John Gotti was what I call a born leader. I believe leaders are born. God makes these leaders, but they have the choice to be a positive leader or a bad one. Gotti took the wrong path in life. However, he sure had a way about him that the public loved, and I don't think it was just because he was dapper or that he won 3 trials. It's a lot more than just that. He had a way about him that folks went crazy over, he also had good looks that women loved.

What about all those people who were very angry over Gotti being convicted? People tipped police cars over and went totally crazy. It was insane.

There was, man, something about him. He had that charisma and savvy. But my opinion of him is different to most.
While i recognize Gotti as a strong willed and charismatic leader, i also see him and his blood family as unwitting "lightning rods", to use the Soprano's euphamism.

At first, Gotti's seemingly impunity used to bug me, the fact that he could kill a Boss and not only get away with it for so long legally but within the Families aswell.

I know some of his Capo's and soldiers were conspiring against him with other families, and of course there was Chin Gigante's and Gaspipe Casso's sanctioning of the '86 car-bombing that took out Gotti's underboss instead of Gotti himself, but the botched attempt was pretty much it, and nothing much came of the various conspiracies.

Then it became obvious: (duh) - mobsters were making more money for themselves under Gotti than Castellano. Why? Everybody was still kicking up and Gotti was happy.
There's the book and the primary rackets, the ones they are known for, and thats where Gotti's action came from, the visible rackets.
The myriad of scams and rackets though, that only they, Castellano and Bilotti knew of (of course, perhaps also underlings or assocoiates, easily coerced or silenced),were all part of the Gambino cash-streams that
Gotti was only just learning of, and its inevitable some would dry up for the simple reason that besides Castellano and the Captain'/Soldiers involved, nobody knew anything about it.
Why give money up when you could easily get away with keeping it? The guy kill a Boss, remember, he basically strong-armed into the top-spot, and is already happy with his piece of your sports book.

This is kinda the point of another thread im typing up, the Gambino rackets. John Gotti Sr. ,though, is the archtypical celebrity gangster. His profile became part of his defense: how could he be whacked while he was in the limelight? The publicity would be hounding.

I here u about Gotti. But I think Gotti was actually Jr. and not a Sr.