JOHN GOTTI CONVICTED OF 13 COUNTS OF MURDER-RACKETEERING APRIL 2 1992

John Gotti

A jury in New York finds mobster John Gotti, nicknamed the Teflon Don for his ability to elude conviction, guilty on 13 counts, including murder and racketeering. In the wake of the conviction, the assistant director of the FBI’s New York office, James Fox, was quoted as saying, “The don is covered in Velcro, and every charge stuck.”

On June 23 of that year, Gotti was sentenced to life in prison, dealing a significant blow to organized crime.

John Joseph Gotti, Jr., was born in the Bronx, New York, on October 27, 1940. He rose through the ranks of the Gambino crime family and seized power after ordering the December 1985 murder of then-boss Paul Castellano outside a Manhattan steakhouse.

Behind closed doors, Gotti was a ruthless, controlling figure. Publicly, he became a tabloid celebrity, famous for his swagger and expensive suits, which earned him another nickname, the Dapper Don.

During the 1980s, Gotti’s lawyer Bruce Cutler won him acquittals three times. A jury member in one of those trials was later convicted of accepting a bribe to acquit the mob boss. In December 1990, Gotti was arrested at the Ravenite Social Club, his headquarters in New York City’s Little Italy neighborhood.

“Sammy the Bull” Gravano

The ensuing trial, which started in January 1992, created a media frenzy. Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, one of Gotti’s top soldiers, made a deal with the government and testified in court against his boss. Gravano admitted to committing 19 murders, 10 of them sanctioned by Gotti.

In addition, prosecutors presented secret taped conversations that incriminated Gotti. After deliberating for 13 hours, the jury, which had been kept anonymous and sequestered during the trial, came back with a verdict on April 2, 1992, finding Gotti guilty on all counts.

The mob boss was sent to the U.S. Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, where he was held in virtual solitary confinement. On June 10, 2002, Gotti died of throat cancer at age 61 at a Springfield, Missouri, medical center for federal prisoners.

NYPost Photo Gallery

JOHN GOTTI THE TEFLON DON SENTENCED TO LIFE JUNE 23 1992

In 1992, Gotti was convicted of five murders, conspiracy to commit murder, racketeering, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling, extortion, tax evasion, and loansharking. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole and was transferred to United States Penitentiary, Marion.

Gotti, born and educated on the mean streets of New York City, became head of the powerful Gambino family after boss Paul Castellano was murdered outside a steakhouse in Manhattan in December 1985. The gang assassination, the first in three decades in New York, was organized by Gotti and his colleague Sammy “the Bull” Gravano.

The Gambino family was known for its illegal narcotics operations, gambling activities, and car theft. During the next five years, Gotti rapidly expanded his criminal empire, and his family grew into the nation’s most powerful Mafia family.

Despite wide publicity of his criminal activities, Gotti managed to avoid conviction several times, usually through witness intimidation. In 1990, however, he was indicted for conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Paul Castellano, and Gravano agreed to testify against him in a federal district court in exchange for a reduced prison sentence. While still imprisoned, Gotti died of throat cancer on June 10, 2002.

NEW PHOTOS FROM JOHN GOTTI JR'S BOOK

This photo from 1970 shows John Gotti holding his son Frankie Gotti and standing beside his wife Victoria Gotti with John (Junior) Gotti standing in front at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary. The photo is featured in John (Junior) Gotti's book "Shadow of My Father."

John Gotti holds son, Frankie. The boy was fatally mowed down on his bike at the age of 12 by a driver on March 18, 1980. The driver, a neighbor of the family, vanished months later.

John Gotti, with his wife, Victoria, and their firstborn, daughter Angel

This photo from the book "Shadow of My Father" by John (Junior) Gotti shows (l. to r.) unknown, Frankie DeCicco, George Remini, John Gotti, unknown and Mickey Boy Paradiso at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in 1970.

This photo featured in the John (Junior) Gotti book "Shadow of My Father" pictures (l. to r.) unknown, Frankie DeCicco, John Gotti, Angelo Ruggiero, unknown and unknown at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in 1969.

In this rare photo featured in the book "Shadow of My Father" by John (Junior) Gotti pictures (l. to r. back row) Peter Gotti, John (Junior) Gotti, John Gotti and (front row) Angel Gotti, Kimberly Albanese (Gotti) and Victoria Gotti at the wedding of John (Junior) Gotti in 1990.

Victoria, her eyes puffy from bawling, dances with Dad on her wedding day. 

The Gotti Children

JUNIOR GOTTI A SPOILED BRAT ACCORDING TO EX MOBSTER

 

He was a spoiled fella.

John “Junior” Gotti was a “self-mutilating” stunad with no street cred, according to his former best friend and mob turncoat John Alite.

“He’s like Kim Jong-un — a spoiled brat that took advantage of guys around us by his dad’s authority,” the former Gambino crime-family enforcer seethed to The Post.

“Ever since we were kids, he’s self-mutilating himself, burning himself with cigars,” Alite said in his first interview before a book by George Anastasia — “Gotti’s Rules: The Story of John Alite, Junior Gotti, and the Demise of the American Mafia” (Dey St. Books) — hits shelves on Jan. 27. READ MORE ON PAGE SIX

BUY THE BOOK WITH THIS LINK

NEW BOOK ON JOHN GOTTI BY JUNIOR GOTTI!

Gangsters Inc. has done it again with this exclusive scoop for our readers. Investigative reporter Peter Lance - recipient of five Emmy's - interviewed former Gambino mob boss John A. “Junior” Gotti extensively resulting in a 23-page foreword which is part of Gotti’s upcoming book “Shadow of My Father.”

You can read this exclusive book excerpt ON GANGSTERS INC

The excerpt contains new information about John Gotti Sr.’s suffering and death behind bars, Junior’s trials, and the truth about Gambino turncoat John Alite, who has a book coming out himself titled “Gotti’s Rules.”

Follow Gangsters Inc. on Twitter and Facebook.

THE GAMBINO CRIME FAMILY BOSSES

Carlo Gambino 1959-1976

The Gambino crime family is the most publicized family of the American Mafia. It’s one of “Five Families” based out of New York that dominates organized crime in the United States. The Gambino family got its name from previous boss Carlo Gambino who controlled the family from 1959 until his death in October 1976.

The family got its start in the late 1800’s as the Salvatore “Toto” D’Aquila gang of Manhattan who joined the established Morello gang. They were the first Italian American gang in New York, and possibly the entire United States.

"Big" Paul Castellano - 1976 - 1985

(D'Aquila/Mangano)

"The Howard Hughes of the Mob" and "Big Paulie" (or "PC" to his family), succeeded Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family, then the nation's largest Cosa Nostra family at the time. The unsanctioned assassination of Castellano by John Gotti would spark years of animosity between the Gambinos and the other New York crime families.

 Peter Clemenza "Leave the gun take the cannoli"

His nephew was actor Richard S. Castellano "Clemenza" from The Godfather.

John Gotti felt that Castellano was not a gangster - he did not think he was fit for the role of Don. He assembled a group of high level conspirators that included  Sammy "the Bull" Gravano, DeCicco, Leonard DiMaria, and Joseph Armone. 

An initial plan was to kill Castellano outside his house, but Gotti was afraid of federal agents there. Gravano suggested killing both Castellano and his driver, Billotti while they were eating breakfast at a diner. However, when Castellano announced a dinner meeting on December 16, Gotti and the other conspirators decided to kill him then. 

John Joseph Gotti, Jr. (October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002)

John Gotti was an American mobster who became the Boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City after the assassination of Paul Castellano. Gotti and his brothers grew up in poverty and turned to a life of crime at an early age. Operating out of the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens, Gotti quickly rose to prominence, becoming one of the crime family's biggest earners and a protégé of Gambino family underboss Aniello Dellacroce.

John Gotti after convictions in Marion prison

Gotti was incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois. He spent the majority of his sentence in effective solitary confinement, only allowed out of his cell for one hour a day. His final appeal was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1994.

 

Gambino acting boss John A. "Junior" Gotti

John Angelo Gotti III or "Junior" Gotti (born February 14, 1964) is a former New York City mobster who in the 1990s, according to law enforcement claims, was acting boss of the Gambino crime family of Cosa Nostra from 1992 to 1999 after his father, John J. Gotti, was sent to prison.