Growing up in central brooklyn with nothing to look foward to Gotti seeked out the Cosa Nostra. Gotti was power hungry and needed respect he felt that he could gain them both by being a part of the Cosa Nostra. He started as many young boys did, running errands for the gangsters, molding himself into a young bully with a future. His first major problems with the police occurred when he tried to steal a cement mixer and it fell on his feet this injury affected his future 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

Two important things happened in his life to significantly lift his status in the Cosa Nostra. The first was that his boss Carmine Fatico faced a loansharking indictment, so Gotti became Fatico's man on the street to keep him informed about what was happening on the street. The second was that Gotti met Neil Dellacroce, an important under boss to Carl Gambino who was the mob boss at the time. Neil took care of Carlo's violent dirty work from a headquarters in Little Italy's Mulberry Street called the Ravenite Social Club. Neil, who was disappointed that his only son Armond became a drug addict, saw in Gotti a young prospect who was a younger version of his own violent self. These two clicked really well. Like Gotti, he had a weakness for gambling and one such episode got him in trouble with the IRS. Neil ended up in jail for at least a year.

Carlo had lost a nephew in 1973 to a kidnapper who collected the $100K ransom and then murdered the boy. Gotti was given the opportunity to get revenge for Carlo. The kidnapper was a man named James McBratney. Gotti, Angelo Ruggiero and another one of the Bergin soldiers dressed up as cops and shot McBratney in a pub in front of several witnesses. Angelo was arrested first and later, the police also arrested Gotti for the murder. Fortunately for Gotti, Carlo gave the McBratney case to his talented lawyer Roy Cohn who was able to get the charge reduced to manslaughter.

The seperation did nothing to strengthen the family and ultimately brought about the assassination of Paul in 1985 shortly after Neil's death. Paul sought to demote Gotti and his men and promote his own favorites. This was just another chance for Gotti to step up and show he was not the kind of guy to get bullied and listen to what people tell him, but more the type to just do what he wants to get on top. The assassination of Paul Castellano was a brilliant idea on the part of Gotti, not just in the way the attack was done, but also in the preparation of the Gambino family and other crime families for the event itself. When John Gotti made his decision that he was going to eliminate Paul, he idmeadatly determined who he would recruit to join him in the conspiracy that was called the Fist. This name was used when talking about the assanation like a code word and only people in it knew what was ment when the fist was talked about. Gotti had to be very careful because if in trying to recruit other key members of the Gambino family, word got back to Paul, and Gotti himself would be sanctioned and executed. John was trying to bulid his own mini mob something he could lead and give orders to insteed of just sitting around and taking them. First Sammy was approached by Angelo. Sammy realized that Castellano would never survive an a

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1855
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)