The Teflon Don

The news reporters called him names like the "Teflon Don" and the "Dapper Don". Time and time again he was hauled into court by prosecutors. Time and time again he wore flashy and expensive clothes to his court dates. Time and time again it seemed that he always exited the court house the same way he entered; through the front door.

John Joseph Gotti, boss of New York's Gambino Crime Family, was born October 27, 1940. As a child, his family was poor. It can be argued that the financial situation his family was in made Gotti into the fighting, fist throwing hellion that he was as a child. As a child in his neighborhood, Gotti would see the Mafiosos and wise guys hanging around the street corners and little John Gotti wanted to be just like them. He wanted to be a tough guy, a respected guy, a made guy.

At the age of 16, Gotti officially dropped out of school (he hadn't been going much anyway) and became a full time member of the local street gang named after an intersection in Brooklyn, the Fulton-Rockaway Boys. Gotti managed to rise to a leadership position within the gang and directed auto theft and stolen good distribution operations. Gotti was arrested five times while he was a member of the Fulton-Rockaway Boys, but each time his cases were either dismissed or reduced to probation sentences.

So begins Gotti's journey towards becoming known as the "Teflon Don". There was a brief period, however, when John Gotti was imprisoned for about three years, between 1969 and 1972, for his role in multiple hijackings of airline cargo and cigarettes. Then again, around the time of 1973, Gotti took part in the murder of James McBratney, who was a kidnapper and murderer of Manny Gambino, nephew to the family namesake, Carlo Gambino. Gotti served two of his seven year term.

Gotti proved himself to be a good earner for the Gambino family upon his release from prison. He quickly rose through the ranks of the Gambino crime family and ultimately became boss of that very family after the top three members who out ranked Gotti within the family became removed from their positions of power.

While he was boss of the Gambino crime family, law enforcement officials began to gather evidence against Gotti that was designed to topple one of New York's most powerful mob families. Gotti managed, however, to elude prosecution time and time again for almost seven years. All the while taunting prosecutors with his lavish parties and thousand dollar suits. It was his style and his ego that earned him the name the "Dapper Don". It was his magical ability to keep criminal charges from sticking to him that earned him the name the "Teflon Don".
John Gotti successfully avoided incarceration on three separate occasions while serving as the boss of the Gambino crime family. It was the fourth time in court that the prosecution gathered enough evidence for a successful conviction. The prosecution's entire case depended on the testimony of a former Gambino under boss, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano. In return for his testimony against John Gotti, Gravano would serve five years for his crimes and be entered into the Federal Witness Protection Program.

Gotti was convicted in 1992 of various violations of the RICO act, among those violations were murder and racketeering. Gotti served ten years of his life sentence before dying of cancer at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri.

Sources:

Allan May. John Gotti - The Last Mafia Icon. TruTV.

Charles Montaldo. John Gotti - Profile of John "Dapper Don" Gotti. About: Crime / Punishment.