John Gotti was an American mobster and crime boss who, at the height of his power (after adjusting for inflation). The media called him “Teflon Don” because he kept getting away from federal charges for his crimes. In 1992, he was found guilty of several federal crimes. He was in the order of the New York City-based Gambino crime family.
John Gotti Income and Wealth
The Gambino family made millions of dollars yearly through loan sharking, construction, gambling, carjacking, and extortion. The “Underboss” book says that the Gambino crime family made $500 million a year. Sammy, the Bull Gravano, said in the same book that he and Gotti both made $5 million in a typical year and $10–15 million in many years.
John Gotti Early Years
John Gotti was born on October 27, 1940, in the Bronx neighborhood of New York City. His full name is John Joseph Gotti Jr. He was the fifth of his ten siblings born, and they all grew up in poverty. His parents were born in New York, but his grandparents were from a town in Italy near Naples called San Giuseppe Vesuviano.
Gotti didn’t like that his father worked as a day laborer and wasn’t willing to work harder to make more money for the family. As a teen, he didn’t go to school very often, and when he did, he was a bully. He started breaking the law and joining street gangs when he was twelve.
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When he was 14, he hurt his foot while trying to steal a cement mixer. All of his toes were broken when the machine fell on them. This caused him to walk limp for the rest of his life. He went to Franklin K. Lane High School for a while, but when he was sixteen, he dropped out and joined the Fulton-Rockaway Boys, a gang with ties to the mafia.
Angelo Ruggiero, who later joined the Gambino mob, and Wilfred “Willie Boy” Johnson, who later worked for the FBI, were gang members.
John Gotti Early Mobster Days
During his teenage years, Gotti ran errands for the leader of the Gambino Family, Carmine Fatico, and stole trucks from what is now the John F. Kennedy Airport. During this time, he became friends with Joseph Massino, who would become the boss of the Bonanno family, and met Aniello “Neil” Dellacroce, who would become his mentor.
Gotti was caught in 1968 when he stole trucks from the airport. He got out on bail, but then he stole a lot of cigarettes and was arrested again. He admitted to the charges and was given the same sentence as his friend Ruggiero: three years in the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary.
Gotti was put in charge of the mob soon after he escaped prison. When freed in 1972, they returned to working with the Gambino Family. Gotti was one of the people on the hit squad that was sent to kill James McBratney, the main suspect in the murder of Carlo Gambino’s nephew.
When things didn’t go as planned, they killed McBratney in public. This led to Gotti being found and charged with murder. With the help of the well-known lawyer Roy Cohn, he worked out a deal that gave him only four years in prison.
John Gotti Captain
Carlo Gambino died in 1976, and when he did, he chose Paul Castellano to be his successor instead of Dellacroce, who was his second-in-command but was in prison at the time and couldn’t argue with the choice. Gotti was set free in 1977 and quickly rose to the mob’s top.
He was in charge of the Bergin crew, which was Dellacroce’s most profitable crew, while Gotti was in order. At the end of 1978, he took part in the Lufthansa Heist, known as the most significant cash theft that has never been found.
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Gotti’s 12-year-old son died on a family friend’s minibike in 1980. The death was ruled an accident, but a year later, the family friend was taken and thought to have been killed.
In 1984, Castellano was charged in a RICO case, and Gotti and two other people were chosen to take over as acting bosses. Gotti had always been loyal to Dellacroce, but he was already planning to take over with other mob members and the Families.
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After Dellacroce died of cancer in 1985 and Castellano changed his plans for who would take over, Gotti decided to get rid of Castellano. He talked to people from the other Five Families in his generation because going straight to the bosses would have been too risky. The hit happened on December 16, and Gotti was officially named the new boss early the following year.
John Gotti Gambino Family Leader and Guilty
Gotti was still facing RICO charges in the middle of the 1980s, but his trial was put off out of fear that the publicity about another family’s bombings would taint the jury. By the time Gotti’s trial started to pick a jury in August 1986, the Gambino family had already paid a juror $60,000 to get an acquittal or hung jury.
Gotti was cleared of all charges the following year. When he faced criminal charges, the media called him “Teflon Don” because it seemed like the justice system was on his side, and the authorities never stuck. Gotti insisted that the group meet once a week at the Ravenite Social Club, which the FBI bugged.
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This was his downfall. Even though he was not found guilty of assault in 1989, he was arrested in 1990 and charged with racketeering, five murders, tax evasion, bribery, and loansharking. Gotti was found guilty on all charges in April 1992 and turned himself in to the federal government in December 1992. The FBI tapes succeeded in causing a rift between Gotti and Gravano, Gotti’s second-in-command, and Gravano eventually agreed to testify against Gotti.
John Gotti’s Net Worth
John Gotti was an American mobster and crime boss who, at the height of his power, was worth $30 million (after adjusting for inflation). The media called him “Teflon Don” because he kept getting away from federal charges for his crimes. In 1992, he was found guilty of several federal crimes. He was in the order of the New York City-based Gambino crime family.
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