John Gotti Essay

Submitted By Serenaariel
Words: 1038
Pages: 5

John Gotti
It was in the 1960’s when the notorious Teflon Don, John Gotti became associated with the Gambino family. His start was hijacking freight trucks at Kennedy Airport in New York City. John Gotti was born on October 27th, 1940 in the South Bronx, New York. Gotti took his father’s name, and his mother’s name was Fannie. His parents were both Italian immigrants and the family was very large. Some of Gotti’s siblings were lost early in their lives due to the lack of medical care. The sole income in the family came from Gotti’s father, John J. Gotti, who worked long and unpredictable days as a laborer. The family moved often until settling in East New York, where at the time was infamous for its violent gang activity. It was at the age of twelve in John’s eighth grade year in school he then began working as an errand boy for an underground club in the local neighborhood which was ran by Carmine Fatico. Carmine was a man of significance because he was the captain of the Gambino family which was the largest of the five organized crime families in New York City. After working and remaining with the club Gotti got the chance to meet Aniello Dellacroce who later ended up becoming his lifelong mentor.
Soon after meeting Aniello Gotti became the leader of a gang who went by then Fulton-Rockaway boys. The Fulton-Rockaway boys were known for their often robberies. At the age of 14 Gotti came upon troubles while attempting to steal a cement mixer. During this incident Gotti crushed his toes which led to his trademark walk. During high school John was considered to be a bully and constantly obtained discipline problems; it was at the age of 16 when he dropped out and by 18 he was ranked in the police department as a low level associate in the Fatico crew.
The Life of Crime Begins
It was in 1957 when Gotti took on crimes on a full time basis, which was when he was 17. Throughout his life Gotti will be nicknamed the Teflon Don because of his ability to remain free after all his crimes. By the age of 21 Gotti had already been arrested 5 times for crimes like public intoxication, car theft and street fighting. Regardless of being caught he spent minimal time in jail for these crimes.
It was the 6th of March in 1962 when Gotti married Victoria DiGiorgio. She was 17 at the time and she was already pregnant with their second child. Gotti tried to maintain jobs to avoid the life of crime but soon enough he was back on track. Once relocating to Queens Gotti became a key part in the Gambino hijacking crew. It was in 1968 when Gotti got his first real taste of federal punishment, he and two other men were sentenced three years in prison due to cargo thefts close to John F. Kennedy airport. During Gotti’s imprisonment the Fatico crew moved near Gotti’s home in Queens.
Moving Up
Gotti was later released in 1971 and took temporary command over the Fatico crew due to the leader serving time. In May of 1973 Gotti committed his first murder. Jimmy McBratney had kidnapped and murdered a member of the Gambino family, Gotti had to seek revenge and since Gotti had never murdered anyone before there was many things wrong with the murder; for one there were too many witnesses. Due to this Gotti was arrested in 1974. Three years later in trial he got a deal with the court; if he pleaded guilty for attempt to manslaughter he would only serve 4 years. Gotti was later released in 1977 and he came home to the becoming the new mobster captain of the Bergin crew.
In March of 1980 the Gotti family lost one of their own due to John Favara, their neighbor. He accidentally hit the 12 year old Frank Gotti with his car. There were many incidents after this happened. Favara was attacked with a metal baseball which