MT #4 GOTTI

MT #4 GOTTI

Mob boss John Gotti addresses the audience, reflecting on his lengthy reign of crime in New York City. In 1973, Aniello "Neil" Dellacroce, underboss to the Gambino family, tasks Gotti, a young associate, with killing gangster James McBratney, who is believed to be responsible for kidnapping and murdering boss Carlo Gambino's nephew Emanuel. After executing McBratney at a bar, Gotti becomes a "made man".
In 1974, Gotti is identified as McBratney's killer and sentenced to four years at Green Haven in 1975; due to the Gambino family's influence, however, he is allowed to leave on "medical furloughs" both for appointments with the family's dentist and for conducting further criminal business, including another hit. Gotti is transferred to Lewisburg and is let out on parole in July 1977 after serving just two years. He reunites with his wife, Victoria, and children at their new residence in Howard Beach, Queens, while working his way up the mafia hierarchy to become a capo.
By 1979, Gotti operates out of the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club with his childhood friend Angelo Ruggiero. His oldest son John “Junior” Gotti enters the New York Military Academy, but hopes to follow his father into the Mafia. Despite Dellacroce's counsel and the assurances of fellow capo Frank DeCicco, Gotti mistrusts the Lucchese family's top underboss, Anthony Casso. On March 18, 1980, Gotti's 12-year-old middle son Frank is accidentally struck and killed by a car driven by John Favara, his next-door neighbor. Favara is later abducted on July 28, and the only witness to his abduction, Leon Papon, owner of the Capitol Diner, is intimidated into silence.
By 1985, the Gambino family has come under increased scrutiny, and Gotti becomes convinced that the family boss, Paul Castellano, is too frail to lead effectively. Junior instigates a bar brawl that leaves a man dead, infuriating his father. Federal authorities release a set of embarrassing tapes, caught on an FBI wiretap of Gambino family meetings, that reveal Gotti's involvement in labor racketeering. Gotti avoids a criminal conviction when the case goes to trial, but the prosecution reveals that his close associate, Wilfred "Willy Boy" Johnson, is an informant; Gotti agrees to give him a reprieve for betraying the family, but does not object when Johnson is eventually murdered. Gotti learns that Castellano plans to reorganize the Gambino family and possibly break up Gotti's crew, due to Gotti defying his authority. Dying of cancer, Dellacroce helps Gotti secure the approval of the Five Families to eliminate Castellano, who fails to attend Dellacroce's funeral.
On December 16, 1985, Gotti has Castellano and his bodyguard gunned down at Sparks Steak House in midtown Manhattan, and is subsequently named the new head of the Gambino family, capturing the attention of the press and the public as "the real-life Godfather". Rival boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante plots with Casso to eliminate Gotti, and DiCicco is killed by a car bomb that Ruggiero believes was meant for Gotti. Casso survives an unsanctioned hit, tracking down the hitman and torturing him into revealing he was sent by Ruggiero. Gotti reconciles with Gigante before expelling Ruggiero from his crew.