighbor named John Favara. He later apologized to Gotti, but was soon abducted and allegedly killed. It was believed that he was killed by Gotti.
Around the same time, after the arrest of Castellano, Gotti became the boss of the Gambino family. Gotti was interested in overthrowing Castellano, reflecting on him as greedy and too authoritative.
In 1985, Dellacros died of cancer, and Castellano made Thomas Gambino the only acting boss, and Thomas Bilotti the youngest boss. Gotti began to conspire to kill him. Castellano was killed under Gotti in 1985.
Gotti was officially appointed the new head of the Gambino family in 1986. He appointed Frank DeCicco as his new deputy. The Gambino family was considered the most powerful American mafia family under his command.
In 1985, Gotti went to jail after his bail was canceled due to evidence of his involvement in the Piecyk intimidation case.
In 1987, Gotti dropped all charges and released his accomplices.
In 1992, after the FBI brought charges against Gotti during an organized crime campaign, he was arrested and finally convicted of murder and racketeering. He was then sentenced to life imprisonment when his new deputy Sammy Gravano testified against him..
John Gotti was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to federal prison Marion, Illinois. This time he did not have the possibility of parole. He made his eldest son, John Gotti Jr., an acting boss, who pleaded guilty in 1999.
Gotti remained in prison until 2002 and faced an attack from Walter Johnson, a cellmate. As a result, he was subjected to solitary confinement and left the cell only for an hour a day. There, 10 years after the announcement of the sentence of life imprisonment, he died of throat cancer.
Personal life
Gotti married Victoria Digigio in 1962, after the birth of their first daughter, Angela. They had four more children: Victoria, John, Frank and Peter. Frank died in an accident when he was only 12.
John Gotti died in 2002 at the United States Federal Prisoners Medical Center, Springfield, Missouri, from throat cancer. His funeral took place in a church institution; he was buried next to the grave of his son Frank.
