John Gotti

John Joseph Gotti, Jr. was born in New York City, New York on October 27, 1940. By the time he was a teenager he and his brother were both members of a street gang. He injured his foot while trying to commit a crime and would have a limp thereafter.

He actually began his criminal career as part of the Gambinos family. In the late 1970s Gotti was arrested for having stolen merchandise that had been hijacked but was released on bail before going to court. During this time he was again arrested for hijacking cigarettes. The charges for the hijacking of cigarettes was dropped but he did receive a prison term for the initial hijacking charge. He did not spend his entire sentence before being released.

After being released he went back to his old ways. At one point because of the arrest of Carmine Fatico, he was put in charge of a crew. He and the crew began doing things that were against the rules of the so called family. When this was found out, he ordered the killing of Paul Castallano and then began his reign as head of the family.

Gotti was arrested several times over the years and even though he did serve time in state and federal prison, there were also many times he was released without conviction. This earned him the name of Teflon Don.

In late 1990, Gotti was arrested and charged with murder and six other charges. He was tried in federal court and convicted of all thirteen charges. He was sentenced to life in prison and he died there on June 10, 2002.