John Gotti as One of the Most Powerful Organized Criminals - Essay Example

John Gotti was usually called “The Teflon Don” and “The Dapper Don” by the media.

            Gotti was short-tempered and easily angered.  Gotti always wanted to be a gangster as he saw them in his neighborhood every day. His first step towards this was when he joined local mobsters along with his brothers. He quit school at fifteen and joined a teenage gang, Fulton-Rockaway Boys. Gotti was arrested five times between 1957 and 1961.

            John Gotti’s criminal career started with the Gambino family fencing stolen goods from the John F. Kennedy International Airport then known as Idlewild Airport. In 1978 in the month of February Gotti was arrested for the United hijacking and two months later while Gotti was on bail he was arrested a third time for hijacking a cargo of cigarettes worth $50,000. He was later found accountable for the Northwest hijacking and was sent to Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary to serve four years in jail.

            After his release he returned back to his old crew and started working for the capo regime Carmine Fatico, who was charged with loan sharking and made Gotti capo of the Bergin Crew, he was accountable to Aniello Dellacroce and  Carlo Gambino. Paul Castellano was declared the head of the family after Gambino’s death; however, he did not earn the respect of his subordinates. Gotti’s crew was found trading in drugs which was against the family’s rules, he had Paul murdered and took over complete control of the family. He managed extortion, loan sharking, complex financial fraud, infiltration of construction, trucking labor unions, gambling, etc. In order to declare enough income to lead a comfortable life he claimed to be a plumbing supply salesman. In his career he was arrested several times, he was called the “Teflon Don” by the 1980s as he managed to shun all charges of assault and racketeering. “ For someone who would rise to so high in the firmament of organized crime—at least in the eyes of the media—John Gotti came late to prominence”( Reppetto, 2007, p. 225).   

            Gotti was caught on tape by the FBI discussing numerous criminal activities and murders, he was also caught demeaning his underboss Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano. He was arrested with his allies Frank Locascio, Thomas Gambino, and Salvatore on the 11th of December 1990. “The boss of the Gambino family will always be a prime target for the FBI, but John Gotti was an especially attractive prey” ( Capeci, 2001, p.2001). He was tried before Judge I. Leo Glasser in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Apart from being caught on tape many of Gotti’s own testified against him including his close friend and underboss Salvatore. On April 2, 1992, Gotti was found guilty and on June 23, 1992, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. He was charged with 13 murders, extortion, loan sharking, tax evasion, illegal gambling, obstruction of justice, racketeering, and conspiracy to commit murder. In prison, he paid the Aryan Brotherhood $50,000 a year for protection. Later Gotti died of throat cancer on June 10, 2002. John Gotti was one of the most important parts of the mafia as he headed one of the most powerful mafia families in New York and was known for his ways.