John Gotti

A detailed Summary of John Gotti

If ever there was an incubator for crime it was the Italian Harlem tenements of the South Bronx. In one of those crowded dirty apartments, a young John Gotti seeked an impoverished existence with his parents and eleven sisters and brothers. His father rarely worked and then, only at menial jobs, risking the money that the family did have on gambling.

Eventually the family moved to central Brooklyn, which was known as East New York. In East New York, for a poor boy like John Gotti with nothing in the way of prospects, the Cosa Nostra represented something to which he could realistic aspire to gain the power and respect he craved.

He started as many young boys did, running errands for the gangsters, molding himself into a young bully with a future. His first major incident with the police occurred when he tried to steal a cement mixer and it fell on his feet, an injury that affected his gait for the rest of his life.

He quit school at sixteen and rose to leadership in a local street gang of thieves called the Fulton-Rockaway Boys, named after two streets in their neighborhood. At an early age he exerted his bad temper, dominance and readiness to engage in fistfights. These were just the right characteri

Fortunately for Gotti, Carlo gave the McBratney case to his talented lawyer Roy Cohn who was able to get the charge reduced to manslaughter. While Gotti was in jail in 1976, Carlo Gambino had a heart attack and was dying. Carlo made a decision that was to create problems for the crime family for almost a decade-he named his brother-in-law Paul Castellano as his successor.

Sammy told Angelo that he would see how DeCicco and Robert DiBernardo would react to such a proposal before he made a firm commitment. After DeCicco agreed, the three key players were committed: Gotti, Gravano and DeCicco. DiBernardo, a very rich and influential man with strong Teamster connections, signed on shortly afterwards.

not be denied. But to the public he was a popular and likable guy -- the way Al Capone was revered on the streets of Chicago in 1930. Gotti was very media astute, a fact which confounded his enemies in law enforcement.

Members of the Fist contacted influential men in three other Cosa Nostra families -Luchese, Colombo, and Bonanno -- and asked for support if "something happened" to Paul. They approached men they regarded as the next generation of leaders, because most of the current leaders had fallen victim to the RICO (racketeering law) sword and were awaiting trial and facing life in prison without parole. For obvious reasons, Paul's friend Chin Gigante was not contacted.

Now Gotti needed someone of the older generation, a traditional capo in the family. Joseph Armone fit the bill. By getting Armone to join the Fist, they reduced the possibility of a civil war within the family.

With both Fatico and Dellacroce in the slammer, John Gotti was handed a lot of new responsibilities. For one thing, he gained incredible visibility by reporting directly to Carlo Gambino while Fatico was in jail. Before that opportunity, Carlo did not particularly value Gotti's crowd in Ozone Park. To the sophisticated Carlo, they were just a bunch of hotheaded thugs. This was a chance for Gotti to show himself in a different light.

As a student of Machiavelli, Gotti had a good sense of whom in his organization to put into positions of power. DeCicco became his under boss and he made Angelo head of the Bergin crew. Sammy officially took over all of Toddo's operations. Sammy was a very powerful man, but he preferred to remain a shadowy background figure, while Gotti and DeCicco visibly ran the show. Joseph Armone, the elderly capo who had become a member of the Fist, was given new sources of income. And consigliere Joe Gallo remained in his position under Gotti as he had under Paul Castellano.

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Approximate Word count = 2311
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History