Why John Gotti Sr. Chose to Embark on His Criminal Life - Term Paper Example

Gotti Sr Running Head: Crim John Gotti CRIMINOLOGY: JOHN GOTTI SR.- THEORIES TO WHY JOHN GOTTI SR. CHOSE TO EMBARK ON HIS CRIMINAL LIFE Gotti Sr. 2 Abstract John Gotti Sr.’s criminal exploits was a high watermark in the history of gangsterism Mafia style in America . It was because he clawed his way to the top of the Gambino crime family leaving behind litters of blodied bodies not to mention captivating the public with his stylish, suave and dapper persona and his good looks bedecked with glamour. His propensity for racketeering and other criminal acts made him the favorite target of FBI. This paper uses different criminology theories to explain the source of Gotti’s wanton criminality. Introduction Throughout the history of USA, American society had been shocked, terrified and shaken out of their sensibilities by crimes of violence that produced bloodbaths of unrivaled proportions perpetrated by organized crime syndicates, ruthless gangs or individual serial killers. The media went on frenzy to sensationalize these grisly, gruesome crimes. Newspapers and TV and radio stations compete with tabloids to heighten the aura of these crimes and titillate the public with the colorful lives of these criminals. The cinema picked up the frenzy to romanticize and dramatize the exploits and the lives of these criminals. Thus, the American film audience was inundated with the biopics of such ‘renowned’ criminals as Al Capone in “Scarface” and “The Untouchables”; Billy the Kid in “Billy the Kid”; John Dillinger in “Dillinger”; Bonnie and Clyde Barrow in “Bonnie and Clyde”; Benjamin Siegel in “Bugsy”. The list goes on and on but all the mayhem and the perpetuation of crimes as myths that excite and turn criminals into celebrities reached its crescendo with the Godfather trilogy, which was based on the criminal exploits of the Sicilian Mafia in America(Denzin 2002,p.149). Even Al Capone and John Gotti Sr. made it to the cover of Time Magazine ( Raab,2006,p. 397). Both media and cinema competed to give America a psychological analyses of the factors that pushed these felons to commit the dastardly acts that gained them notoriety. Acting as Gotti Sr. 3 criminologists, the lawbreakers were almost always portrayed as victims themselves who unfortunately received virulent, tainted genetic or mutated strains from their ascendants or were abused children who never knew love but only enmity and hatred from a disorganized family or were deeply traumatized by inconceivable events that left them psychologically scarred and mentally deranged or they were unpremeditatedly thrown into the company of vicious, depraved and evil men during their tender years or simply that they were the end results of an iniquitous and perverse environment . John Gotti Sr. and the Theories Which Explained Why He Embarked on a Criminal Life John Gotti was regarded by many as the most memorable and important ‘godfather’ in American crime. He was also dubbed as the last of the powerful ‘godfathers’ in American history. In 1985 he wrested by dint of sheer audacity and by force of violence the helm of the Gambino crime family, the most powerful Mafia organization in America. Ruthless and brutal, everyone who stood in his way like his own boss Paul Castellano and the latter’s protégé Thomas Billotti were murdered in cold blood (New York Magazine 1988,p.55) Those who earned his wrath like his son Frank’s killer disappeared without a trace and those who must pay with their dear lives for transgression to the family like the Gambino nephew butcher cum kidnapper James McBratney must expect no mercy (Nash 2004,p.616) As much as Gotti was relentless in pursuing the crimes he wanted accomplished such as racketeering, murder and hijacking, he also charmed and captivated the public with his suave, flamboyant and stylish mien as well as his penchant for natty and expensive outfits that celebrated him as a Hollywood-style gangster of the first degree worthy of his Time magazine front cover foray (Landers 2003,p.1958) Gotti Sr. 4 How could this specimen of male glamour and graciousness allowed himself to be caught in a web of criminality and debauchery? This question is almost on everybody’s lips. But criminologists believe his life is worth analyzing. The Positivist School has always explained criminal behavior as an offshoot of one’s environmental conditions which control the would-be criminal (Moyer 2001,p.30). And certainly Gotti grew up in a neighborhood i.e. Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, NY that teemed with nefarious activities perpetrated by the tough Santoro brothers and had to walk along streets lorded over by goons like Bugsy Siegel, “Chicken Head” Gurino and “Kid Twist” Reles. The rule in the neighborhood was survival of the fittest as everywhere lurked the tough and the rough so that parish priest Anthony Barretta was heard to comment “You had to be two-fisted in order to survive and the younger ones always followed the older ones and that’s the way it was” (New York Magazine 1986,p.30). Gotti’s older 5 brothers were not exactly leaders by example but bad examples to a young, impressionable mind with their roguish ways. The young boy’s initiation to gangsterism via his involvement and membership with the Fulton-Rockaway street gang caused his suspension from school during his eight grade and this pulled him further down the abyss of hopelessness. Soon he was involved with gang wars against the New Lots Boys and the Liberty Park Tots. Thus his initiation to violence. His closeness and friendship to Carmine and Danny Fatico, who belonged to the notorious Gambino family and his tutelage in the ways of Mafia activities sealed his fate. Soon he was into gambling operations, hijacking and racketeering and the brushes with the police. This positivist theory that argue that Gotti was controlled by his environment meant that this kind of environment predestined him to become a criminal. Because Gotti had already embraced the Gambino crime family as his own social environment, the cultural values of the crime 5 syndicate defined and governed Gotti’s behavior. The positivist sociological tradition theory asserts that Gotti’s Gambino family had formed its “own common value system that teaches.. the things” that should be striven for in life and the approved way in which they can be achieved (Burke 2005,p.11). In other words, power, money and material things should be the ends of the organization and the means to achieve them is through whatever means available and not excluding violence and criminality. This theory went on to state that criminality is not the targeted aim but that when push comes to shove and there is no more “reasonable access to the socially approved means, people will attempt to find some alternative way, including criminal behavior- to resolve the pressure to achieve” (Burke 2005,p.11). Thus, Gotti constantly displayed a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde behavior. He was dashing, urbane and gentlemanly when not pressured to resolve the dilemma he found himself into but transformed himself into the conscienceless beast when trapped into difficult predicaments that require immediate resolutions. Similar to the positivist theory is the behavioural learning theories which state that “all behaviour is learned from an external stimulus” and which is predicated on the concept of conditioned learning by which criminal behaviour can be predicted. Behavioural learning theory had been intertwined with the theory on cognitive learning theory to form the cognitive behavioural therapeutic theory which affirms the principle that “behaviour is learned and that structured behavioural programme of rewards and reinforcements can help human beings to learn new behaviours”. This can be further linked to the social learning theory which asserts that “ the use of role models would be an effective learning tool for modelling new behaviour” and that the “rewarding or reinforcing of a stimulus-response pattern conditions the individual to respond in a 6 particular way”( Higham 2006,p.191). The combinations of all these theories together with the positivist theory succinctly answer the question as to what propelled John Gotti Sr. to embark on his criminal career. The external stimuli were all his training with gangsterism with the neighborhood thugs, with the Fulton-Rockaway gang and with his association with the Gambino crime syndicate which opened his eyes to all the violence and the savagery all of which taught him that these are in the natural order of things. It should also be mentioned that the accident whereby he lost one toe and made him limp throughout his whole life was another stimulus which made him bitter to the world and contributed to his antisocial personality disorder. Gotti no doubt about it absorbed all the behavioural patterns from the behavioral desiderata held essential in the Gambino family. He looked upon the godfather Carlo Gambino with all his wealth and power as his role model and aspired to reach the top by hook or by crook, even if he had to commit murders. He knew that there was an unwritten programme of rewards and reinforcements and that the only way for him to scratch himself to the top of the Gambino hierarchy was to respond to every stimuli even if such response meant that he would sell his soul to the devil. He knew that the reward was worth all the moral perversion and that consistency of depraved and corrupt behaviour that satisfied the big bosses can only lead him to the top of the hierarchy at the most opportune time. The fact that his killing of James McBratney, he who kidnapped and killed the godfather’s nephew satisfied the big bosses who vowed to reward him with the ‘good work’ convinced Gotti that such behaviour that gratify those in power were the ‘right behaviour’ and such should be made as the measuring standard as to what is the proper 7 behaviour. The outside world may call it criminal behaviour but to him it was proper and natural behaviour and the only way for him to reach his ideals and aspirations. Conclusion John Gotti’s life was a life of abject criminality. Both of his parents displayed no perverse nature. He was never abused as a child and his parents can never be accused of being parentally remiss with their obligations despite the poverty. But both failed to give him the right environment which would make him invulnerable to criminality. This is the theory of the positivist school which pointed to environment as the molder and controller of behaviour. Together with the behavioural learning theory and the cognitive learning theory both of which form the cognitive behavioural therapeutic theory as well as the social learning theory, Gotti’s criminal behaviour is perfectly explained. WORKS CITED Burke, RH (2005). An introduction to criminological theory. Willan Publishing Denzin, N. (2002). The reading race. SAGE. Higham, P (2006). Social work. SAGE Landers, S (2003). The book of John Gotti. Lulu Moyer, I. (2001). Criminological theories. SAGE Nash, JR (2004). The great pictorial history of world crime. History Inc. New York Magazine (1988). The annals of Manhattan crime. New York Media, Nov. 14, 1988 New York Magazine (1986). The new godfather. New York Media, June 23, 1986 Raab, S. (2006). Five families. Robson. Read More