On this date in crime history - April 2, 1992, mob boss John Gotti, nicknamed “The Teflon
Don,” was found guilty of 13 counts of murder and racketeering charges. In the
wake of the conviction, the assistant director of the FBI’s New York office,
James Fox, was quoted as saying, “The don is covered in Velcro, and every
charge stuck.” On June 23rd of that year, Gotti was sentenced to life in
prison, dealing a significant blow to organized crime.
John Joseph Gotti, Jr., was born in the Bronx, New York,
on October 27, 1940. He rose through the ranks of the Gambino crime family and
seized power after ordering the December 1985 murder of then-boss Paul
Castellano outside a Manhattan steakhouse. Behind closed doors, Gotti was a
ruthless, controlling figure. Publicly, he became a tabloid celebrity, famous
for his swagger and expensive suits. During the 1980s, Gotti’s lawyer Bruce
Cutler won him acquittals three times. A jury member in one of those trials was
later convicted of accepting a bribe to acquit the mob boss. In December 1990,
Gotti was arrested at the Ravenite Social Club, his headquarters in New York
City’s Little Italy neighborhood. The ensuing trial, which started in January
1992, created a media frenzy. Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, one of
Gotti’s top soldiers, made a deal with the government and testified in court
against his boss. Gravano admitted to committing 19 murders, 10 of them
sanctioned by Gotti. In addition, prosecutors presented secret taped
conversations that incriminated Gotti. After deliberating for 13 hours, the
jury, which had been kept anonymous and sequestered during the trial, came back
with a verdict on April 2, 1992, finding Gotti guilty on all counts. The mob
boss was sent to the U.S. Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, where he was held
in virtual solitary confinement. On June 10, 2002, he died of throat cancer at
age 61 at a Springfield, Missouri, federal medical facility.
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