Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (December 1, 1949 – December 2, 1993) was a Colombian drug lord. He was an elusive cocaine trafficker^[1] and a rich and successful criminal.^[2] In 1986, he had a short-lived career in Colombian politics.

Early life[link]

Escobar was born in the village of Rionegro in Antioquia, Colombia, the third of seven children to Abel de Jesus Escobar, a farmer, and Hemilda Gaviria, an elementary school teacher.^[3] As a teenager on the streets of Medellin, he would begin his criminal career, allegedly stealing gravestones and sanding them down for resale to smugglers. His brother, Roberto Escobar, denies this, claiming that the gravestones came from cemetery owners whose clients had stopped paying for site care and that they had a relative who had a legitimate monuments business.^[4] He studied for a short time at the University of Antioquia.^[5]

Pablo was involved in many criminal activities — running petty street scams, selling contraband cigarettes and fake lottery tickets, and stealing cars.^[1] In the early 1970s, he was a thief and bodyguard, and he made a quick $100,000 on the side kidnapping and ransoming a Medellín executive before entering the drug trade.^[6] His next step on the ladder was to become a millionaire by working for the multi-millionaire contraband smuggler Alvaro Prieto. Pablo's childhood ambition was to become a millionaire by the time he was 22.^[7]

Rise to power[link]

In The Accountant's Story, Pablo's brother, Roberto Escobar, discusses how Pablo rose from poverty and obscurity to become one of the wealthiest men in the world. At the height of its power, the Medellín drug cartel was smuggling 15 tons of cocaine a day, worth more than half a billion dollars, into the United States. According to Roberto, Pablo's accountant, he and his brother's operation spent $2500 a month just purchasing rubber bands to wrap the stacks of cash—and since they had more illegal money than they could deposit in the banks, they stored the bricks of cash in their warehouses, annually writing off 10% as "spoilage" when the rats crept in at night and nibbled on the hundred dollar bills.^[7]

In 1975, Escobar started developing his cocaine operation. He even flew a plane himself several times, mainly between Colombia and Panama, to smuggle a load into the United States. When he later bought 15 new and bigger airplanes (including a Learjet) and 6 helicopters, he decommissioned the plane and hung it above the gate to his ranch at Hacienda Napoles. His reputation grew after a well known Medellín dealer named Fabio Restrepo was murdered in 1975 ostensibly by Escobar, from whom he had purchased 14 kilograms. Afterwards, all of Restrepo's men were informed that they now worked for Pablo Escobar. In May 1976 Escobar and several of his men were arrested and were found in possession of 39 pounds (18 kg) of white paste after returning to Medellín with a heavy load from Ecuador. Initially, Pablo tried unsuccessfully to bribe the Medellín judges who were forming the case against him. Instead, after many months of legal wrangling Pablo had the two arresting officers bribed and the case was dropped. It was here that he began his pattern of dealing with the authorities by either bribing them or killing them.^[8] Roberto Escobar maintains Pablo fell into the business simply because contraband became too dangerous to traffic. There were no drug cartels then and only a few drug barons, so there was plenty of business for everyone. In Peru, they bought the cocaine paste, which they refined in a laboratory in a two-story house in Medellín. On his first trip, Pablo bought a paltry £30 worth of paste in what was to become the first step towards the building of his empire. At first, he smuggled the cocaine in old plane tires and a pilot could earn as much as £500,000 a flight depending on how much he could smuggle.^[9]

Soon the demand for cocaine was skyrocketing in the United States and Pablo organized more smuggling shipments, routes, and distribution networks in South Florida, California and other parts of the USA. He and Carlos Lehder worked together to develop a new island trans-shipment point in the Bahamas, called Norman's Cay. Carlos and Robert Vesco purchased most of the land on the Island which included a 3,300 foot airstrip, a harbor, hotel, houses, boats, aircraft and even built a refrigerated warehouse to store the cocaine. From 1978–1982, this was used as a central smuggling route for the Medellín Cartel. (According to his brother's account, Pablo did not purchase Norman's Cay. It was, instead, a sole venture of Carlos Lehder.) Escobar was able to purchase the 7.7 square miles (20 km²) of land, which included Hacienda Napoles, for several million dollars. He created a zoo, a lake and other diversions for his family and organization.^[10] At one point it was estimated that 70 to 80 tons of cocaine were being shipped from Colombia to the U.S. every month. At the peak of his power in the mid-1980s, he was shipping as much as 11 tonnes per flight in jetliners to the United States (the biggest load shipped by Pablo was 23,000 kg mixed with fish paste and shipped via boat, this is confirmed by his brother in the book Escobar). In addition to using the planes, Pablo's brother, Roberto Escobar, said he also used two small remote-controlled submarines as a way to transport the massive loads (these subs were, in fact, manned and this is again documented in Roberto's book).^[1]

In 1982, Escobar was elected as a deputy/alternative representative to the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia's Congress, as part of the Colombian Liberal Party.^[11] During the 1980s, Escobar became known internationally as his drug network gained notoriety; the Medellín Cartel controlled a large portion of the drugs that entered into the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic with cocaine brought mostly from Peru and Bolivia, as Colombian coca was initially of substandard quality. Escobar's product reached many other nations, mostly around the Americas, although it is said that his network reached as far as Asia.

Corruption and intimidation characterized Escobar's dealings with the Colombian system. He had an effective, inescapable policy in dealing with law enforcement and the government, referred to as "plata o plomo," (literally silver or lead, colloquially [accept] money or [face] bullets). This resulted in the deaths of hundreds of individuals, including civilians, policemen and state officials. At the same time, Escobar bribed countless government officials, judges and other politicians. Escobar was allegedly responsible for the murder of Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán, one of three assassinated candidates who were all competing in the same election, as well as the bombing of Avianca Flight 203 and the DAS Building bombing in Bogotá in 1989. The Cartel de Medellín was also involved in a deadly drug war with its primary rival, the Cartel de Cali, for most of its existence. It is sometimes alleged that Escobar backed the 1985 storming of the Colombian Supreme Court by left-wing guerrillas from the 19th of April Movement, also known as M-19, which resulted in the murder of half the judges on the court. Some of these claims were included in a late 2006 report by a Truth Commission of three judges of the current Supreme Court. One of those who discusses the attack is "Popeye", a former Escobar hitman. At the time of the siege, the Supreme Court was studying the constitutionality of Colombia's extradition treaty with the U.S.^[12] Roberto Escobar stated in his book, that indeed the M-19 were paid to break into the building of the supreme court, and burn all papers and files on Los Extraditables - the group of cocaine smugglers who were under threat of being extradited to the US by their Colombian government. But the plan backfired and hostages were taken for negotiation of their release, so Los Extraditables were not directly responsible for the actions of the M-19.

Height of power[link]

Pablo Escobar said that the essence of the cocaine business was "simple - you bribe someone here, you bribe someone there, and you pay a friendly banker to help you bring the money back."^[13] In 1989, Forbes magazine estimated Escobar to be one of 227 billionaires in the world with a personal net worth of close to US$3 billion^[14] while his Medellín cartel controlled 80% of the global cocaine market.^[15]

While seen as an enemy of the United States and Colombian governments, Escobar was a hero to many in Medellín (especially the poor people); he was a natural at public relations and he worked to create goodwill among the poor people of Colombia. A lifelong sports fan, he was credited with building football fields and multi-sports courts, as well as sponsoring children's football teams.^[7]

Escobar was responsible for the construction of many hospitals, schools and churches in western Colombia, which gained him popularity inside the local Roman Catholic Church.^[16] He worked hard to cultivate his "Robin Hood" image, and frequently distributed money to the poor through housing projects and other civic activities, which gained him notable popularity among the poor. The population of Medellín often helped Escobar serving as lookouts, hiding information from the authorities, or doing whatever else they could do to protect him.

Despite his popular image among Medellín's impoverished community, Escobar was well-known among his business associates to be a calm and sensible negotiator, that preferred to use money before the gun^{[citation needed]}. Many of the wealthier residents of Medellín also viewed him as a threat. His brother said that Pablo knew that money generated more loyalty than fear, so violence was often unnecessary^{[citation needed]}. At the height of his power, drug traffickers from Medellín and other areas were handing over between 20% and 35% of their Colombian cocaine-related profits to Escobar, because he was the one who shipped the cocaine successfully to the US.

The Colombian cartels' continuing struggles to maintain supremacy resulted in Colombia quickly becoming the world’s murder capital with 25,100 violent deaths in 1991 and 27,100 in 1992.^[17] This increased murder rate was fueled by Escobar's giving money to his hitmen as a reward for killing police officers, over 600 of whom died in this way.^[18]

Personal life[link]

In March 1976 at the age of 26, Escobar married Maria Victoria who was 15 years old. Together they had two children: Juan Pablo and Manuela. Escobar created and lived in a luxurious estate called Hacienda Nápoles (Spanish for Naples Estate) and had planned to construct a Greek-style citadel near it. Construction of the citadel was begun but never finished. The ranch, the zoo and the citadel were expropriated by the government and given to low-income families in the 1990s under a law called extinción de dominio (domain extinction). The property has been converted into a theme park.^[19]

La Catedral prison[link]

After the assassination of Luis Carlos Galán, a presidential candidate, the administration of César Gaviria moved against Escobar and the drug cartels. Eventually, the government negotiated with Escobar, convincing him to surrender and cease all criminal activity in exchange for a reduced sentence and preferential treatment during his captivity.

After declaring an end to a series of previous violent or terrorist acts meant to pressure authorities and public opinion, Escobar turned himself in. He was confined in what became his own luxurious private prison, La Catedral. Before Escobar gave himself up, the extradition of Colombian citizens had been prohibited by the newly approved Colombian Constitution of 1991. That was controversial, as it was suspected that Escobar or other drug lords had influenced members of the Constituent Assembly.

Accounts of Escobar's continued criminal activities began to surface in the media. When the government found out that Escobar was continuing his criminal activities within La Catedral, it attempted to move Escobar to another jail on July 22, 1992. Escobar's influence allowed him to discover the plan in advance and make a well-timed, unhurried escape.^[20] He was still worried that he could be extradited to the United States.

Search Bloc and Los Pepes[link]

In 1992, the United States Joint Special Operations Command and Centra Spike joined the manhunt for Escobar. They trained and advised a special Colombian police task force, known as the Search Bloc, which had been created to locate Escobar. Later, as the conflict between Escobar and the United States and Colombian governments dragged on and the numbers of his enemies grew, a vigilante group known as Los Pepes (Los Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar, "People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar") financed by his rivals and former associates, including the Cali Cartel and right-wing paramilitaries led by Carlos Castaño, who would later found the Peasant Self-Defense Forces of Córdoba and Urabá. Los Pepes carried out a bloody campaign fueled by vengeance in which more than 300 of Escobar's associates and relatives were slain and large amounts of his cartel's property were destroyed.

Rumors abounded^[16] that members of the Search Bloc, and also of Colombian and the United States intelligence agencies, in their efforts to find and punish Escobar, either colluded with Los Pepes or moonlighted as both Search Bloc and Los Pepes simultaneously. This coordination was allegedly conducted mainly through the sharing of intelligence in order to allow Los Pepes to bring down Escobar and his few remaining allies, but there are reports that some individual Search Bloc members directly participated in missions of the Los Pepes death squads.^[16] One of the leaders of Los Pepes was Diego Murillo Bejarano (also known as "Don Berna"), a former Medellín Cartel associate who became a drug kingpin and eventually emerged as a leader of one of the most powerful factions within the AUC.

Death and afterward[link]

Colombian policemen standing by Pablo Escobar's dead body

Police posing with Escobar's dead body

The war against Escobar ended on December 2, 1993, amid another attempt to elude the Search Bloc. Using radio triangulation technology provided as part of the United States efforts, a Colombian electronic surveillance team, led by Brigadier Hugo Martinez,^[21] found him hiding in a middle-class barrio in Medellín. With authorities closing in, a firefight with Escobar and his bodyguard, Alvaro de Jesús Agudelo AKA "El Limón," ensued. The two fugitives attempted to escape by running across the roofs of adjoining houses to reach a back street, but both were shot and killed by Colombian National Police.^[22] Escobar suffered gunshots to the leg, torso, and the fatal one in his ear. It has never been proven who actually fired the final shot into his head, or determined whether this shot was made during the gunfight or as part of possible execution, and there is wide speculation about the subject. Some of the family members believe that Escobar could have committed suicide.^[23][24] His two brothers, Roberto Escobar and Fernando Sánchez Arellano, believe that he shot himself through the ears: "He committed suicide, he did not get killed. During all the years they went after him, he would say to me every day that if he was really cornered without a way out, he would shoot himself through the ears."^[25]

After Escobar's death and the fragmentation of the Medellín Cartel the cocaine market soon became dominated by the rival Cali Cartel, until the mid-1990s when its leaders, too, were either killed or captured by the Colombian government.

The Robin Hood image that he had cultivated continued to have lasting influence in Medellín. Many there, especially many of the city's poor that had been aided by him while he was alive, lamented his death.

Exhumation[link]

On 28 October 2006, Escobar's body was exhumed by request of his nephew Nicolás Escobar, two days after the death of mother Hermilda Gaviria (who opposed exhumation) to verify that the body in the tomb was in fact that of Escobar and also to collect DNA for a paternity test claim. According to the report by the El Tiempo newspaper, Escobar's widow Maria Victoria was present recording the exhumation with a video camera.

Virginia Vallejo's version[link]

On July 4, 2006, Virginia Vallejo, a television anchorwoman who was romantically involved with Escobar from 1983 to 1987, offered her testimony in the trial against former Senator Alberto Santofimio, accused of conspiracy in the 1989 assassination of Presidential Candidate Luis Carlos Galán, to the Colombian Attorney General Mario Iguaran. Iguaran acknowledged that, although Vallejo contacted his office on the 4th, the judge had decided to close the trial on the 9th, several weeks before the prospective closing date and, in (Iguaran's) opinion, “too soon”.^[26]

On July 16, 2006, Vallejo was taken to the United States in a special flight of the Drug Enforcement Administration.^[27] According to the American Embassy in Bogotá, this was done for "safety and security reasons" because Vallejo’s cooperation was needed in high-profile criminal cases.^[28] On July 24, 2006, a video in which Vallejo accused former Senator Alberto Santofimio of instigating Escobar to eliminate presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán in her presence was aired on Colombian television. In 2007, Vallejo published her book Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar^[29] (Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar),^[30] where she describes her relationship with the drug lord during the early years of the cocaine boom, and his charity projects for the poor when he was a deputy congressman. She gives her account of Escobar’s relationship with Caribbean governments and dictators and his role in the birth of the M.A.S. (Death to Kidnappers) and Los Extraditables (The Extraditables). Vallejo also gives her account of numerous incidents throughout Escobar's political and criminal career, such as the assassination of Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla in 1984, her lover’s feud with the Cali Cartel and the era of narcoterrorism that began after the couple's farewell in September 1987.

Among Escobar’s biographers, only Vallejo has given a detailed explanation of his role in the 1985 Palace of Justice siege and the atrocities that took place before, during and after the tragedy. (“Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar”, “Aquel Palacio en llamas”, pages 227-264). The journalist stated that Escobar financed the operation, committed by the rebel M-19 group, but blamed the army for the killings of the Supreme Court Justices and the detained after the coup. In 2008 she was asked to testify in the reopened Palace case,^[31] and in 2009 most of the events that she had described in her book and testimonial were confirmed by the Commission of Truth.^[32] In 2010 and 2011, a high-ranking former colonel ^[33] and a former general ^[34] were sentenced to thirty and thirty-five years in prison for forced disappearance of the detained after the siege.

In August 2009, Vallejo testified in the case of Luis Carlos Galán's assassination, which had also been reopened.^[35] She also accused several politicians, including Colombian presidents Alfonso López Michelsen, Ernesto Samper and Álvaro Uribe of links to the drug cartels. Uribe denied Vallejo's allegations.^[36] On June 3, 2010 Vallejo was granted political asylum in the United States of America.

Relatives[link]

Escobar's widow, Maria Victoria Henao (now Maria Isabel Santos Caballero), son, Juan Pablo (now Juan Sebastian Marroquín Santos), and daughter, Manuela, fled Colombia in 1995 after failing to find a country that would grant asylum.^[37] Argentinian filmmaker Nicolas Entel's documentary Sins of My Father chronicles Marroquín's efforts to seek forgiveness from the sons of Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, Colombia's justice minister in the early 1980s, who was assassinated in 1984, as well as the sons of Luis Carlos Galán, the presidential candidate, who was assassinated in 1989. The film was shown at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and premiered in the US on HBO on October 2010.^[38]

Quotations[link]

Some of Pablo Escobar's memorable quotations are:

• "I prefer to be in the grave in Colombia than in a jail cell in the United States."^[39]
• "I'm a decent man who exports flowers."^[39]
• "All empires are created of blood and fire."^[39]
• "I can replace things, but I could never replace my wife and kids."^[39]
• "Everyone has a price, the important thing is to find out what it is."^[39]
• "There can only be one king."^[39]
• "Sometimes I am God, if I say a man dies, he dies that same day."^[39]
• "There are two hundred million idiots, manipulated by a million intelligent men."^[39]
• "You go hard or you go home."^[39]

Popular depiction[link]

Two major feature films on the Colombian drug lord, Escobar and Killing Pablo, were announced in 2007,^[40] around the same time. Escobar has been delayed due to producer Oliver Stone's involvement with the George W. Bush biopic W. The date of Escobar’s release is still unconfirmed.^[41] Regarding the film, producer Oliver Stone said "This is a great project about a fascinating man who took on the system. I think I have to thank Scarface, and maybe even Ari Gold."^[42]

Killing Pablo, in development for several years and directed by Joe Carnahan, is based on Mark Bowden’s book Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw.^[43][44] The plot tells the story of how Escobar was killed and his cartel dismantled by US special forces and intelligence, the Colombian military and Los Pepes, controlled by the Cali cartel. The cast was reported to include Christian Bale as Major Steve Jacoby and Venezuelan actor Édgar Ramírez as Escobar.^[45][46] In December 2008, Bob Yari, producer of Killing Pablo, filed for bankruptcy.^[47]

Escobar has been portrayed in several films already. Played by Cliff Curtis, he is depicted in the 2001 George Jung biopic Blow. In the HBO television series Entourage, actor Vincent Chase (played by Adrian Grenier) plays Escobar in a fictional film entitled Medellin.

Escobar has also been the subject of several books, including photographer James Mollison's book The Memory of Pablo Escobar, which tells Pablo's story with over 350 photographs and documents. Gabriel García Márquez' book, News of a Kidnapping,^[48] details the series of abductions that Escobar masterminded to pressure the then Colombian government into guaranteeing him non-extradition if he turned himself in.

In the 2010 ESPN broadcast 30 for 30, a series of sports-themed documentaries timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Entertainment and Sports Network. The Two Escobars by directors Jeff and Michael Zimbalist looked back at Colombia's World Cup run in 1994 and the relationship of sports and the country's criminal gangs—notably the Medellín narcotics cartel run by Escobar. The other Escobar in the film title refers to former Colombian National Team defender Andrés Escobar (no relation to Pablo), who was shot and killed one month after an own goal that cost Colombia in the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

The 2008 film Pablo, Angel o Demonio (English title: Pablo of Medellin) by Jorge Granier explores the mixed legacy of a man hailed in the Barrio as a saint while despised elsewhere as a demon. It is the highest grossing documentary of all time in Colombia.

In 2010 ZORBA began Pablo Escobar tours in Medellin to cater for the hundreds of tourists who visit his grave each year.

In a popular 2002 video game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the airport is named "Escobar International Airport" after Pablo Escobar.

In the 2009 on-rails shooter game, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, the main antagonist, Javier Hidalgo, seems to based on Pablo Escobar. Both were drug lords, both of them possessed a personal militia, and both also had "mini" zoo of exotic animals. Pablo had a collection of African animals and Javier had a "collection" of B.O.Ws (Bio Organic Weapons), and both of them had the population under their control and both shared the same fate (both of them were killed by US special forces). Both had a daughter called Manuela.

Caracol TV produced a television series, Pablo Escobar, the drug lord, which broadcasts since 28 May 2012.

In the 2009 episode of NCIS "Deliverance", it is implied that NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs killed a Columbian drug lord in 1992-1993, and was wounded in Columbia. It is not mentioned that this drug lord was Escobar, but it is strongly implied that it was either the killing of Escobar, or a similar situation.

References[link]

Books[link]

• Bowden, Mark (2002). Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw. Penguin Pub.
• Escobar, Roberto (2009). The Accountant's Story: Inside the Violent World of the Medellín Cartel. Grand Central Pub.
• McAleese, Peter (1993, 2001). No Mean Soldier. Cassell Pub.

External links[link]

Media related to Pablo Escobar at Wikimedia Commons

John Gotti
John "Teflon Don" Gotti
Born	(1940-10-27)October 27, 1940 The Bronx, New York City, New York, United States
Died	June 10, 2002(2002-06-10) (aged 61) Springfield, Missouri, United States
Alias(es)	Dapper Don, Teflon Don, Johnny Boy
Charge(s)	Murder, conspiracy to commit murder, loansharking, racketeering, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling, tax evasion
Penalty	Life in prison without parole
Spouse	Victoria DiGiorgio
Parents	John and Philomena Gotti
Children	Angel Gotti Victoria Gotti John A. Gotti Frank Gotti (1968-1980) Peter Gotti, Jr.

John Joseph Gotti, Jr (October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002) was an American mobster who became the Boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. Gotti and his brothers grew up in poverty and turned to a life of crime at an early age. Operating out of the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens, Gotti quickly rose to prominence, becoming one of the crime family's biggest earners and a protégé of Gambino family underboss Aniello Dellacroce.

After the FBI indicted members of Gotti's crew for selling narcotics, Gotti took advantage of growing dissent over the leadership of the crime family. Fearing he and his men would be killed by Gambino crime family Boss Paul Castellano for selling drugs, Gotti organized the murder of Castellano in December 1985 and took over the family shortly thereafter. This left Gotti as the boss of the most powerful crime family in America, one that made hundreds of millions of dollars a year from construction, hijacking, loan sharking, gambling, extortion and other criminal activities. Gotti was the most powerful crime boss during his era and became widely known for his outspoken personality and flamboyant style, which gained him favor with much of the general public. While his peers avoided attracting attention, especially from the media, Gotti became known as the "The Dapper Don" for his expensive clothes and personality in front of news cameras. He was later given the nickname "The Teflon Don" after three high-profile trials in the 1980s resulted in his acquittal, though it was later revealed that the verdicts were the result of jury tampering and juror misconduct. Law enforcement authorities were not impressed with his style or reputation, however, and they continued gathering evidence against Gotti that helped lead to his downfall.

Gotti's underboss Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano is credited with the FBI's success in finally convicting Gotti. In 1991, Gravano agreed to turn state's evidence and testify for the prosecution against Gotti after hearing Gotti on wiretap make several disparaging remarks about Gravano and questioning his loyalty. In 1992, Gotti was convicted of five murders, conspiracy to commit murder, racketeering, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling, extortion, tax evasion, and loansharking. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole and was transferred to United States Penitentiary, Marion. Gotti died of throat cancer on June 10, 2002, at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri.

Early life[link]

John Gotti was born in an Italian-American enclave in the Bronx on October 27, 1940.^[1] He was the fifth of the thirteen children of John Joseph Gotti Sr. and his wife Philomena (referred to as Fannie).^[1][2] John was one of five brothers who would become made men in the Gambino Family;^[3] Eugene Gotti was initiated before John due to the latter's incarceration.^[4] Peter Gotti was initiated under John's leadership in 1988,^[5] and Richard V. Gotti was identified as a Capo by 2002.^[3] The fifth, Vincent, was not initiated until 2002.^[6]

Gotti grew up in poverty. His father worked irregularly as a day laborer and indulged in gambling, and as an adult Gotti came to resent him for being unable to provide for his family.^[2] In school Gotti had a history of truancy and bullying other students and ultimately dropped out, while attending Franklin K. Lane High School, at the age of 16.^[7][8]

Gotti was involved in street gangs associated with New York mafiosi from the age of 12.^[7] When he was 14, he was attempting to steal a cement mixer from a construction site when it fell, crushing his toes; this injury left him with a permanent limp.^[7] After leaving school he devoted himself to working with the mafia-associated Fulton-Rockaway Boys gang, where he met and befriended fellow future Gambino mobsters Angelo Ruggiero and Wilfred "Willie Boy" Johnson.^[7][9]

Gotti met his future wife, Victoria DiGiorgio, in 1958.^[10] The couple had their first child, a daughter named Angel, in 1961,^[10][11] and were married on March 6, 1962.^[12] They would have four more children, another daughter (Victoria) and three sons (John, Frank and Peter). Gotti attempted to work legitimately in 1962 as a presser in a coat factory and as an assistant truck driver. However, he could not stay crime free and by 1966 had been jailed twice.

Gambino crime family[link]

Associate[link]

Gotti's criminal career began when he became an associate of Carmine Fatico, a capo in what became the Gambino family after the murder of Albert Anastasia.^[13] Together with his brother Gene and Ruggiero, Gotti carried out truck hijackings at Idlewild Airport (subsequently renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport).^[14] During this time, Gotti befriended fellow mob hijacker and future Bonanno family boss Joseph Massino and was given the nicknames "Black John" and "Crazy Horse."^[14][15] It was also around this time that Gotti met Gambino underboss Aniello "Neil" Dellacroce.^[16]

In February 1968, United Airlines employees identified Gotti as the man who had signed for stolen merchandise; the FBI arrested him for the United hijacking soon after. Two months later, while out on bail, Gotti was arrested a third time for hijacking—this time for stealing a load of cigarettes worth $50,000, on the New Jersey Turnpike. Later that year, Gotti pleaded guilty to the Northwest Airlines hijacking and was sentenced to three years at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary.^[14] Prosecutors dropped the charges for the cigarette hijacking. Gotti also pleaded guilty to the United hijacking and spent less than three years at Lewisburg.

Gotti and Ruggiero were paroled in 1972 and returned to their old crew at the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club, still working under caporegime Carmine Fatico. Gotti was transferred to management of the Bergin crew's illegal gambling, where he proved himself to be an effective enforcer.^[17] Fatico was indicted on loansharking charges in 1972. As a condition of his release, he could not associate with known felons. Although Gotti was not yet a made man in the Mafia due to the membership books having been closed since 1957, Fatico named Goti the acting capo of the Bergin Crew soon after Gotti was paroled.^[18] In his new role, he frequently traveled to Dellacroce's headquarters at the Ravenite Social Club to brief the underboss on the crew's activities. Dellacroce had already taken a liking to Gotti, and the two became even closer during this time. The two were very similar--both had strong violent streaks, cursed a lot and were heavy gamblers.^[19]

In 1973, after Carlo Gambino's nephew Emanuel Gambino was kidnapped and murdered, John Gotti was assigned to the hit team alongside Ruggiero and Ralph Galione for the main suspect, Irish-American gangster James McBratney.^[12] The team botched their attempt to abduct McBratney at a Staten Island bar, and Galione shot McBratney dead when his accomplices managed to restrain him. Identified by eyewitnesses and a police Bergin insider, Gotti was arrested for the killing in June 1974.^[20] With the help of attorney Roy Cohn, however, he was able to strike a plea bargain and received a four-year sentence for attempted manslaughter for his part in the hit.^[4]

After his death Gotti was also identified by Joseph Massino as the killer of Vito Borelli, a Gambino associate killed in 1975 for insulting Paul Castellano.^[21][22]

Captain[link]

This section requires expansion.

Gotti was released in July 1977 after two years imprisonment. He was subsequently initiated into the Gambino family, now under the command of Paul Castellano, and immediately promoted to replace Fatico as Capo of the Bergin crew.^[4] He and his crew reported directly to Dellacroce as part of the concessions given by Castellano to keep Dellacroce as underboss,^[23] and Gotti was regarded as Dellacroce's protege.^[24]

Under Gotti, the Bergin crew were the biggest earners of Dellacroce's crews.^[4] Besides his cut of his subordinates' earnings, Gotti ran his own loan sharking operation and held a no-show job as a plumbing supply salesman.^[25] Unconfirmed allegations by FBI informants in the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club claimed Gotti also financed drug deals.^[24][26]

Gotti would try to keep most of his family uninvolved with his life of crime, with the exception of his son John Angelo Gotti, commonly known as John Gotti Jr., who by 1982 was a mob associate.^[27]

On March 18, 1980, Gotti's youngest son, 12-year-old Frank Gotti, was run over and killed on a family friend's minibike by John Favara, a neighbor.^[28] While Frank's death was ruled an accident, Favara subsequently received death threats and, when he visited the Gottis to apologize, was attacked by Victoria Gotti with a baseball bat.^[29][30] On July 28, 1980, he was abducted and disappeared, presumed murdered.^[28] While the Gottis were on vacation in Florida at the time, John Gotti is still presumed to have ordered the killing,^[31] an allegation considered probable by John, Jr., while denied by his daughter Victoria.^[10][27]

In his last two years as the Bergin Capo, Gotti was indicted on two occasions, with both cases coming to trial after his ascension to Gambino Boss. In September 1984 Gotti was in an altercation with refrigerator mechanic Romual Piecyk, and was subsequently charged with assault and robbery.^[32][33] In 1985 he was indicted alongside Dellacroce and several Bergin crew members in a racketeering case by Assistant US Attorney Diane Giacalone.^[8][34] The indictment also revealed that Gotti's friend "Willie Boy" Johnson, one of his co-defendants, had been an FBI informant.^[34]

Taking over the Gambino family[link]

Gotti rapidly became dissatisfied with Paul Castellano's leadership, considering the new boss too isolated and greedy.^[35][36]

In August 1983, Ruggiero and Gene Gotti were arrested for dealing heroin, based primarily on recordings from a bug in Ruggiero's house.^[37][38] Castellano, who had banned made men from his family from dealing drugs under threat of death, demanded transcripts of the tapes,^[37][39] and when Ruggiero refused he threatened to demote Gotti.^[40]

In 1984, Castellano was arrested and indicted in a RICO case for the crimes of Gambino hitman Roy DeMeo's crew.^[41][42] The following year he received a second indictment for his role in the American Mafia's Commission.^[40] Facing life imprisonment for either case, Castellano arranged for John Gotti to serve as an acting boss alongside Thomas Bilotti, Castellano's favorite capo, and Thomas Gambino in his absence.^[43][44] Gotti, meanwhile, began conspiring with fellow disgruntled Gambino family members Sammy Gravano, Frank DeCicco, Robert DiBernardo and Joseph Armone (collectively dubbed "the Fist" by themselves) to overthrow Castellano, insisting despite the boss' inaction that Castellano would eventually try to kill him.^[45] The conspirators had the support of the bosses-in-waiting of the other families in the Commission case as well as the complicity of Gambino consigliere Joseph N. Gallo.^[45][46]

After Dellacroce died of cancer on December 2, 1985, Castellano revised his succession plan: appointing Bilotti as underboss to Thomas Gambino as the sole acting boss, while making plans to break up Gotti's crew.^[47][48] Infuriated by this, and Castellano's refusal to attend Dellacroce's wake,^[47][48] Gotti resolved to kill his boss.

DeCicco tipped Gotti off that he would be having a meeting with Castellano and several other Gambino mobsters at Sparks Steak House on December 16, 1985, and Gotti chose to take the opportunity.^[49] The evening of the meeting, when the boss and underboss arrived, they were ambushed and shot dead by assassins under Gotti's command.^[50] Gotti watched the hit from his car with Gravano.^[51]

Several days after the murder, Gotti was named head of a three-man committee to temporarily run the family pending the election of a new boss, along with Gallo and DeCicco. It was also announced that an internal investigation into Castellano's murder was well underway. However, it was an open secret that Gotti was acting boss in all but name, and nearly all of the family's capos knew he'd been the one behind the hit. He was formally acclaimed as the new boss of the Gambino family at a meeting of 20 capos held on January 15, 1986.^[52] He appointed his co-conspirator DeCicco as the new underboss while retaining Gallo as consigliere.^[53][54]

Gambino boss[link]

This section requires expansion.

Identified as both Paul Castellano's likely murderer and his successor, John Gotti rose to fame throughout 1986.^[55][56] At the time of Gotti's takeover the Gambino family was regarded as the most powerful American mafia family,^[57] with an annual income of $500 million.^[58] In the book Underboss, Gravano estimated that Gotti himself had an annual income of not less than $5 million during his years as boss, and more likely between $10 and $12 million.^[59]

To protect himself legally, Gotti banned members of the Gambino family from accepting plea bargains that acknowledged the existence of the organization.^[60]

Gotti maintained a genial public image in an attempt to play down press releases that depicted him as a ruthless mobster. He reportedly would offer coffee to FBI agents assigned to tail him.^{[citation needed]}

"The Teflon Don"[link]

Gotti's newfound fame had at least one positive effect; upon the revelation of his attacker's occupation, and amid reports of intimidation by the Gambinos, Romual Piecyk decided not to testify against Gotti, and when the trial commenced in March 1986 he testified he was unable to remember who attacked him. The case was promptly dismissed, with the New York Daily News summarizing the proceedings with the headline "I Forgotti!"^[33][61]

On April 13, 1986, underboss DeCicco was killed when his car was bombed following a visit to Castellano loyalist James Failla. The bombing was carried out by Lucchese capos Victor Amuso and Anthony Casso, under orders of bosses Anthony Corallo and Vincent Gigante, to avenge Castellano and Bilotti by killing their successors; Gotti also planned to visit Failla that day but canceled, and the bomb was detonated after a soldier who rode with DeCicco was mistaken for the boss.^[62] Bombs had long been banned by the American Mafia out of concern that it would put innocent people in harm's way, leading the Gambinos to initially suspect that Zips (Sicilian mafiosi working in the United States) were behind it; Zips were well known for using bombs.^[63]

Following the bombing Judge Eugene Nickerson, presiding over Gotti's racketeering trial, rescheduled to avoid a jury tainted by the resulting publicity while Giacalone had Gotti's bail revoked due to evidence of intimidation in the Piecyk case.^[64][65] From jail, Gotti ordered the murder of Robert DiBernardo by Sammy Gravano; both DiBernardo and Ruggiero had been vying to succeed DeCicco until Ruggiero accused DiBernardo of challenging Gotti's leadership.^[66] When Ruggiero, also under indictment, had his bail revoked for his abrasive behavior in preliminary hearings, a frustrated Gotti instead promoted Joseph Armone to underboss.^[67]

Jury selection for the racketeering case began again in August 1986,^[68] with John Gotti standing trial alongside Gene Gotti, "Willie Boy" Johnson (who, despite being exposed as an informant, refused to turn state's evidence^[69]), Leonard DiMaria, Tony Rampino, Nicholas Corozzo and John Carneglia.^[70] At this point, the Gambinos were able to compromise the case when George Pape, a friend of Westies boss Bosko Radonjich, was empaneled; through Radonjich Pape contacted Gravano and agreed to sell his vote on the jury for $60,000. Pape's actions meant that Gotti entered the courtroom knowing that he was at least assured of a hung jury.^[71]

In the trial's opening statements on September 25, Gotti's defense attorney Bruce Cutler denied the existence of the Gambino Crime Family and framed the government's entire effort as a personal vendetta.^[72] His main defense strategy during the prosecution was to attack the credibility of Giacalone's witnesses by discussing their crimes committed before their turning states'.^[73] In Gotti's defense Cutler called bank robber Matthew Traynor, a would-be prosecution witness dropped for unreliability, who testified that Giacalone offered him drugs and her panties as a masturbation aid in exchange for his testimony; Traynor's allegations would be dismissed by Judge Nickerson as "wholly unbelievable" after the trial, and he was subsequently convicted of perjury.^[73][74]

Despite Cutler's defense and critiques about the prosecution's performance, according to mob writers Jerry Capeci and Gene Mustain, when the jury's deliberations began a majority were in favor of convicting Gotti. Pape, however, held out for acquittal until the rest of the jury began to fear their own safety was compromise.^[71] On March 13, 1987, they acquitted Gotti and his codefendants of all charges.^[70] Five years later Pape was convicted of obstruction of justice for his part in the fix.^[75]

In the face of previous Mafia convictions, particularly the success of the Commission trial, Gotti's acquittal was a major upset that further added to his reputation.^[76] The American media dubbed Gotti "The Teflon Don" in reference to the failure of any charges to "stick."^[77]

Reorganization[link]

FBI surveillance photograph of Gotti, Gravano, Amuso and Casso

While Gotti himself had escaped conviction, his associates were not so lucky. The other two men in the Gambino administration, underboss Armone and consigliere Gallo, had been indicted on racketeering charges in 1986 and were both convicted in December 1987.^[78] The heroin trial of Gotti's former fellow Bergin crewmembers Ruggiero and Gene Gotti also commenced in June of that year.^[79]

Prior to their convictions, Gotti allowed Gallo to retire and promoted Sammy Gravano in his place while slating Frank Locascio to serve as acting underboss in the event of Armone's imprisonment.^[80] The Gambinos also worked to compromise the heroin trial's jury, resulting in two mistrials.^[81] When the terminally ill Ruggiero was severed and released in 1989, Gotti refused to contact him, blaming him for the Gambino's misfortunes. According to Gravano, Gotti also considered murdering Ruggiero and when he finally died "I literally had to drag him to the funeral."^[82]

Beginning in January 1988 Gotti, against Gravano's advice,^[83] required his capos to meet with him at the Ravenite Social Club once a week.^[84] Regarded by Gene Gotti as an unnecessary vanity-inspired risk,^[85] and by FBI Gambino squad leader Bruce Mouw as antithematic to the "secret society"^[86], this move allowed FBI surveillance to record and identify much of the Gambino hierarchy.^[86] The FBI also bugged the Ravenite, but failed to produce any high-quality incriminating recordings.^[86]

1988 also saw Gotti, Gigante and the new Lucchese boss Victor Amuso attending the first Commission meeting since the Commission trial.^[87] In 1986, future Lucchese underboss Anthony Casso had been injured in an unauthorized hit by Gambino capo Mickey Paradiso.^[62][88] The following year, the FBI warned Gotti they had recorded Genovese consigliere Louis Manna discussing another hit on John and Gene Gotti.^[87] To avoid a war, the leaders of the three families met, denied knowledge of their violence against one another, and agreed to "communicate better."^[89] The bosses also agreed to allow Colombo acting boss Victor Orena to join the Commission, but Gigante, wary of giving Gotti a majority by admitting another ally, blocked the reentry of the Bonannos' and Joseph Massino.^[87]

Gotti was nevertheless able to take control of the New Jersey DeCavalcante crime family in 1988. According to the DeCavalcante capo-turned-informant Anthony Rotondo, Gotti attended his father's wake with numerous other Gambino mobsters in a "show of force" and forced boss John Riggi to agree to run his family on the Gambino's behalf.^[90] The DeCavalcantes remained in the Gambino's sphere of influence until John Gotti's imprisonment.^[91]

Gotti's son John Gotti Jr. was initiated into the Gambino family on Christmas Eve 1988.^[92] According to fellow mobster Michael DiLeonardo, initiated in the same night, Gravano held the ceremony to keep Gotti from being accused of nepotism.^[92] John Jr. was promptly promoted to capo.^[27]

Assault acquittal[link]

This section requires expansion.

On the evening of January 23, 1989, John Gotti was arrested outside the Ravenite and charged with ordering the 1986 assault of union official John O'Connor.^[93] O'Connor, a leader in the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America Local 608 who was later convicted of racketeering himself,^[94] was believed to have ordered an attack on a Gambino-associated restaurant that had snubbed the union and was subsequently shot and wounded by the Westies.^[93] To link Gotti to the case, state prosecutors had a recording of Gotti discussing O'Connor and announcing his intention to "Bust him up," and the testimony of Westies gangster James McElroy.^[95]

Gotti was released on $100,000 bail.^[96]

1992 conviction[link]

On December 11, 1990, FBI agents and New York City detectives raided the Ravenite Social Club, arresting Gotti, Gravano and Frank Locascio.^[97] Gotti was charged, in this new racketeering case, with five murders (Castellano and Bilotti, Robert DiBernardo, Liborio Milito and Louis Dibono) conspiracy to murder Gaetano "Corky" Vastola, loansharking, illegal gambling, obstruction of justice, bribery and tax evasion.^[98][99] Based on tapes from FBI bugs played at pretrial hearings the Gambino administration was denied bail and attorneys Bruce Cutler and Gerald Shargel were both disqualified from defending Gotti after determining they had worked as "in-house counsel" for the Gambino organization.^[100][101] Gotti subsequently hired Albert Krieger, a Miami attorney who had worked with Joseph Bonanno, to replace Cutler.^[102][103]

The tapes also created a rift between Gotti and Gravano, showing the Gambino boss describing his newly-appointed underboss as too greedy and attempting to frame Gravano as the main force behind the murders of DiBernardo, Milito and Dibono.^[104][105] Gotti's attempt at reconciliation failed,^[106] leaving Gravano disillusioned with the mob and doubtful on his chances of winning the newest case without Shargel, his former attorney.^[107][108] Gravano ultimately opted to turn state's evidence, formally agreeing to testify on November 13, 1991.^[109]

Gotti and Locascio were tried in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York before United States District Judge I. Leo Glasser. Jury selection began in January 1992, with the empaneled jury being kept anonymous and, for the first time in a Brooklyn Federal case, fully sequestered during the trial due to Gotti's reputation for jury tampering.^[110][111] The trial commenced with the prosecution's opening statements on February 12;^[112][113] prosecutors Andrew Maloney and John Gleeson began their case by playing tapes showing Gotti discussing Gambino family business, including murders he approved, and confirming the animosity between Gotti and Castellano to establish the former's motive to kill his boss.^[114] After calling an eyewitness of the Sparks hit who identified Gotti associate John Carneglia as one of the men who shot Bilotti they then brought Gravano to testify on March 2.^{[115][116][117]}

On the stand Gravano confirmed Gotti's place in the structure of the Gambino family and described in detail the conspiracy to assassinate Castellano and gave a full description of the hit and its aftermath.^[118] Krieger, and Locasio's attorney Anthony Cardinale, proved unable to shake Gravano during cross-examination.^[119][120] After additional testimony and tapes the government rested its case on March 24.^[121]

Five of Krieger and Cardinale's intended six witnesses were ruled irrelevant or extraneous, leaving only Gotti's tax attorney Murray Appleman to testify on his behalf.^[121][122] The defense also attempted unsuccessfully to have a mistrial declared based on Maloney's closing remarks.^[123][124] Gotti himself became increasingly hostile during the trial,^[125] and at one point Glasser threatened to remove him from the courtroom.^[121][126] Among other outbursts, Gotti called Gravano a junkie while his attorneys sought to discuss Gravano's past steroid use,^[127][128] and he equated the dismissal of a juror to the fixing of the 1919 World Series.^[111][123]

On April 2, 1992, after only 14 hours of deliberation, the jury found Gotti guilty on all charges of the indictment (Locasio was found guilty on all but one). James Fox, director of the New York City FBI, announced at a press conference, "The Teflon is gone. The don is covered with Velcro, and all the charges stuck."^[129][130] On June 23, 1992, Glasser sentenced both defendants to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and a $250,000 fine.^{[99][130][131]}

Incarceration and death[link]

Gotti was incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois. He spent the majority of his sentence in effective solitary confinement, only allowed out of his cell for one hour a day.^[1][132] His final appeal was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1994.^[133]

While in prison, Gotti offered at least $40,000 to the Aryan Brotherhood to kill Walter Johnson, a black inmate who had assaulted him. The Aryan Brotherhood accepted Gotti's offer. The prison guards surmised that Johnson was in danger and transferred him to another prison.^[134] Gotti is also believed to have hired the Brotherhood for another aborted hit on Frank Locascio after learning the disgruntled acting consigliere sought to kill him.^[135]

Photo of John Gotti after he was assaulted in prison

Despite his imprisonment, and pressure from the Commission to stand down,^[136] Gotti is believed to have held on to his position as Gambino boss with his brother Peter and his son John A. Gotti Jr. relaying orders on his behalf.^[137] By 1998, when he was indicted on racketeering, John Gotti Jr. was believed to be the acting boss of the family.^[138] Against his father's wishes, John Jr. pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years and five months imprisonment in 1999.^[27][139] He maintains he has since left the Gambino family.^[140] Peter Gotti subsequently became acting boss,^[141] and is believed to have formally succeeded his brother as boss shortly before John Gotti's death.^[142]

John Jr.'s indictment brought further stress to John Gotti's marriage. Victoria DiGiorgio Gotti, up to that point unaware of her son's involvement in the mob, blamed her husband for ruining her son's life and threatened to leave him unless he allowed John Jr. to leave the mob.^[10]

In 1998 Gotti was diagnosed with throat cancer and sent to the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri for surgery.^[143] While the tumor was removed, the cancer was discovered to have returned two years later and Gotti was transferred back to Springfield, where he would spend the remainder of his life.^[144][145]

Gotti's condition rapidly declined, and he died on June 10, 2002, at the age of 61.^[1][146] Per John Jr., "If you look on his death certificate he choked on his own vomit and blood. He paid for his sins".^[140] The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn announced that Gotti's family would not be permitted to have a Mass of Christian Burial but allowed it after the burial.^[147]

Gotti's funeral was held in a nonchurch facility.^[148] After the funeral, an estimated 300 onlookers followed the procession, which passed Gotti's Bergin Hunt and Fish Club, to the gravesite. John Gotti's body was interred in a crypt next to his son Frank Gotti. Gotti's brother Peter was unable to attend owing to his incarceration.^[148] In an apparent repudiation of Gotti's leadership and legacy, the other New York families sent no representatives to the funeral.^[58]

Portrayal in popular media[link]

As early as 1990 John Gotti was already such a prominent mobster as to be the inspiration for the character Joey Zasa, portrayed by Joe Mantegna, in The Godfather Part III.^[149]

Following his conviction Gotti himself has been portrayed in four TV movies:

• Getting Gotti - 1994 CBS TV movie, portrayed by Anthony John Denison.^[150]
• Gotti - 1996 HBO TV movie adapted from Gotti: Rise and Fall, portrayed by Armand Assante.^[151]
• Witness to the Mob - 1998 NBC miniseries, portrayed by Tom Sizemore.^[152]
• Boss of Bosses - 2001 TNT TV movie adapted from the book of the same name, portrayed by Sonny Marinelli.^[153]

Another John Gotti biopic, also titled Gotti, is in preproduction for a theatrical release, with John Travolta cast as Gotti.^[154]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Blum, Howard. Gangland : How The FBI Broke the Mob. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993. ISBN 0-671-68758-1
• Capeci, Jerry and Gene Mustain. Mob Star: The Story of John Gotti. New York: Penguin, 1988. ISBN 0-02-864416-6
• Capeci, Jerry and Gene Mustain. Gotti: Rise and Fall. New York: Onyx, 1996. ISBN 0-451-40681-8
• Davis, John H. Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN 0-06-109184-7
• Maas, Peter. Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia. New York, N.Y.: HarperPaperbacks, 1997. ISBN 0-06-109664-4.
• Raab, Selwyn. Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires. London: Robson Books, 2006. ISBN 1-86105-952-3

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Gotti

• John Gotti -The Last Mafia Icon - truTV Crime Library
• John Gotti - Biography.com
• John Gotti: How We Made the Charges Stick - Federal Bureau of Investigation