Y'know what? I really didn't react to the news at all - weird...

Anyway, here's the full story from Yahoo News :

Flamboyant Mafia Boss Gotti Dies in Prison
Mon Jun 10, 3:51 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - John Gotti, the swaggering boss of the Gambino crime family who was sentenced to life in prison in 1992 on murder charges after years of evading the law, died at a prison hospital on Monday. He was 61.

New York law enforcement sources said he died from complications of neck and throat cancer at a federal prison hospital in Springfield, Missouri.

A statement from the prison hospital said Gotti died "after a lengthy illness" at 11:45 a.m. CDT (12:45 p.m. EDT). "The cause of death is pending the results of an autopsy," the statement said. "Mr. Gotti's family has been notified."

Gotti was serving a life term in a maximum security federal prison in Marion, Illinois, when he was diagnosed with cancer in September 1998.

During his years as a gangster, Gotti became something of a celebrity, with his movements chronicled by the New York tabloids. The newspapers dubbed him "Dapper Don" for his elegant suits and the "Teflon Don" because he was acquitted in three trial brought by the government before his eventual 1992 conviction.

Hours of FBI ( news - web sites) tape recordings and the turncoat testimony of hitman Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano led to Gotti's arrest in 1990 and his trial and conviction for murder and racketeering.

Gotti was America's most visible mob boss when he was arrested. He had ordered and watched the 1985 assassination of Gambino boss Paul Castellano on a midtown Manhattan street in a grab for control of a string of lucrative illegal businesses.

Unlike Mafia bosses of old, however, Gotti invited publicity and attention with displays of wealth and bravado that ultimately contributed to his downfall.

Gotti was married to the former Victoria DiGiorgio and they had five children.

Gotti died a week after U.S. prosecutors in New York indicted his brother, Peter Gotti, and more than a dozen other alleged mobsters on extortion and corruption charges related to waterfront operations.

Peter Gotti allegedly became head of the Gambino family after his nephew, John "Junior" Gotti, was sentenced to 6-1/2 years in prison in a 1999 plea bargain for racketeering and other crimes.