Table of Contents
Copyright 1988, 2002 by Gene Mustain and Jerry Capeci
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For Jake Mustain, and for his beautiful mommy.
For Chuck Carusouncle, mentor, and friend who always stood by
his buddies, and always rooted for the underdog.
PROLOGUE
EARLY IN 2002, JOHN GOTTI finally shut up. But it wasnt because anyone made him. That he would definitely want you to know. He lost his ability to speak to throat cancer, and then only after he fought it, as he would say, tooth and nail for nearly four cruel years. In an operation meant to prolong his life a little while longer, the most voluble of men was silenced. Ten years after he went to prison for life, he was imprisoned furtherlocked in, as well as up.
He may be dead, or still clinging to life when you read this. Either way, the end of the John Gotti story has arrived. He must have died inside when he lost his ability to talk, for Gotti lived to talk. He loved to gather his men and hold court. He loved to gab, muse, banter, cajole, and abuse. He loved to reminisce, speculate, and editorialize. He was good at it, too. His way with words distinguished him from other gangsters. In his gruff, crude way, he was lyrical, clever, and vivid. He could use words like knives. Backed by guns, he rose to power on them. Unable to stop talking, he lost power because of them.
After he went to prison for good, his way with words was all he had left. Right now, Im cursed, he said early in 1998, after six years in solitary confinement at the toughest prison in America and eight months before the cancer came. Im stuck in this joint and thats the end of it. This is my realm, right here. Thats the end of it.
On that day, during a visit with his daughter Victoria and brother Peter, he used his way with words to artfully spin his legal history and life story. You know why Im here? It took them $80 million in three lying cases and seven rats that killed a hundred people in the witness-protection program to finally frame me! You understand? A little later, he added: My life dictated that I take each course that I took. I didnt have any multiple choice. My time, all the doors were closed.
He spoke for four hours that day and four the next. He raged at the decimation of his crime Family since he went way, and he lamented a case that had fallen on his son Junior and another case about to fall on his son-in-law Carmine. He said he felt increasingly estranged from his relatives and complained of being forgottenexcept by strangers who sent fan mail.
Despite the doom and gloom, he sounded as egomanical as everlisten to me carefully, youll never see another guy like me if you live to be 5,000. Talking about his mail, which did come in bundles after his name was in the news for something, he was so over the top he sounded delusional. I get mail from all over the world where people wish they could be my grandchildren or my children I got mail last night from Australia, South Africa, New Zealandthis was all last night! I got a million people who, if they could come here to see me now, they would cry just to be able to be here and see me.
He quoted some letters at length, including that of a 14-year-old Idaho girl writing a school paper on celebrities. She wanted him to write back and answer a few questions. She says, You know, I dont know if you know it, there are millions of people out here (who) really love and adore you and respect you. I guess you and America was what was meant to be! This is a 14-year-old kid! None of my relatives ever write that!
Between quoting letters, he insisted he didnt care about them. It was obvious that he did, and it made you feel sorry for him. I got a letter from England. (From) a couple, they just had a baby. They own a bunch of curio shops theyre affluent people. The kids got carrot-red hair you gotta see the letter! They named the baby Gianna, like for Johnny in Italian. These are English people from London! Wed be honoredthey sent me pictures of the kids and all thatwe would be honored if youd be the godparent this is what the real world thinks!
Gotti was well aware that his words, as so many more he spoke during what was supposed to be his secret life in crime, were being preserved. All visits between inmates and visitors at the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinoisa deliberately harsh hellhole for convicts deemed dangerous or incorrigibleare recorded on video and audiotape to discourage plotting of any kind. His words that day, January 29, 1998, and the next are among the most compelling in this book, which uses many Gotti words to tell his story.
His words help us finish the picture we sketched when the first edition of Mob Star came out in 1988 and ended on a note of triumph for Gotti. Though the real ending wasnt yet available, the first Mob Star remains a good story. It was the first book ever published about a mob boss who was, you might say, still in office. The main story is his rise to power. A key subplot tells the story of two men near him who lived dangerouslyfor years, they regularly informed on him to the FBI. Still-secret reports on these mens contacts with the FBI will take the reader inside Gottis world during or after most major episodes of his pre-1985 life in crime in New York.
These many years later, we cant think of a better book title than we thought of then, even though the title had unintended consequences. Mob Star captures the idea that in his realm, he was a star, and that he came to have the things we associate with traditional realms of stardommoney to burn, the best tables, magazine covers, autograph hounds. In truth, it came to us as we considered the word, mobster. Mob-ster. We were looking to make the second syllable into something. Mob Man Mob Boss
