move up within the mob?
Ok some of u will say "looks" has nothing to do with it ie Chicken man Testa/ his underboss were not the best looking fellas. fat Joey Massino was a whale.... Etc
But hear me out, we are all visual creatures. Gotti was just another street tough... Like many. He wasn't a huge earner in terms of construction rackets/ garment/ waste etc but made his money from drugs as a capo & loan sharking/ mostly blue collar crimes... Wasn't a big hitter himself. Yet every wiseguy who met him seemed to be mesmerised by his good looks/ personality all the way from when he was a soldier to capo to boss
And people wanted to be in his company. He was a very popular guy, similar to when your in high school everyone wants to be friends with the tough good looking guy in class who can fight/ and pick up chicks
Nobody wants to hang out with the ugly loser (generally)
And that made people listen to him. And as proven later on he was a terrible boss. Yet he had everyone fawning at his feet along the way (albeit some enemies)
Sammy was very impressed with Gotti when he met him & continued to be throughout their relationship...
Scarfo according to Leonetti also was very impressed with Gotti. It's no different to walking into my car dealership, the woman have to be pretty & guys well presented
The chief exec likes to put on a suit BETTER than everyone else that spells "authority".
Was Gotti known for being some handsome guy? He looked like a chubby, middle-aged guy who dressed well and had a fancy coiffed hairdo.
But in terms of his success -- I think it had more to do with his connections (mainly his closeness to Neil and before that with the Fatico brothers). He lucked out by coming up with a group of guys who not only mentored him but, later on, used him for more supervisory types of roles. He was an acting capo before he was even made at one point. So, I think his connections (and how he played those connections) are what led to his fleeting success.
But even his success was really short-lived and overblown. He spent more time in jail while he was boss than he did out on the streets. He ended up getting put away for life at the age of 50/51. He grabbed power by knocking off a boss without commission consent (how he was able to avoid assassination himself mystified me). And most of his 'tough guy' actions were not done by himself; he delegated them out to his underlings. Gotti built up this macho, tough-guy reputation, but in truth, what did he ever do himself? Even the McBratney hit, Gotti didn't pull the trigger; he was just one of the guy who grabbed McBratney. And with Castellano, Gotti never directly opposed Castellano and probably never said a coarse word to Paul. But Gotti assembled the hit team and ordered others to knock off Paul.
You can say that Gotti was treacherous and bold, but that's about it.
