INSIDE THE MAFIA: THE GODFATHERS PART 2 OF 3
-John Gotti-
John Joseph Gotti, Jr. (October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002), commonly known as John Gotti, also nicknamed by the media as The Dapper Don and The Teflon Don, was a notorious American mobster and boss of the Gambino Crime Family, one of the Five Families in New York City. He became widely known for his outspoken personality and flamboyant style that made him the poster child for mobsters, an image that persists even today.
He was convicted of racketeering, murder, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to commit murder, illegal gambling, extortion, tax evasion and loansharking among others and sentenced to prison when he died.
On June 23, 1992 Gotti was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. It was assumed that Gotti would serve his sentence at the new federal "supermax" facility at Florence, Colorado, but instead he was sent to the older United States Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, where he was kept in a cell 23 hours a day. His cell was underground and measured eight feet by seven feet.
He was allowed out of his cell one hour per day for solitary exercise in a concrete-walled enclosure. He was allowed two showers per week and one radio and a small black and white T.V. set in his cell. Meals were delivered to his cell through a slot in the door. In other words, he was in virtual solitary confinement.
Prior to being placed in solitary, Gotti was paying fifty-thousand dollars ($50,000) a year to the Aryan Brotherhood, a notorious prison gang known as "The Brand." In July, 1996, when Gotti elected to stop paying protection money to the gang, he was retaliated against by another inmate. Gotti's attacker was a 28-year-old bank robber from the city of Philadelphia. Gotti then offered to once again pay his protection fee, asking a contract be placed on his attacker by the Brand. Gotti died of throat cancer before the contract was completed.
