How flash mob don John Gotti who partied with celebs & built bloody rep with mafia aged 12 was snared in daring FBI plot
THE murderous backstabbing of one of the most dangerous mob families in US history has been exposed by secret tapes and former gang members.
A new Netflix documentary tells how New York crime lord John Gotti bumped off the head of the Gambino clan in 1985, sensing that the Godfather was about to have him whacked.
History repeated itself seven years later when his own underboss Salvatore ‘Sammy the Bull’ Gravano feared that Gotti would kill him for being too greedy.
In order to save himself Gravano committed the ultimate Mafia sin – he provided the evidence which saw the “invincible” gangster locked up for life.
It ended the bloody reign of Gotti, an all powerful crime lord so famous that he ended up on the cover of Time magazine – and produced a renowned MMA fighter in the shape of his grandson, John Gotti III.
The three-part documentary series titled Get Gotti, which starts streaming on October 24, reveals how dangerous it was for a mobster to turn on their own.
One member of the Gambino crime family who was outed as an FBI informant was shot ten times outside his family home, with his body left in the street as a message to everyone else.
Andrea Giovino, an associate of Gotti whose ex-husband worked for him, says: “If you are a rat they would cut pieces off you, they would burn you, they make you suffer.”
Badfella
Gotti, who died in prison in 2002 from cancer aged 61 and was portrayed by John Travolta in a movie, started working for the mafia aged 12.
He joined one of New York’s “five families” – the Gambino clan, which has been operating for over 120 years.
Early jobs included robbing trucks with Thomas DeSimone, the inspiration for Joe Pesci’s psychotic gangster in Martin Scorsese’s classic movie Goodfellas.
Gotti was jailed for four years for manslaughter in 1974 having been convicted over his part in the shooting of troublesome rival James McBratney a year earlier.
Once he got out of prison he became a “made man” and in 1985 he was promoted to second in charge to The Godfather Paul Castellano.
The problem was that Castellano stood by a strict Mafia belief that no one should deal drugs – going as far as killing those that did.
If you do the smack, get the whack
Sal Polisi
It wasn’t down to ethics, as suggested by the movie The Godfather, but due to a fear of what would happen when a gangster got caught with huge quantities of illegal substances.
With offenders facing several decades in prison they were more likely to agree to give evidence against their bosses in order to reduce their sentences.
Former Gotti enforcer Sal Polisi says: “If you do the smack, get the whack.”
Kill or be killed
Castellano heard that Gotti was trying to oust him and planned to have his second-in-charge killed after Christmas in 1985.
But Gotti got in first, organising for him to be gunned down outside of a Manhattan steakhouse at 5.25pm on December 16 with festive shoppers close by.
After the assassination he drove by with Gravano to make sure their boss really was dead.
What the mobster didn’t know is that New York’s Organised Crime Task Force had placed a bug in his hangout The Bergin Hunt and Fish Club.
One secret recording caught Gotti saying “Bang! No good mother****er” about the dead man.
Governing New York
Gambino clan ‘soldier’ Anthony Ruggiano Jr claims that they ruled New York in the 1980s. He says: “When John became boss you couldn’t lay a brick or get cement” without his say-so.
Polisi, known as Crazy Sal, was on hand to carry out orders if anyone stepped out of line. He recalls scaring off a man who’d been sleeping with the wife of a senior gangster.
Polisi says: “I took his pants off and I sliced his balls. It was nothing personal, it was just business.”
Traditionally, Italian mobsters preferred to operate in the shadows.
No one was supposed to know their identities and they didn’t court publicity.
Gotti changed all that.
I took his pants off and I sliced his balls. It was nothing personal, it was just business
'Crazy' Sal Polisi
He became famous when he was acquitted in three consecutive court cases, earning the nickname the Teflon Don.
In an assault case the chief witness refused to identify Gotti from the stand in 1986; in a massive Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) case a year later, one of the jurors was bribed not to convict; and there was evidence of more jury tampering in 1989, when he got off arranging for a union boss to be shot in the backside.
Gotti always arrived at court immaculately dressed in tailored suits and even invited a journalist to one of his celebratory post-trial parties.
Ruggiano, who has admitted taking part in a hit for Gotti, says: “Celebrities wanted to hang out with us.
“I’m blowing coke with Andy Warhol, I’m blowing coke with David Bowie.”
Andrea was unimpressed. She says: “He thought he was a movie star. I have witnessed people coming up to him and asking for an autograph.”
No honour among thieves
What the adoring public didn’t know, though, was what a ruthless double-dealer Gotti could be.
That is exposed by a bug placed in a room above his Ravenite Social Club in Little Italy, New York.
In one Gotti told his consigliere, the title given to a Godfather’s advisor, Frank LoCascio: “Every time we got a partner that disagrees with us we kill him.”
He boasts about having porn king and Gambino ‘captain’ Robert ‘DiB’ DiBernardo rubbed out in 1986 because “he talked about me behind my back.”
Fatefully, he also rants and raves about his loyal lieutenant Gravano on the secret recordings.
When the FBI played them to Gravano he believed that Gotti wanted him dead and opted to become a witness for the bureau’s 1992 RICO prosecution.
He was the highest ranking Gambino family member to ever give evidence for the state against one of his own.
Andrea says: “I never did believe Sammy would inform on Gotti.”
Unlike many other mobsters who “ratted” on the mafia he survived.
Sammy, 78, who confessed to several murders, spent five years in prison before entering a witness protection program.
These days he has his own YouTube channel with over 500,000 subscribers and a podcast.
Get Gotti streams on Netflix from October 24.