I don't think Gotti was weak physically or in fights, I don't see where even guys who turned on him said anything like that. I believe inmate Johnson went nuts and attacked him, based on talking to corrections officer I know (my brother, and other family members) Gotti had been in prison before, I think in 1977, wouldn't a coward reputation would have followed him onto streets ?
Yeah, Gotti had been in prison in the late 60s as well. He always seemed to be the kind of guy who didn't mind getting physical if needed. In '84 he got into that fracas with the refrigerator mechanic who was upset that Gotti's friend, Frank Colletta, had double-parked and was blocking the street. John Gotti and his brother Gene looked like typical throwback bruiser types!
That refrigerator mechanic, Romuel Piecyk, had a record himself, several arrests for assault among them. Maybe they had common friends who got him to not testify. I wonder if he was even really a refrigerator mechanic. He certainly was not innocent in the fight, he had attacked a smaller man who was Gotti's friend over a parking spot.
