John Gotti

[Morlock]

I don't if anyone here has any idea about who John Gotti is, or the fact that he died on Monday, but as he's part of my interest, please bare with me.

John Gotti was a gangster.
He was the head of the Gambino crime family, from the time his boss, Paul Castellano, the former head of the family, was murdered in 1985, till his own conviction and imprisonment in 1990.

Again, this may mean nothing to you, but I love gangsters.

John Gotti was a terrible leader, and he destroyed the prominence of the Gambino family, so now the Genovese family is on top.

I hate Gotti, the gangsters I like are the older ones, from the 1920's to the 1950's, like Charley 'Luckey' Luciano, Meyer Lasky, Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel and the original Carlo Gambino.

I feel really stupid writing this in a board which is composed of many members from many different nationalities, very few of which probably care about the crime life of New York or Chicago in the 30's, so if this is remotley interesting to anyone else, I'll continue.

[Chanak]

I read about his demise the other day in some newspaper (I don't recall which). I considered putting a thread about it up here myself, but I wasn't sure how it would go.

I suppose that John Gotti made too many mistakes; mistakes that caught up with him. Whether it was actually throat cancer, or something else that ended his life, I'm not very sure.

I know more than i should about criminals. I recommend reading a book called "Bloodletters and Badman" by a guy named Nash. It is not the greatest book..but it is a great resource.
You know, they just convicted "The Chin" Gigante a while back, he was the one that ran around in his robe using the "I'm too mentally ill to be a crime boss" camophlage. He was the one who tried to whack the last of the real gangsters..Frank Costello a long time ago...anyway, just thought I'd add my two cents.

[Morlock]

Originally posted by mental_nomad
I know more than i should about criminals. I recommend reading a book called "Bloodletters and Badman" by a guy named Nash. It is not the greatest book..but it is a great resource.
You know, they just convicted "The Chin" Gigante a while back, he was the one that ran around in his robe using the "I'm too mentally ill to be a crime boss" camophlage. He was the one who tried to whack the last of the real gangsters..Frank Costello a long time ago...anyway, just thought I'd add my two cents.

'Last of the real gangsters'? Lansky died 24 years later!

Anyway, Gigante really messed up on the Costello thing. He yelled out 'Hey Frank!', which gave Costello time to turn his head to the side, so the bullet only grazed him.

I never liked Gigante because he was working for Vito Genovese, who I always saw as a bad guy. I'll always like the Luchiano/Lansky/Costello/Adonis organazation.
One thing that really annoys me, is that Al Capone is the one everybody knows of, when he was a pretty inaffective gang leader, and certainly so compared with Luchiano.

I'd recommend 'The Mafia encyclopedia' by Carl Sifakis. It's not really in deapth, but it is the biggest source for general information on gangsters.

You are very correct about Vito....he was a bit of a.....he had no honor. ..I mean they all were crooks..but there was a certain...respect...like why Costello was almost whacked....it was cause he voted against murdering old friend...As to Gotti.....he was new breed...and seeing him I can understand how the Columbians, Jamacans, Russians have all made inroads into organised crime.
As to Capone, he just was at right place at right time. It was Johnny Torrio that was real mastermind behind Capone's set up. He got out just at right time. Capone made mistake that lots of others made, Seigal, Gotti etc...He enjoyed the Limelight too much.
Besides...by all accounts his "Needle Beer" was awful...O'Bannion's was top notch brew....