SpecialReport
Mob boss JohnGotti dead at 61
Armand Assanteposes with the trophy he garnered for outstanding lead actor ina miniseries or special for his portrayal of John Gotti in HBO's"Gotti" at the 49th annual Primetime Emmy Awards. UPI
SPRINGFIELD, Mo., (UPI) -- John Gotti, theformer head of the Gambino crime family who was serving a lifesentence for murder, racketeering and conspiracy, died Mondayin a maximum-security hospital in Springfield, Mo., from complicationsassociated with cancer, according to federal officials. Gottiwas 61.
Known as "Dapper Don" becauseof his impeccably tailored $2,000 designer suits, Gotti was onceconsidered to be the country's top mobster.
He was also known as "Teflon Don"because of his ability to beat every case federal prosecutorsbrought against him as crime boss, until his under boss, Salvatore"Sammy the Bull" Gravano, testified against him andin 19 other organized crime trials.
Gotti was convicted in 1992 on all 14 countsagainst him, including murder, conspiracy, racketeering and taxevasion, and was imprisoned at the federal penitentiary in Marion,Ill., where he spent 21 hours a day in a 6-by-8-foot cell.
He developed throat cancer in 1998. In January,he was transferred to a prison hospital in Springfield, Mo.
Gotti rose from the relative obscurity of being a small-time Gambinocrew chief to boss of the nation's most powerful crime familyin what some have described as a preemptive strike against thetop mobster in New York City.
As he watched from a car a block away, threeof his triggermen in trench coats gunned down Paul "Big Paul"Castellano in December 1985, at the height of rush hour outsidea Manhattan steakhouse.
In the following weeks, mobsters were observedholding umbrellas for Gotti, and kissing him in a display of respectreserved for the boss of bosses, federal authorities said.
His brother Gene and five others were accusedof racketeering and conspiracy charges stemming from their daysin a violent Gambino wrecking crew. They each faced 40 years inprison. All seven were acquitted on March 13, 1987 by a jury.
The verdict gave Gotti an air of invincibility.He returned triumphant to his modest home in the predominantlyItalian, middle-class section of Howard Beach in Queens, N.Y.,and was feted as a neighborhood hero. It was his second courtroomvictory in less than a year.
Only months earlier, a refrigerator mechanicwho told police in 1984 that Gotti beat him up and stole his $300paycheck, suddenly became silent when asked to testify againstGotti. Prosecutors said he lost his memory when he learned ofGotti's exulted status in the Gambino crime family and the barrel-chestedmobster went free.
Gotti came a long way from the middle-classBrooklyn neighborhood of New York where he was born on Oct. 27,1940, the eldest of five sons of John and Fannie Gotti. He droppedout of high school at age 16.
In his early years, Gotti belonged to theFulton-Rockaway gang whose members dressed in purple or blackoutfits, officials said. He hung out in poolrooms, placing bets.
Soon after his first arrest on burglarycharges in 1958, Gotti allegedly became involved in organizedcrime. Law enforcement officials said his duties as a gangsterinvolved him in gambling, hijacking and killing.
He served a year in prison in 1966 for unlawfulentry and three years, beginning in 1967, for hijacking two trucksfrom John F. Kennedy International Airport. He also was sentencedto two years starting in 1975 for trying to kill a man thoughtto have kidnapped Carlo Gambino's son.
It was the latter crime that earned himformal membership in the Gambino crime family.
The Gambino family named for founder CarloGambino was loosely portrayed in Mario Puzo's novel, "TheGodfather," later made into an Oscar-winning movie.
Gotti, officially a salesman for a plumbingfirm, typified the Hollywood image of a rough-and-tumble mobster.
He was said to be an incurable flirt whoheld doors for women, including the federal prosecutor who triedto convict him of running a racket that dealt in loan-sharking,hijacking and murder.
At the family home in Howard Beach, Queens,the Gottis raised five children.
Gotti was devastated when one son, Frank,died on March 18, 1979, when a car driven by a neighbor struckhis son's motorbike. The neighbor vanished four months later.
It was alleged that Gotti continued to runthe family from prison via his youngest son, John A. "Junior"Gotti Jr.
However, the younger Gotti was convictedin 1999 of bribery, extortion, gambling and fraud, and was sentencedto 70 months and a $1 million fine. He had pleaded guilty to thecharges. Had he been convicted at a trial, he could have faceda prison sentence of 15 years.
Gotti's brother, Peter, was among 17 Gambinofamily members indicted last week in New York City for racketeering,extortion, wire-fraud, loan sharking, operating illegal gamblingbusinesses, money laundering and witness tampering. He pleadedinnocent and is being held without bail.