Using Criminology to Explain the Life of John Gotti

Mafia is defined as "a secret criminal society of Sicily or Italy" (Mirriam-Websters Dictionary (2008)). In some respects this is true, though the Mafia and its traditions have spread across many countries. The first reports of the Mafia in America date back to the 1880's when the New York Times wrote an article about the murder of a "Italian fruit dealer that and a member of a secret society" (Abadisnsky, 1994). Since then the American Mafia has had many highly publicized figures that have intrigued the public. Some notable Mafia figures are Al "Scarface" Capone, Benjamin "Bugsy" Seigel, Charlie "Lucky" Lucciano, and Carlo Gambino. One of the most highly profiled Mafia members is the former boss of the Gambino Crime Family, John Gotti.

A majority of the American Mafia's members were born into families that have been involved with or surrounded by organized crime. The intrigue of the Mafia lifestyle drew many young men into its clutches. They perceived the lifestyle as a glorious and wealth producing occupation. In order to achieve this lifestyle without the struggles of hard work, the innovation aspect of Robert K. Merton's Strain Theory can best be applied to John Gotti's criminal activities, as he desired the goals of wealth and power, but would reject the conventional means in order to achieve such goals (Seigel, 2008, p. 133).

The fifth child of John and Fannie Gotti, John Joseph Gotti, Jr. was born on October 27, 1940 (May, 2007). As the family grew in size, John Sr. struggled to provide for them all, resulting in a very meager existence in an impoverished area of the South Bronx. Eventually, John Sr. would save enough money to move his family to Brownsville-East (Sheepshead Bay area of Brooklyn), New York when John Jr. was twelve-years-old (May, 2007). This area of Brooklyn was a hotbed for Mafia activity in the 1950's. John greatly desired to emulate the "Wise Guys" he had become affiliated with. The mob was an intoxicating lifestyle steeped in wealth, women, luxury, power and mystique, and it would serve to catapult John into a life of crime (Ryan, 1995, p. 124).

Once a teen, John would involve himself in petty criminal activity as part of a local gang of street hoodlums (including lifelong friend Angelo Ruggiero) that often ran errands for local Mafiosi (Lubasch, 1992). In 1956, at the young age of sixteen, because of constant discipline problems and conflicts with other students, John quit school, and climbed in the ranks to a leadership position within the confines of his gang, the Fulton-Rockaway Boys (May, 2007). He began the commission of such crimes as auto theft, fencing stolen products, and assaulting individuals and robbing them, many of these crimes were committed at the request of local Mafia sects in the area (Stengel, 1986). Between 1957-1961, John was arrested five times for crimes committed as a Fulton-Rockaway Boy. John was a favorite student of Carmine and Danny Fatico of the Gambino crime family (May, 2007). John impressed them with his willingness to learn and execute the various commissions of crime. His life of crime was in full effect.

John married Victoria DiGorgio in 1960, the daughter of an Italian construction worker and a Russian-Jewish woman, with whom he would later have four children: Angela, Victoria, John A., and Peter (May, 2007). They settled in the Italian working-class area of Howard Beach-Ozone Park in Queens, New York, but John could not tear himself away from a life of crime (Lubasch, 1992). In 1965, he would be arrested in succession for the commission of bookmaking (accepting and paying off bets) and burglary and would spend one year in jail. Out in 1967 he would again be apprehended for stealing a truckload full of electrical equipment and clothing from the cargo docks at

Kennedy Airport, but this time, his criminal stint would land him three years in prison (May, 2007). Although John's constant criminal ventures would place a heavy financial and emotional burden onto his own family, his activities would again serve to catch the attention of another family, one of the most powerful factions of the Mafia: The Gambino Crime Family. After his release from prison, John replaced the Fatico brothers, who were "upper management" of the Gambino Crime Family, and soon Gotti would be reporting to his childhood friend Angelo Ruggiero's uncle, "a powerful underboss in the Mob's Gambino Family," Aniello Dellacroce (Ryan, 1995, p. 104).

Unfortunately, in order to move up in the ranks of the Mob, certain actions must be taken to show one's ultimate loyalty to the family. Often, such actions entailed carrying out crimes of a more violent nature, such as murder, extortion, assault, and armed robbery. Most notable, was the 1973 murder of a man named James McBratney, who was killed by three men in a bar on Staten Island, New York. Much speculation has encircled this murder because of the implications of James McBratney in the abduction and murder of Manny Gambino who was the nephew of Mob boss Carlo Gambino (Ryan, 1995, p. 75). The murderers in question were Angelo Ruggiero, Ralphie "the Wig" Galione, and John Gotti. Gotti pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 1975 and received four years in prison (Ryan, 1995, p. 75). The members of the Gambino Crime family saw this act as one of great loyalty and commitment to the family. They formally initiated John Gotti into the Mafia as a "made man" and he would continue his life of crime for years (Stengel, 1986).

As the FBI began surveillance on Gotti as a person of interest, they began to notice the reaction to Gotti by the fellow members of his crime family. Gotti would receive greetings from fellow Mafiosi with kisses and embraces, gestures usually bestowed upon the heads of the family (May, 2007). It wouldn't be much longer before the Gambino Crime Family boss, Paul Castellano, and his driver and co-executive member, Thomas Bilotti, were gunned down and murdered in the winter of 1985 on a busy street in Manhattan (Ryan, 1995, p.104). Gotti would soon take over as head of the Gambino Crime Family, which was the most powerful Mafia family in the country. Sammy "The Bull" Gravano would later turn state's evidence against John Gotti, implicating him in the murders of Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti. Gotti was charged with the murders.

John Gotti's illegitimate schemes would eventually bring him down and serve as the key destructive factor of the Gambino family. With the testimony of Gravano's candid accounts of the inner workings of the Gambino Crime Family, the FBI's investigation into the crimes committed by Gotti gave them enough evidence to formally charge him with "14 counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, loansharking, racketeering, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling, and tax evasion" (Schmalleger, 2006, p. 425). John Gotti was convicted on of all counts in the indictment to include the murder of Paul Castellano. Gotti was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. John Gotti would later die of throat cancer at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners on June 10, 2002. He died at the age of 61.

A closer examination of the life of John Gotti revealed his tendency towards innovation. Innovation is an aspect theStrain Theory, followed by the work of Emile Durkheim and further advanced and developed by Robert K. Merton, which states that social structures within the society may encourage citizens to commit crimes (Seigel, 2008, p.133). For example, on the individual scale of the strain, if the goals of a society become extremely important to the individual, actually achieving such goals may become more significant that adhering to the means that are accepted by society (Seigel, 2008, p.134). Merton lists five compartments of the structure of the strain and they are, Conformity, Innovation, Ritualism, Retreatism, and Rebellion. John Gotti falls into the category of innovation because he used his own initiative to devise socially unacceptable means (he rejected the socially acceptable means) in order to achieve his goals of money, status, and luxury.

As Gotti went from committing petty crimes with the boyhood gang of his youth and moved into creating lucrative business as a member of the Gambino crime organization, he became aninnovator. Previously, as was stated, Gotti held nothing but an 9^th grade education and because of his educational limitations, he possessed no real skills for steady employment opportunities. He also had a growing family that depended on him to provide for their needs, he saw being a part of the Mafia as a means to achieve a comfortable lifestyle for his family and for himself. He, in turn, spent the next fifteen years committing the crimes as a member and head of the Gambino Crime Family.

John Gotti was a criminal of super proportions. He held little regard or respect for how to achieve success through normal means. He was an innovator, seeking self-gratification and provision for his family without the willingness to work hard in order to achieve it. He had choices to make and he made the wrong choices. As a result, his life ended, all alone, in a prison infirmary. Unfortunately his legacy continued with his son, John Jr. In 1998, he was indicted with 39 others in a large federal investigation into the Gambino Crime Family. He would later take a plea agreement and serve 77 months in prison (May, 2007). I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

REFERENCE LIST

May, Allan (2007) "John Gotti: The Last Mafia Icon," Tru TV Crime Library

Lubasch, Arnold H. (1992) "Gotti Sentenced to Life In Prison Without the Possibility of

Parole," The New York Times, June 24, 1992 [on-line] http://find.galegroup/itx

Ryan, Patrick J. (1995) Organized Crime, ABC-CLIO, Inc.

Schmalleger, Frank (2006) Criminology Today - An Integrative Introduction, 4^th

Edition, Prentice Hall

Siegel, Larry (2008) Criminology - The Core, 3^rd Edition, Thompson Wadsworth

Stengel, Richard (1986) "Two From the Neighborhood; the crossed paths of a Dapper

Don and a Dogged Prosecutor," Time Magazine. September 29, 1986 [online]

http://find.galegroup/itx