What is so special about him which makes people call him such a great leader.
There was nothing great about him and he surely did not deserve the nickname the teflon don. To me hes more like a Joey Zasa from GFIII. He was simply a great don becuase he looked like one. All i see when i see him is flashy open shirts with gold chains.

I have some answers for you.

1-When he was an associate in the Gambino Family he used to act like a made man when in fact he wasn`t but he get respect from the made guys and was somehow feared by some of them, he was an acting caporegime without being even Made!!!Of course, Niell Dellacroce stood up for him, he was the son he always wanted to have, that`s why John Gotti could afford to act like that.
2-He wasn`t even made and met face to face Carlo Gambino, sometimes is almost impossible for a soldier to meet the boss, and somehow John Gotti got it, it seemed he was a kind of promise for the Mafia in the future. Carlo Gambino told John Gotti to read Nicholas Machiavelli`s The Prince
and taugh him with this quote "You have to be like a lion and a fox. The lion scares the wolves away, the fox discovers the traps. If you are a lion and a fox nobody can defeat you"
3-He made a plot against Paul Castellano called "The Fist", with Sammy Gravano, Frank DeCicco, Angelo Ruggiero and others. John Gotti was the brave one to give a step foward before anyone else, and he won.
4-He beated 3 trials against him, in one of them he embarrased the prosecutor Diane Giaccalone(That`s my favourite part).
5-He became famous for beating trials(buying the juror, threating them, because he had good lawyers like Bruce Cutler and Jerry Shargel, whatever it doesn`t matter) and made his case a circus for the media trying to manipulate it(he tought the media was a weapon, this is how he got fans), he became the Dapper Don, The Teflon Don, The Mob Star.
6-He was well dressed, nice smile, he always shook hands with whoever wanted to say hello to him in the streets, he was nice with the reporters and gave them sarcastics answers like "Of course, I am the boss of my family, my wife and kids"
7-Since his early young days he made a July 4th party for the neighbors with fireworks.One day now being known as he was embarrased the NYPD daring to make the fireworks working.I don`t recall wich year.
8-Many celebrities wanted to meet him.
9-The people found him as the American hero, a person compared him with an american football team "New York has two champions, ****(I don`t remember the name) and John Gotti
10-In his 4th trail as a Don he lost being rated by Sammy Gravano, but the people supported him anyway saying "Gravano is a liar" "Sammy the rat", etc
11-There was a page created by Melissa Ravenna claiming for John Gotti`s freedom.
12-He never rated on anyone he faced the life sentence as a man, as a real mafioso, he was Cosa Nostra until he died, he was good on his promise "I am gonna be Cosa Nostra till I die"
13-Many people all over the world sent him letters.
14-When he died in 2002 he had one of the most popular funerals ever, John Gotti is loved even after dead right or wrong
15-You are asking about him.
16-As if all these answers were not enought, I am gonna tell you one more thing. He had 5 children, one of them, Victoria Gotti, a beautiful Mafia princess, in my opinion one of the most beautiful in the world. I guess he was a good beautiful daughter maker!

Did I answer your question?

DPN, the statement you made were right, but that doesn't made him a good leader! It made him popular by the people, but it didn't made him a good mob-boss. In fact, he was a very bad mob-boss.

And Darulerric, you're right, Joey Zasa was based on Gotti (and Colombo).

To add to what Juventus said, he was a poor mob boss and a poor leader.

While in the parameters of the Mafia Life, Gotti was a man's man. A standup guy who never ratted anyone out, and did his time for doing the crime.

He was The Dapper Don because he dressed with such class and high fashion. He became known as The Teflon Don because any chrges that were brought against him would not stick.

Now to some these attributes may make him look like a good mob boss and a good leader, but in my opinion these same attributes are what made him a bad mob boss and a bad leader.

Becoming the Dapper Don was part of his downfall along with becoming the Teflon Don. His walking around on Television with $2000 suits coupled with his arrogance towards the authorities was not the way the Boss of a family should act. These actions brought too much attention to The Family and the mob as a whole. A good boss would not jeapordize La Cosa Nostra for hi own ego, and that is exactly what Gotti did. he jeapordized and help bring down La Cosa Nostra because of his flashiness and his "try to come and get me" attituide towards the authorities. Irresponsible actions and attitudes for the boss of a crime family.

And his big mouth, talking about his underlings the way that he did, one against the other, and being taped while saying these things is what made him a poor leader.


Don Cardi

I see Gotti more as an inside rat. He was talking shit about his best people. So that's why Sammy turned against him which he deserved. And Gotti now is nothing more than a commercial name. I don't believe that his son can lead a family like the Gambino's.

I have a couple of respones for the credit u gave to Gotti

-First off his trials are no big thing, Most high powered mafiosi can beat a trial. I believe it was two trials not 3 but i could be mistaken. One of the trials he won becuase of witness intimidation and the other of jury tampering. And I believe one of the trails was over shooting a carpenter in a restuarant cause he did a bad job. Wat kind of non sense is that. All John Gotti is is a cowboy,

-and his plot against Costellano is overated, John Gotti and his crew were pinched for drugs and they told Paul they were framed in the wire taps, so Paul wanted to here them
so basically for John Gotti and his crew it was either Kill or be killed

-John Gotti was not a kind Don, He was known to have a crazy temper where he would just flip out for any little reason,

-As for the rating out part, isnt it the code to not rat out people, just cause they dont rat doesnt make them a great don, He is a man with poor judgement he promoted his men too quickly and he made sammy the bull his underboss which ratted out and turned him in

-IMO the arrest of John Gotti saved La Cosa Nostra

So are you saying that John Gotti was never officially made and yet practically ran the Gambino Family from the late 80's to early this century?

So are you saying that John Gotti was never officially made and yet practically ran the Gambino Family from the late 80's to early this century? [/b][/quote]So

Gotti himself never killed anybody

Darulerric, you're right: Gotti was mostly hype. He was a creature of the news media, which loved his swagger, look and style. But he had no substance. He ran his family into the ground with his degenerate gambling and his compulsive publicity-seeking.
As for "Teflon," even though he beat three of the four felony raps against him, he was held without bail on a couple of them. So he spent years in jail, total.
BTW: He was officially "made" after he got out of prison on the McBratney rap.

Juventus, I think Darulerric meant the people outside the mob, he said "the people".

So are you saying that John Gotti was never officially made and yet practically ran the Gambino Family from the late 80's to early this century? [/b][/quote]NO!!! John Gotti was made by Paul Castellano, I don`t remember if it was an earlier or later ceremony than Sammy Gravano`s.

What I wanted to say is that John Gotti got respect and fame within the Gambinos more than he deserved for being just an associate. Carlo Gambino kept the membership books closed, and Paul Castellano opened them.

Yes, I put the "Bosses as hitmen themselves" post asking how the bosses became what they were without killing anyone, but I think John Gotti and Vincent "The Chin" Gigante must have killed some people by their own, you know they won`t to make it public for us, the things we know about them must be little comparing about the total fact.
Well, maybe The Chin, and you know why...

-First off his trials are no big thing, Most high powered mafiosi can beat a trial. I believe it was two trials not 3 but i could be mistaken. One of the trials he won becuase of witness intimidation and the other of jury tampering. And I believe one of the trails was over shooting a carpenter in a restuarant cause he did a bad job. Wat kind of non sense is that. All John Gotti is is a cowboy,

[/QB][/quote]Well, it depends on the point of view you have, but I don`t understand why you asked about it when you have already the answers.

According to Rise and Fall, he won 3 trials and lost the 4th

Whether he was a good or a bad Boss he was always entertaining was he not?

However his chasing of the showbiz lifestyle did himself & the Mob no favours did it?

Does anyone know if John Gotti had a Catholic funeral?

I seem to recall from watching the news that a lot of people lined the streets during his funeral procession. The media reported a big hoopla: people crying and throwing flowers, wanting to say goodbye as if he were Elvis or something. But does that actually mean he was popular with the average (i.e., non-mafia) person? Wouldn't people simply be curious about what a mob funeral looked like, so they would come out to catch a glimpse?

And as for Gotti never killing anyone, is the story about his young son being killed in a car accident (where the at-fault driver was his next door neighbour, of all people) true? And is it true that Gotti killed the neighbour?

I also read that Gotti (I think it was him) was at a restaurant where he saw Marlon Brando and Matthew Brodderick (I believe), who were then filming the movie The Freshman. He asked that they come over to his table so he could meet them. I wonder what would have happened if they declined?

So how much of the above is true and how much is legend, and did he manipulate the media to build up his own legend?

John Gotti was NOT given a Catholic funeral. The request for one on his behalf, by his family, was denied.


Don Cardi

Crazy dreams again!

I dreamed John Gotti had a hidden twin brother

So did gotti actually have a son that was killed by a car accident? Seems there would be some truth to it or it wouldn't have been part of the movie I watched.

Yes, Gotti's 12 year old son Frank, was accidentally killed by a neighbor named John Favara.


Don Cardi

Well, in ganglandnews.com there is a possible story about what could happen to John Favara.

The real fact is that FBI agents asked John Gotti about Favara, and he said "I don`t know. If something happened to him I don`t care, he killed my boy"

Don Pappo, the story goes that originally John Gotti took it for what it was, an accident. But supposedly his wife was the one who had blamed the neighbor and wanted something done about it. She was alledged to have been the driving force in Gotti's having Favara killed to avenge the death of his son.

And Sammy Gravano had absolutely nothing to do with killing Favara. That was just another one of hollywood's habits of changing the facts to make the movie more interesting.


Don Cardi

Yes, in UNDERBOSS Sammy says he doesn`t know anything about it.

By the way, at that time I think both John Gotti and Gravano were not together, or at least they weren`t very often.
Is that true Don Cardi?

I read the book about John Gotti by Howard Blum. It says that Gotti personaly killed him. So maybe his wife wanted John Favara dead, Gotti was the man who did it. If the book is right ofcourse!!

Donnie,

Howard Bloom sensationalized his story to make it more interesting. Think about it. Why would someone of Gotti's stature, the one who's son had been killed by this man, personally get involved in killing this guy? It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to suspect Gotti once Favara went missing. And Gotti knew this. Gotti knew that he would be the first person to be suspected in Favara's disappearance and murder.

That is exactly why Gotti made sure that he was down in Florida when Favara "disappeared!"


Don Cardi

I never heard that Gotti was the one who killed him either.

DS

The book also mentioned that Gotti was in Florida at the time they took Favara, but he insisted that they would let Favara live untill he came back, so he could personally kill him. But that is just what the book said. I don't know what to believe.

The problem is that we'll never really know what is fiction and what is fact because I highly doubt that most mobsters kept a written diary of what crimes they committed throughout their lives.

Unfortunately we have to go on the word of perhaps someone who has turned states evidence and will probably make half of these stories up to get the heat off of themselves, or on an author who understandably will "stretch" the truth many times to sensationalize a story in order to make his book more interesting and sellable.


Don Cardi

I am going to read the book Underboss by Peter Maas, it's about Sammy the Bull. Is it possible that this story is told in this book?? Did some of you guys already read this book? And if so it worth reading it!!

I read it; it was pretty good.

I don't remember if the Favara killing was discussed there, or in the book Mob Star, by Gene Mustain and Jerry Capeci, which is another pretty good book about Gotti (I believe that Capeci is considered to be about as reliable a writer as there is regarding the activities of organized crime).

Favara may have been discussed in both.

You can find a definitive account of the Favara murder on Capeci's site, http://www.ganglandnews.com Just use their search engine on the opening page.
"Underboss" is a pretty interesting book. The author knows his Mob subjects well. I was nauseated by Da Bull's rationalizations for his behavior, but that's part of the story.