John “Teflon Don” Gotti: High Profile Mafia Godfather

John Gotti, the high-profile boss of New York City’s Gambino crime family, was the most recognizable “Mafia Don” since Chicago’s Al Capone of the roarin’ 20’s. Known for his two-thousand-dollar Brioni suits, his silvery mane of well-coiffed hair, and his larger-than-life persona, Gotti was a permanent fixture on Mulberry Street in the Little Italy section of New York City. Surrounded by an assortment of mob toughs and flunkies, Gotti’s every move would be shadowed as he made his rounds about the city. His henchman would hold doors open for him, hold his umbrella for him when it rained, and even follow him into the men’s room and turn on the faucet for him and hand him a towel to dry his hands. And when there was business to attend to across town, Gotti would be regally escorted to and from his destination in his shiny black Mercedes Benz with the wiper blades on the headlights.

Gotti acted like and was treated like royalty! After all, you don’t hold the title of “Godfather” and not expect to be treated with a little deference here and there. After assuming the top position as boss of the Gambino crime family in 1985, following the spectacular mid-town Manhattan assassination of Gotti’s predecessor, Paul Castellano, Gotti made it clear that he was not going to hide from the public or law enforcement. Eschewing the typical elusive and clandestine behavior favored by most mobsters and high-ranking mob bosses with a modicum of common sense and good judgment, Gotti stuck his chest out and pronounced, “here I am”! He practically dared law enforcement to come and get him with his bold, outlandish persona. It was bad enough to be a criminal and a gangster, but to rub it in the faces of the law-abiding community and law enforcement was a recipe for disaster. And it wasn’t long before the Gotti ship began to sink!

John Gotti was a man who loved to talk and a man who loved to boast. Whether it was just his unique personality or the end result of a guy who was born into abject poverty only to rise – in a perverse sort of way – up to attain a piece of the so-called American Dream is hard to say. But Gotti was a talker. And when you are the boss of a major criminal organization that functions best in the shadows – away from any law enforcement or public scrutiny – and on the sly, being overly verbose and careless with your talk and your actions is never a good recipe for success. When your business is crime, what good does it do to draw attention to yourself and your actions? And it wasn’t long before Gotti’s carelessness caught up to him in a gigantic way.