Ok I was watching American Justice today on John Gotti. What made me think was why did he kill Paul Castellano? I mean this guy was old and was in the game for a long time, he also was respected alot. Was there a reason why John Gotti killed him?

A bit of history is needed here:
1. Carlo Gambino had two underbosses: Neil Dellacroce, the boss of the streets, a very tough, highly respected master of "traditional" rackets (loan sharking, hijacking, gambling); and Paul Castellano, his cousin and brother-in-law, basically a semi-legit racketeer (wholesale meat, construction, unions, etc.). Gambino chose Castellano to be his successor. Right away, this set up tension between Castellano and Dellacroce. (To be fair, Dellacroce was in prison on a tax rap at the time Gambino made his choice.)
2. Gotti was a protege of Dellacroce and was totally loyal to him, not to Castellano.
3. Under Dellacroce, Gotti and his crew dealt drugs. Castellano, like most Mob bosses, decreed against drug-dealing, but was none too particular about where the money came from that was kicked upstairs to him.
4. Angelo (Quack-Quack) Ruggiero, Gotti's best friend and crew member (and some say, Dellacroce's nephew), was indicted for drug-dealing. The prosecutor said he had tapes of wiretaps with Ruggiero talking about drug deals. Castellano went paranoid about the tapes, fearing that Ruggiero would somehow implicate him in the drug-dealing. Castellano demanded that Dellacroce get Ruggiero to turn over the tapes to him. Dellacroce stalled.
5. Castellano was indicted (along with three of the other four NYC Dons) on RICO charges--meaning he could face life in jail. Meanwhile, Dellacroce died of brain cancer. Castellano angered Dellacroce's crew members by failing to attend either his wake or his funeral.
6. After Dellacroce was buried, Castellano decreed that all of Dellacroce's crews would be broken up. He then appointed his long-time chauffeur, Tommy Bilotti, a stammering, bat-wielding thug, as new underboss. Gotti and others who were loyal to Dellacroce saw this as a threat.
7. Dons and Capos of the other NYC Mob families also were worried about Castellano. The Feds had wiretaps of Castellano making derogatory remarks about them. The other bosses feared that Castellano, elderly and frail, might make a deal with the Feds to rat them out in return for leniency, so he could spend his last years with his mistress, a Columbian housemaid named Gloria Olarte, who worked in his home.
8. Castellano called for a sitdown at Sparks Steakhouse with Gotti and others in his crew. Gotti had reason to believe that the meeting would end with either his demotion or death, or both.
9. Gotti, working with his allies, Sammy Gravano and Frankie DiCicco, decided to whack Castellano outside the steakhouse. So, from Gotti's viewpoint, it was kill or be killed.
10. Gotti had committed a grave violation of Mob protocol by whacking his boss without the permission of the other NYC Dons. But in the days after the shooting, he was seen shmoozing the other Dons. Apparently they were not unhappy to see Castellano go, since they believed he might have ratted them out.

Hope that helps.

Thanks Turnbull.

After Carlo Gambino died, he made Paul boss. (As said) Neil Dellacroce was not upset over this, he knew Paul had the brains and the motivation. It was Gotti who thought Neil should have the spot because he favored Neil. Gotti did a hit where Paul gave him a extra man who fucked everything up, so Gotti spend some years in prision. Carlo looked the other way when drugs were being delt, but Paul was more strict because the Feds were coming down hard on the Gambinos. John Gottis cousin was dealing, so Paul wanted him, his friend, AND John Gotti killed. That, and John Gotti wanted power.. So they killed him. Simple as that.

Also, Paul tried to have John Gotti whacked, he asked permission from the commision. So, I'm sure there was bad blood from that.

As boss, Castellano wouldn't have needed the Commission's approval to whack a subordinate like Gotti. But Gotti was Neil Dellacroce's protege, and Castellano didn't move against Gotti because he didn't want more bad blood between him and Dellacroce. After Mr. Neil died, Gotti had good reason to think he was living on borrowed time.
Gotti should have gotten the Commission's permission to whack a Don--Castellano. He didn't ask. But as I posted earlier, the other Dons were more than happy to get rid of Castellano.

There was two reasons. John killed Paulie so Niel could be Godfather (maby) and John Gotti was going to be killed for dealing drugs, and they made a rule not to deal drugs. And if they did they would be executed. Since John was one of Niel's right arms he got a couple button men disguised as security officers, and on Christmas Eve(or christmas... forgot) they killed him and his friend Tommy.

What is that commission you are talking about?

It's probably something everyone here is very familiar with, but I don't know much about the Maffia.

The Commission is an organization of all of the Dons. Its like the ruling board of all fo the Families. And, of the Comission, there is a Capo di Tutti Capi, or Boss of All Bosses. He is usually the Don of the most powerful Family

Not so many details have been released about the Commission, but some believe that there are two in America (east coast and west coast/midwest), and one in Sicily. It has also been speculated that New York has a seperate Commission all together, considering it is one city controled by more then one Don.

A good representation of this is the "5 Families" in The Godfather. However, the actual Commission is not nearly as powerful and most Dons are not as afraid of the imposing rules that are made. In fact, some believe that the Comission today is hardly anything more then another attempt at organizeing the once prominent Mafia.

Still, you almost always must get permission from the other Families in your Commission to hit anyone outside of your Family. Though there have been occasions where little or no consequences have come after such an event has taken place.

Hope I helped, but I am sure someone like Turnbull can ellaborate.

You got it right, Moscarelli. The Commission doesn't have real power. They seldom meet--maybe every 18-24 months. And whatever "rules" they promulgate have no real force.

Sonny-

Mr. Niel was dead when Gotti and Gravano had Castellano wacked. Gotti would not have made a move on Castellano while Mr. Niel was alive because Mr. Niel, as much as he loved Gotti like a son, would have never approved of such a thing!
The hitmen were disguised as "Conventioneers" and all wore the same colored coats and Dr. Zhivago style hats so that they would all look the same and it would make it very difficult for any witnesses to identify any of them. It was not Christmas eve by the way, it was December 16th 1985.

Don Cardi

Thanks Moscarelli, and you to Turnbull!

No problem, Enzo, happy to help.

You're always welcome, Enzo.