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    The Last Godfather The John Gotti Story
    The Last Godfather The John Gotti Story
    The Last Godfather The John Gotti Story
    Ebook170 pages2 hours

    The Last Godfather The John Gotti Story

    By David Kennedy

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    About this ebook

    John Gotti was the last great leader of the Gambino crime family, the dominant Sicilian Mafia family of New York.

    Gotti had his fingers in everything from gambling houses, to drug trafficking, prostitution, to weapons dealing. Gotti originally came to lead the organization in 1985, but had been an enforcer for the mob since the early 70's.

    Originally, Gotti made a name for himself by helping avenge the death of Manny Gambino, nephew of the notorious leader of the family, Carlo Gambino.

    Gotti did a long stint in prison for this crime. When he was released, the Gambino family rewarded his loyalty by giving Gotti a position of power within the family.

    But with this power came the desire to one day become the Don of this great criminal empire.

    In this book we will look at the life of John Gotti. From the days of the Fulton-Rockaway Boys in the late 1950's, to his death on June 10, 2002.

    We will look at the man, the myth and the legend that is John Gotti; "The Last Godfather."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDavid Kennedy
    Release dateSep 12, 2018
    ISBN9781386721727
    The Last Godfather The John Gotti Story

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      Book preview

      The Last Godfather The John Gotti Story - David Kennedy

      Prologue

      The End of The Dynasty

      http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2163476.1427396381!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/obit-gotti.jpg

      After 18 months since their arrests, the trial of John Gotti and Frank Locascio had come to an end on April 2nd, 1992, at the end of an intensely publicized trial in Federal District Court.

      The jury took only a day and a half to decide that the prosecution was right when it described the evidence in the trial against the two defendants as overwhelming.

      The thirteen counts against Gotti include; a racketeering charge that cited him for five murders, and related charges of murder, conspiracy, gambling, and obstruction of justice and tax fraud.

      Gotti, with his flashy clothes and swashbuckling style, relished his reputation of invincibility for several years. The media dubbed him the Dapper Don and the Teflon Don as he was acquitted of racketeering and assault charges in three straight trials since 1986.

      But this time Federal prosecutors mounted a strong, case consisting of John Gotti's own words in secretly taped conversations and the testimony of a Mafia informer, Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano, who provided an inside view of the Gambino organization.

      The case took a dramatic turn when Gravano, who had been one of Gotti's closest associates, testified for nine days as the prosecution's chief witness. Focusing on a central charge in the case, he described the murder of Paul Castellano, who was the reputed Gambino boss, and of a close aide, (and reported underboss of The Gambino Mafia Family) Thomas Bilotti, who were shot down in front of Sparks Steak House on Dec. 16th, 1985.

      Gravano said he and Gotti planned the Castellano slaying and sat together in a car less than a block away when a team of their gunmen carried out it out. He added that Gotti soon succeeded Castellano as the Gambino boss.

      Before the sentencing on June 23rd, 1992, Judge Glasser summoned the lawyers for both sides into his chambers and notified them of his decision to reject the defense's motion to set aside the jury's verdict and provide a new trial.

      In a court session that took less than 10 minutes, with the lawyers for both sides choosing not to make statements, the judge asked John Gotti if he had anything to say before the sentence was imposed.

      The 51-year-old Gotti, wearing a dark double-breasted suit, white shirt and bright yellow tie flecked with burnt orange shook his head in silence. His longtime lawyer, Bruce Cutler, spoke for him, saying simply, No, your honor.

      Cutler was allowed to take part in the sentencing session, although he had been barred from representing Gotti at the trial because he had participated in taped conversations that were presented as evidence by the prosecution.

      Judge Glasser, citing Federal sentencing guidelines adopted in 1987, told John Gotti that the guidelines in your case require me to commit you to the custody of the Attorney General for the duration of your life.

      Judge I. Leo Glasser sentenced the boss of the Gambino crime family to spend the rest of his life in prison. 

      As he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison, John Gotti stood up and smiled, saying nothing.

      The Federal courthouse in Brooklyn was so packed that James M. Fox, the head of the New York office of the F.B.I. was wedged next to Joseph DeCicco, a reputed Gambino associate.

      Turning to Frank Locascio, the judge asked if he had anything to say. Locascio, 59, who was convicted as the Gambino underboss, responded by reading a handwritten statement in a spiral notebook, I Am Innocent.

      First, I would like to say emphatically that I am innocent, Locascio declared in loud, firm voice, denying each charge against him.

      I am guilty though, he added, I am guilty of being a good friend of John Gotti. And if there were more men like John Gotti on this earth, we would have a better country.

      Judge Glasser sentenced them both to life in prison on the racketeering and murder counts, with concurrent maximum 10-year sentences on the other counts. He also fined each of them $250,000.

      Gotti's trial lawyer, Albert J. Krieger, said that John Gotti patted Frank Locascio on the shoulder after the sentencing and told him, We have just begun to fight. Krieger described Gotti's mood as dignified, strong, resolute and confident of winning on appeal.

      Frank Locascio's trial lawyers, Anthony M. Cardinale and John W. Mitchell, also stressed that the convictions would be appealed.

      Among the issues for the appeal are defense claims that Government tactics intimidated the jury, that one juror was improperly dismissed and another felt pressured to convict, that a prosecution summation contained inflammatory language and that the judge disqualified some defense lawyers from the trial and excluded several defense witnesses.

      Outside the courthouse, flag-waving Gotti supporters displayed placards and chanted support for John Gotti for more than two hours.

      Andrew J. Maloney, the United States Attorney whose office prosecuted the Gotti case told reporters in his office that the demonstration outside the courthouse was obviously encouraged and sought by people in the Gotti camp.

      He added that it was also encouraged by media hype.

      Police officials said that at its peak, the demonstration included about 800 to 1,000 people. They said several cars parked in front of the courthouse were damaged, seven demonstrators were arrested and eight police officers were injured.

      At 10 A.M., John Gotti and Frank Locascio, surrounded by their lawyers and Federal marshals, left the courtroom.

      Andrew J. Maloney said afterward that the case was just one more battle in the continuing assault on organized crime.

      He suggested that Gotti's significance had been distorted and exaggerated by a media build-up.

      Chapter One

      The Making of a Gangster

      The American gangster has become as American as say - apple pie! For decades people have both marveled at and been reviled by this genre of criminal activity in the United States.

      Few organized crime figures have completely captured the attention of the public as John Gotti has over the past twenty years.

      We have even had our celebrity mobsters in the past. Underworld figures like Al Scarface Capone and Jack Legs Diamond captured the public's fascination during the 1920s.

      In the 1930s it was a different brand of criminal that became popular. Bank robbers like John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Baby Face Nelson were the rage of what was known as the Mid-West Crime Wave.

      The 1940s brought us Benjamin Bugsy Siegel and the killers of Murder, Inc. Along with the glamour these individuals provided, their murders made for exciting front-page headlines, not to mention sensational photographs.

      While there were no prominent names during the 1950s, that decade nevertheless brought organized crime to the forefront, due to the efforts of law enforcement.  It began with the televised Kefauver hearings in the early 1950s and made a big splash with the infamous Apalachin conclave, also known as "The Apalachin Meeting" in 1957.

      In the early 1950’s Vito Genovese was on a mission take over the Luciano Family which was being run at that time by Frank Costello as Lucky Luciano sat in jail.

      Vito felt that the time was right to make a power move but in order to take over the family he had to take out Costello and his allies. Genovese decided to team up with Carlo Gambino who gets the Albert Anastasia family.

      In May 1957 Costello survived a botched hit which prompted him to step down as mob boss, and in October the same year Albert Anastasia wasn’t so lucky when he was blown away by shotguns in a Barber’s Chair.

      Now Genovese had control of his own family, but he wanted to take over the Mafia as a whole – to be the boss of bosses.

      During the 1950’s the mob was going through big changes and leaderships were unsettled as the new faction tried to gain control of the Mafia, taking it away from the old faction.

      The Apalachin Meeting

      The Apalachin Meeting Location

      The Apalachin meeting was a summit held on November 14th, 1957, when Vito Genovese called for a national meeting of bosses.

      One hundred mafia members would get together to discuss mob operations including loansharking, narcotics trafficking and gambling along with dividing the illegal operations controlled by the late Albert Anastasia.

      However, the meeting would soon become engrained into Mafia history, as it was to be a meeting that exposed the Mafia in an FBI raid that would result in 58 arrests. Some of those arrested including high ranking members of the mob like Carlo Gambino, Vito Genovese, and Joe Profaci.

      The meeting was to be held at Joe the Barber Barbara’s house in Apalachin which was a 58-acre plot west of New York City, located along the south shore of the Susquehanna River, near the Pennsylvania border.

      The main issue was that the location was used for a big meeting by the mob in 1956, the year before, and on the way back from the meeting Carmine Galante had been stopped by state troopers, and questioned.

      Since that day back in 1956, a local state trooper by the name of Edgar Croswell had put surveillance teams on Barbara’s house.

      As expensive and lavish cars began rolling into this fairly quiet town in New York, the local police began to grow suspicious.

      This is when they decided to take down license plate numbers and run checks on them. The checks that came back resulted in the police finding all the cars were registered to known criminals who have visited from out of town.

      While the meeting was going on in the house, the police formed roadblocks outside and called for huge reinforcements ready for a takedown.

      After setting

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