Age, Biography, and Wiki
John Joseph Gotti was born on October 27, 1940, in the Bronx, New York, to Italian immigrant parents. He grew up in poverty and began his involvement in street gangs at a young age. Gotti rose through the ranks of the Gambino crime family, becoming a protégé of Aniello Dellacroce. He orchestrated the murder of Paul Castellano in 1985 and took over as the boss of the Gambino family, leading it to become one of the most powerful crime syndicates in the United States.
| Occupation | Criminals |
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| Date of Birth | 27 October 1940 |
| Age | 84 Years |
| Birth Place | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Scorpio |
| Country | U.S |
| Date of death | 10 June, 2002 |
| Died Place | MCFP Springfield, Springfield, Missouri, U.S. |
Height, Weight & Measurements
While specific details about John Gotti's height and weight are not widely documented, he was known for his robust build and flamboyant style, often wearing expensive suits.
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Dating & Relationship Status
Gotti was married to Victoria DiGiorgio, whom he married in 1962. The couple had five children together: Victoria, John Jr., Frank, Angela, and Peter. His family life was marked by both love and turmoil, reflecting the challenges of his lifestyle.
He was the fifth of the thirteen children (two had died at birth) of John Joseph Gotti Sr. and Philomena "Fannie" DeCarlo. Both of Gotti's parents were born in New York, but it is presumed that his grandparents were from San Giuseppe Vesuviano, in the Naples province of Southern Italy, because his parents were married and lived there for some time. Gotti was one of five brothers who became made men in the Gambino crime family: Eugene "Gene" Gotti was initiated before John due to the latter's incarceration, Peter Gotti was initiated under John's leadership in 1988, and Richard V. Gotti was identified as a caporegime (captain, or head of a "crew") by 2002. The fifth, Vincent, was initiated in 2002.
By the time he reached the age of 12, Gotti's family settled in East New York, Brooklyn, where he grew up in poverty alongside his brothers. His father worked irregularly as a day laborer. As an adult, Gotti came to resent his father for being unable to provide for his family. In school, he had a history of truancy and bullying other students, and ultimately dropped out of Franklin K. Lane High School at the age of 16.
Gotti met his future wife, Victoria DiGiorgio, who was of half-Italian and half-Russian descent, at a bar in 1958. The couple were married on March 6, 1962. According to FBI documents, DiGiorgio was married previously and had one child by that marriage. Gotti and his wife had five children: Angela, Victoria, John Jr., Frank (d. 1980) and Peter. Gotti attempted to work legitimately in 1962 as a presser in a coat factory and as an assistant truck driver. However, he could not stay crime-free and, by 1966, had been jailed twice.
In December 1978, Gotti assisted in the Lufthansa heist at Kennedy Airport, the largest unrecovered cash robbery in history. He had made arrangements for the getaway van to be crushed and baled at a scrapyard in Brooklyn. However, the driver of the van, Parnell "Stacks" Edwards, failed to follow orders; rather than driving the vehicle to the scrapyard, he parked it near a fire hydrant, and went to sleep at his girlfriend's apartment.
Gotti mostly tried to distance his personal family from his life of crime, with the exception of his son John Jr., who was a mob associate by 1982. However, on March 18, 1980, Gotti's youngest son, 12-year-old Frank, was run over and killed on a family friend's minibike by a neighbor named John Favara. Frank's death was ruled an accident, but Favara subsequently received death threats and was attacked by Gotti's wife with a baseball bat when he visited their home to apologize. Four months later, Favara disappeared, and was presumed murdered. Accounts have differed on what was done with his body. One account said that Favara was dismembered alive with a chainsaw, and that his remains were stuffed into a barrel filled with concrete and dumped in the ocean, or buried somewhere on the lot of a chop shop. In January 2009, court papers filed by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn contained allegations that mob hitman Charles Carneglia killed Favara and disposed of his body in acid. Gotti is widely assumed to have ordered Favara's murder despite him and his family leaving on vacation for Florida three days prior.
Gotti was also able to influence the New Jersey-based DeCavalcante crime family in 1988. According to the DeCavalcante capo-turned-informant Anthony Rotondo, Gotti attended his father's wake with numerous other Gambino mobsters in a "show of force", and forced boss Giovanni Riggi to agree to run his family on the Gambinos' behalf. The DeCavalcantes remained in the Gambino family's sphere of influence until Gotti's imprisonment.
Despite his imprisonment and pressure from the Commission to step down, Gotti asserted his prerogative to retain his title as boss until his death or retirement, with his brother Peter and his son John Jr. relaying orders on his behalf. By 1998, when he was indicted on racketeering, John Jr. was believed to be the acting boss of the family. Against his father's wishes, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years and five months' imprisonment in 1999. He maintains that he has since left the Gambino family. Peter subsequently became acting boss, and is believed to have formally succeeded his brother shortly before Gotti's death.
John Jr.'s indictment brought further stress to Gotti's marriage. Victoria Gotti, up to that point unaware of her son's involvement in the Mafia, blamed her husband for ruining her son's life and threatened to leave him unless he allowed John Jr. to leave the mob.
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| Husband | Victoria DiGiorgio (m. 1962) |
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Net Worth and Salary
At the peak of his career, John Gotti's net worth was estimated at around $30 million, adjusted for inflation. His annual earnings as the boss of the Gambino family reportedly ranged from $5 million to $20 million.
In 1976, the Gambino family's membership books were reportedly reopened. Gotti was released in July 1977, after two years' imprisonment; he was subsequently initiated into the family, now under the command of Castellano, and immediately promoted to replace Fatico as capo of the Bergin crew. Gotti's crew reported directly to Dellacroce as part of the concessions given by Castellano to keep Dellacroce as underboss, and Gotti was regarded as Dellacroce's protégé. Under Gotti, the crew were Dellacroce's biggest earners. Besides his cut of his subordinates' earnings, Gotti ran his own loansharking operation, and held a no-show job as a plumbing supply salesman. Unconfirmed allegations by FBI informants claimed that Gotti also financed drug deals.
Identified as both Castellano's likely murderer and his successor, Gotti rose to fame throughout 1986. At the time of his takeover, the Gambino family was regarded as the most powerful American Mafia family, with an annual income of $500 million. In the book Underboss, Gravano estimated that Gotti himself had an annual income of no less than $5 million during his years as boss, and more likely between $10 million and $12 million. To protect himself legally, Gotti banned members of the family from accepting plea bargains that acknowledged the existence of the organization.
Career, Business, and Investments
Gotti's career was marked by a rapid ascent through the Gambino crime family. He became notorious for his involvement in various criminal activities, including loan sharking, gambling, drug trafficking, and labor racketeering. His flamboyant persona and ability to avoid conviction in early trials earned him the nickname "The Teflon Don." However, his reign ended in 1992 with a conviction for murder and racketeering, following testimony from his former underboss Salvatore Gravano.
On October 15, 1976, Carlo Gambino died at his home of natural causes. Against expectations, he had appointed Paul Castellano to succeed him over his underboss Dellacroce. Gambino appeared to believe that his crime family would benefit from Castellano's focus on white-collar businesses. Dellacroce was in prison for tax evasion at the time and was therefore unable to contest the succession. Castellano's position as boss was confirmed at a meeting on November 24, with Dellacroce present. Castellano arranged for Dellacroce to remain as underboss while directly running the family's affairs. While Dellacroce accepted Castellano's succession, the deal effectively split the Gambino family into two rival factions.
In 1984, Castellano was arrested and indicted in a RICO case for the crimes of Gambino hitman Roy DeMeo and his crew. The following year, he received a second indictment for his role on the Commission, the Mafia's governing body. Facing life imprisonment for either case, Castellano arranged for Gotti to serve as acting boss alongside Thomas Bilotti, Castellano's favorite capo, and Thomas Gambino in his absence. Gotti, meanwhile, began conspiring with fellow disgruntled capos Frank DeCicco and Joseph "Joe Piney" Armone and soldiers Sammy "the Bull" Gravano and Robert "DiB" DiBernardo (collectively dubbed "The Fist") to overthrow Castellano, insisting, despite the boss' inaction, that Castellano would eventually try to kill him. Armone's support was critical; as a respected old-timer who dated back to the family's founder, Vincent Mangano, he would lend needed credibility to the conspirators' cause.
In 1989, Gotti ordered the murder of real estate developer Fred Weiss, because he was worried that Weiss might become a government witness in exchange for leniency, and he ordered the DeCavalcante family to carry out the hit. Vincent "Vinny Ocean" Palermo and James "Jimmy" Gallo (unrelated to Joseph N. Gallo) shot Weiss in the face, killing him instantly, with Anthony Capo serving as the getaway driver in the hit. In 1990, Riggi appointed John D'Amato as acting boss of the DeCavalcante family when Riggi went to prison.
On the evening of January 23, 1989, Gotti was arrested outside the Ravenite and charged with ordering the 1986 assault of labor union official John O'Connor. In the back of the police car, he remarked, "Three to one I beat this charge." O'Connor, a leader in the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBC) Local 608, who was later convicted of racketeering himself, was believed to have ordered an attack on a Gambino-associated restaurant that had snubbed the union and was subsequently shot and wounded by the Westies. After one night in jail, Gotti was released on $100,000 bail. He had his occupation listed as a salesman for a plumbing contracting company.
By this time, the FBI had cultivated new informants, and learned part of the reason the Ravenite bug failed was because Gotti would hold sensitive conversations elsewhere, either in a rear hallway in the building the club occupied, or in an apartment in its upper floors where the friendly widow of a Gambino soldier lived; by November 1989, both locations were bugged. The apartment bug was particularly fruitful due to Gotti's frankness as he discussed his position as boss in meetings there. In a December 12 conversation with Locascio, Gotti plainly acknowledged ordering the murders of DiBernardo and Liborio Milito — the latter being one of Gravano's partners killed for insubordination. He also announced his intent to kill soldier Louis DiBono, who had ignored a summons to meet with Gotti to discuss his mismanagement of a drywall business he held with Gotti and Gravano. The FBI, however, misheard the namedrop and failed to warn DiBono, who was killed on October 4, 1990. In another taped meeting on January 4, 1990, Gotti promoted Gravano to underboss, preferring him to lead the family if Gotti was convicted in the assault case.
Gotti and Locascio were tried in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York before District Judge I. Leo Glasser. Jury selection began in January 1992 with an anonymous jury that was, for the first time in a Brooklyn federal case, fully sequestered during the trial, due to Gotti's reputation for jury tampering. The trial commenced with the prosecution's opening statements on February 12; prosecutors Andrew Maloney and John Gleeson began their case by playing tapes showing Gotti discussing Gambino family business, including murders he approved, and confirming the animosity between Gotti and Castellano to establish the former's motive to kill his boss. After calling an eyewitness of the Castellano hit who identified Carneglia as one of the men who shot Bilotti, they then brought Gravano to testify on March 2.
Social Network
John Gotti was not known for having a social media presence, as his life predated the widespread use of social networks. However, his family and associates have been subjects of media attention over the years.
At his peak, Gotti was one of the most powerful and dangerous crime bosses in the United States. While his peers generally avoided attracting attention, especially from the media, Gotti became known as "the Dapper Don" for his expensive clothes and outspoken personality in front of news cameras. He was later given the nickname "the Teflon Don" after three high-profile trials in the 1980s resulted in acquittals, though it was later revealed that the trials had been tainted by jury tampering, juror misconduct, and witness intimidation. Law enforcement continued gathering evidence against Gotti, who reportedly earned between $5million and $20million per year as Gambino boss.
Gotti quickly became dissatisfied with Castellano's leadership of the Gambino family, regarding the new boss as being too isolated and greedy. Like other members of the family, he also personally disliked Castellano. The boss lacked street credibility, and those who had paid their dues running street-level jobs did not respect him. Gotti had an economic interest as well; he had a running dispute with Castellano on the split Gotti took from truck hijackings at Kennedy Airport.
Gotti often smiled and waved at news cameras at his trials, which gained him favor with some of the general public. His newfound notoriety had at least one positive effect; upon the revelation of his attacker's occupation, and amid reports of intimidation by the Gambinos, Piecyk decided not to testify against Gotti, thanks to Boško "The Yugo" Radonjić, the head of the Westies in Hell's Kitchen. When Gotti's trial began in March 1986, Piecyk testified he was unable to remember who attacked him. The case was promptly dismissed, with the New York Post summarizing the proceedings with the headline, "I For Gotti!" It was later revealed that Gambino mobsters had severed Piecyk's brake lines, made threatening phone calls, and stalked Piecyk before the trial.
State prosecutors linked Gotti to the case with a recording of him discussing O'Connor and announcing his intention to "bust him up", as well as the testimony of Westies gangster James McElroy. However, Gotti was acquitted of all six assault and conspiracy charges at trial on February 9, 1990. After the trial, there were firework displays by locals. Jules J. Bonavolonta, director of the FBI's organized crime division in New York, stated, "With all this media coverage he's beginning to look like a folk hero... What the public should realize is that he is the boss of the largest Cosa Nostra family, that he surrounds himself with ruthless killers and that he is flat out a criminal."
* In A Boogie With Da Hoodie song featuring Kodak Black, John Gotti was mentioned on Kodak Black verse. "Pull up in a Rari' Im in the Yo like Gotti" (this is likely a reference to rapper Yo Gotti however)
* “Married To The Game”, a song by Future and DJ Esco on their 2016 mixtape “Project E.T.” refers to Gotti “I beat a couple cases, I feel like John Gotti”.
* In Future's third release of 2024, "MIXTAPE PLUTO", Future references John Gotti's elusive criminal behaviour "beat the first case like John Gotti". The title of the song nods at John Gotti more, being called "TEFLON DON".
Education
Details about John Gotti's formal education are scarce. His early life was marked by involvement in street gangs rather than academic pursuits.
John Gotti passed away on June 10, 2002, at a federal prison hospital due to complications from throat cancer. His legacy remains complex, reflecting both the allure of his lifestyle and the tragic consequences of his actions.
Gotti was involved in street gangs associated with New York mafiosi from the age of 12. When he was aged 14, he was attempting to steal a cement mixer from a construction site when it fell, crushing his toes; this injury left him with a permanent limp. After leaving school, Gotti devoted himself to working with the Mafia-associated Fulton-Rockaway Boys gang, where he met and befriended fellow future Gambino mobsters Angelo Ruggiero and Wilfred "Willie Boy" Johnson.
