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John Gotti
Oct. 27, 1940 - June 10, 2002
| John Gotti, a former truck hijacker from Queens, burst on the scene after his Mafia
boss was blown away in midtown Manhattan during the height of the evening rush hour. A few
days later, when Gotti showed up dressed to the nines for a previously scheduled court
appearance and reporters asked if he was now the boss of the Gambino family, Gotti smiled
and said, "I'm the boss of my family - my wife and kids at home." Like a skilled
politician on the stump, Gotti pushed his way through a gaggle of reporters, always
smiling broadly for the cameras, until he and a woman reporter arrived together at the
courtroom door. "I was brought up to hold the door open for ladies," he said
with a twinkle in his eye as he grasped the door with his right hand and ushered her in
with his left. Gotti was the focus of many Daily News Gang Land columns, including one as
his racketeering trial opened in January, 1992, and another as
the case drew to a smashing conclusion five months later. Gotti
was the antihero of "Mob Star: The Story of John Gotti,"
by Gene Mustain and Jerry Capeci, and is also the main focus of Gotti: Rise & Fall, a book
we co-authored that was the basis for GOTTI, an HBO movie.
On June 10, 2002, nearly 10 years after he was sentenced to life in prison
and was flown to Marion Federal Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois,
Gotti died of head and neck cancer at the federal prison hospital in
Springfield, Missouri. He was 61. A few days
later, following a two-day wake in Maspeth,
Queens, he was laid to rest alongside his father and his son Frank. |
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Serving life, Gotti takes a beating
from a fellow inmate |
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My partner Gene Mustain gets the
once-Dapper Don talking, and talking |
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Listen to Gotti talk about whacking
guys and la cosa nostra |
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Sensational midtown Manhattan
assassination of Paul Castellano |
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Joe Watts held in Gotti revenge
slaying |
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Gotti orders lawyers to stop
speaking to Gang Land |
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Gene Mustain's 40-minute interview
of Gotti |
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Salvatore "Sammy Bull"
Gravano turns on John Gotti |
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Gotti fixed two trials |
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Sammy Bull looks for the home court
advantage |
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My Son The Dummy Don |
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Gambinos in Free Fall |
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Bosko Nabbed in Gotti Jury Fix |
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Gotti Still Pulls The Strings |
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Cancer Hits Gotti Again |
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Who Killed John Favara? |
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Gotti Cancer Worsens |
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Gotti Predicts Son-in-Law Carmine
Agnello's Fate |
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