For a famously splashy wise guy wire , John Gotti was just about anything but slick . The pin - striped , three-fold - breastedmob political boss — at the height of his well - chronicled felonious life history , paper knight him the " Dapper Don " — spent a huge portion of his adult life shuttle in and out of the openhanded home . He die behind bars , in fact , spending the last 10 - plus year of his life in the pen .
But a adept nickname is hard to shake up , so Gotti is remembered still , almost two decades after his demise , for the few times that he actually beat the system . He ’s still theTeflon Don .
Such is the oversized life of a New York mafioso .
" As a unseasoned minor , I ’m impressionable . I want to be a mobster . I come from the streets . And I look at Gotti as somebody would look at a ballplayer , you know ? " says John Alite , a former associate in New York ’s Gambino organized crime family , which Gotti once headed . " I was impressed by him . I wanted to be like him . I wanted to copy him . He was a well looking guy cable . He had charisma . Nobody could abnegate that . I just really looked up to the guy as a young guy . "
Alite served as " muscle " for Gotti and his Word , John A. " Junior " Gotti , stand for that he used vehemence — attacks with baseball bats , knifings , even shootings ( up to and include out - and - out murder ) — when the family demanded it . These days , free of the mob , the 57 - year - old Alite is a advisor for Alite Sports , a sports betting firm .
" At the beginning you ’re all starry eye , but then as you get to recognise him , your opinion changes . You see his defect , " Alite says . " evidently , he was n’t well train . He liked mouth like he was a tough cat . It was an insecurity thing with him … He just wanted to totally be intimidating . That was his sole being . He did n’t want to conform . To anything . If he went into a eating house and they tell you had to weary a sportsman jacket , and he walked in , and if he did n’t desire to wear out one , he was n’t wearing one . He was lead in and he was break to change those rule . "
And that ’s what Gotti did . For a while , at least .
Our Love Affair With Gangsters
In 1931 , James Cagney starred as an Irish American gangster in " The Public Enemy . " It was n’t the first moving-picture show of its sort , but it was indicative of America ’s early infatuation with organize crime . Themob moviegenre polish off its zenith with Francis Ford Coppola ’s 1972 masterpiece , " The Godfather , " based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo . Filmmakers today likeMartin Scorsesecontinue the tradition .
What is it that so intrigues us about the trigger-happy , sometimes homicidal underbelly of society and its roll of essence - harden , outlaw characters ?
" I think that every society likes to live vicariously through the people in history who , on the surface , look like they did it their way , " say Christian Cipollini , an author of several books on organized criminal offense and the man behind the GanglandLegends website . " I mean , c’m on . multitude are rootle for’Scarface . '
" People like John Gotti are , for a segment of society , anti - heroes . There ’s a folk accompany with them . If you look back in history , Al Capone was Chicago , Jack " Legs " Diamond was New York during the bootleg era . Dillingerwas the Midwest . Even [ Pablo]Escobar[the famed Colombian druglord ] was a tribe hero . It ’s fair , everyday multitude living vicariously through their Robin Hoods . "
The public ’s curiosity about life on the other side of the jurisprudence was at a full - throated frenzy when Gotti made his move to take over the Gambino household Dec. 16 , 1985 . The 44 - year - old family captain ordereda hit on his boss , Paul Castellano . In true over - the - top Gotti style , he had assassins gun down his forerunner on the street in front of Sparks Steak House in midtown Manhattan while he watched from a nearby car . " Rubout , " the New York Daily News cried .
" He did everything loud , brazen , not intelligently . When people talk about the smash of Paul Castellano , I say it was the slow thing that was ever done in history . Paul ’s bringing in jillion for the crime syndicate , John ’s bringing in zero . So that was dim , " Alite say . " It was also the dumbest move because of the way of life he did it . He did n’t have to tally him in front of Sparks Steak House in the center of NYC . He wanted to make the noise , because that ’s John . He wanted to go through the paries .
" When you go through the bulwark , you ’re not go to last . And that ’s precisely why he did n’t last . "
The New York tabloidsfueled an almost furor - similar following of Gotti in his blossom . His court appearances were spectacles , consummate with paparazzi and swell gang . Some people wore " Free John Gotti " thymine - shirt .
In a lot of ways , being a gangster in the ' LXXX , personify by Gotti , was just what Alite woolgather it would be . But the in high spirits time , for Alite and for Gotti , would not last .
Smashing the Teflon Don Image
In truth , Gotti was never Teflon . He was jailed nine timesduring a hardscrabble youth in New York . He went to jail for three year for theft in 1968 , when he was in his 30s . Shortly after he was released , he was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to four more twelvemonth .
subsequently , after he became amade military man , Gotti indeed slipped out of the legal philosophy ’s grasp in three extremely publicise cases , give way ascent to the Teflon Don recording label . In one , the independent witnesssimply forgotwhat he had told the grand jury .
see tampering , intimidation , payoffs … whatever it take to free the boss .
" We ’re getting to our own guys , and we ’re getting to juries . We ’re keep in line , you know what I ’m saying ? " says Alite . " ' The Teflon Don , ' and ' Bruce Cutler ’s a great lawyer . ' [ Cutlerwas Gotti ’s lawyer.]We’re getting to everybody . We ’re either jeopardize ‘em or bear ‘em off . "
Everything came crash down in December 1990 , whenthe FBI halt Gotti on several guardianship , including execution , racketeering , illegal gambling , tax imposter and obstructing justice . The case , which went to trial in January 1992 , turn on the word ofSammy " The Bull " Gravano , who prove damningly against his former boss . Gravano was with Gotti as they drove past Sparks Steak House in 1985 to make trusted the smash on Castellano was carried out .
The trial last about 10 hebdomad . On April 2 , 1992 , after 13 hours of deliberation , the panel — which the jurist decided would stay anonymous to head off any potential handling — find out Gotti guilty on all count . He was sentence to life in prison , with no chance of parole .
The Daily News summate up the verdict with a distinctive bold headline : " Don Voyage . "
The one - time Teflon Don died in a prison infirmary , in 2002 , of throat cancer . He was 61 .
A Bloody Legacy
Alite allow to several murders and spent year in jail . He testified against Junior Gottiin 2009 , after he sound out the family turned on him . Alite and the young Gotti still furiously lob claims and counterclaims at each other . Each calls the other a rat .
" The whole pack world wants me to shut up , " Alite say . " But the departure between me and everybody else is I still live in New York . I still live in my neighborhood . I endure in Jersey . I labor a convertible security . I do n’t hide from anybody . "
His chief message , though , is to kids who may see something invoke in the mob life , like he once did . Take it from him , he says : It may calculate cool . But the rats will get you , sooner or later .
" I believe in it . Obviously , I put up in a assiduousness camp [ a Brazilian prison ] for two - and - a - half years , getting tortured , getting shot at … and I still stayed loyal to an organization that ca n’t stay fast to themselves , " Alite says . " This is how brainwashed I was by John Senior . Because I really hump John Senior . And he handle me like a son .
" You ’re going to listen to these guys giving you an fiat , so when they rat , next year or two years or three years , you ’re go to go do biography ? That ’s who you ’re following ? " Alite asks . " If you ’re putting your ego - saving in the hands of somebody else , you ’re not going to last too long . "
