The Rise and Fall of 'Dapper Don'

'Epitome Of The Thug'

By Pete Bowles and Anthony M. DeStefano | STAFF WRITERS

June 11, 2002

Gambino Crime family head John Gotti leaves Brooklyn Federal Court in 1986. (Newsday/Richard Lee)

Stylish, silver-haired John Gotti was credited with breaking tradition and creating a new-look mob when he was dubbed the "Dapper Don," a nod to the elegant, $2,000 Brioni suits he made his flamboyant trademark.

Still, when Gotti stepped up to grab control of the Gambino family, he relied on tried and true tradition - whacking the boss.

Gotti's orchestration of the Dec. 16, 1985, slaying of his predecessor, Paul Castellano, and his bodyguard, Thomas Bilotti, outside of Sparks Steak House in midtown was a dramatic hit that left little doubt who was taking charge; a naked power grab befitting his brutal leadership.

And during his reign - at least until his imprisonment - Gotti ruled the family with an iron fist.

But aspects of his new approach to life at the top, like running his mouth about mob affairs - specifically secret mutterings about his crimes picked up by hidden FBI bugs - landed Gotti in prison for the rest of his life, which ended yesterday when he succumbed to complications stemming from his throat and neck cancer.

"He was the epitome of the thug," said Joseph Coffey, a private investigator who as an NYPD detective probed Gotti. "He ruled strictly by intimidation as opposed to other mob figures like [Lucky] Luciano, who was smart, [Meyer] Lansky, who was smart."

Nevertheless, Gotti knew enough to wait until the time was right to move on Castellano.

Aniello Dellacroce, Gotti's mob mentor and underboss of the Gambino crime family, had dampened the rebelliousness of younger members dissatisfied with Castellano's rule. His death on Dec. 2, 1985, removed the last impediment to the killing of Castellano, viewed by many in the mob as a greedy boss beset by legal problems that made him vulnerable.

Under Castellano, heroin trafficking was banned and punishable by death. The fact that some of Gotti's crew from the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club in Ozone Park, including brother Gene, had been implicated in heroin trafficking forced John Gotti to strike first. The Castellano hit caught the rest of the mob off guard.

"Gotti had very little choice," said Ron Goldstock, former head of the state Organized Crime Strike Force in the 1980s about the Castellano hit. "And because Gotti was so fearsome and ruthless ... there was no one to go against him."

The highlight of his last trial, in a federal courtroom in Brooklyn, came when Gotti's former underboss, Salvatore Gravano, known as "Sammy the Bull," testified that Gotti sat with him in a car less than a block away while a team of henchmen shot down Castellano and Bilotti.

On a Jan. 17, 1990, tape, Gotti was heard talking about his love for the mob. "And this is gonna be a Cosa Nostra till I die," he said. "Be it an hour from now, or be it tonight, or a hundred years from now when I'm in jail. It's gonna be the way I say it's gonna be, a Cosa Nostra."

The irony is that Gotti's musings, profanities and indiscretions caught on the surveillance tapes, are now viewed by most experts as the major piece of ammunition federal and state investigators needed to cripple La Cosa Nostra in New York.

Gotti not only brought attention to himself with a flashy personal style, he was also unable to avoid electronic surveillance even when he knew he was a target of investigators, Goldstock said.

Some of the most damaging tapes were made in the apartment of an elderly widow above the Ravenite Social Club on Mulberry Street in Little Italy. The recordings were used at the federal trial of Gotti and his underlings in 1992, and convictions effectively decapitated the leadership of the Gambino crime family, leaving a power vacuum filled (unsuccessfully for the most part) by inept leaders, including Gotti's now imprisoned son, John A. Gotti, known as "Junior."

"He brought the Gambino family to its knees," said Andy Kurins, a former FBI special agent who investigated the crime family. "Guys he put in charge were loyal to him to the extent of anything else, not people who were earners or who had any respect in organized-crime circles."

Despite his mobster's penchant for mayhem, Gotti had a keen sense of humor. Some of his antics in court, done partially for the benefit of reporters, only served to incense prosecutors and FBI agents who had targeted him for prosecution.

At his 1992 trial, Gotti once blew a kiss toward a prosecutor. At another point, when it appeared that defense attorneys had caught a witness in a contradiction, Gotti drew an imaginary pistol from his waistband and fired off some fake bullets toward FBI agents. During one rest break, Gotti pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped it around his face in his best imitation of a western bandit.

During jury selection, U.S. District Court Judge I. Leo Glasser threatened to move the trial to another city because of the media coverage. When the judge briefly left the conference room, Gotti said, "Where is he going to move it? Stuttgart, West Germany?"

His words, both in and out of court, were often profane. On tapes played at his trials, Gotti could be heard uttering expletives after losing huge bets on slow horses and lackluster football teams and while blasting mobsters who had not shown him respect.