John Gotti, the name is known arguably more than possibly any other mob boss in history by the average person. The only one that comes to mind that probably is at the same level is Al Capone.

Anyway, lets get down to Gotti as a street guy. Just how feared was he before he became boss? What was his reputation among other guys on the street? Did they fear him the same way guys feared Tommy Pitera & Anthony Casso, or did they think he was not all that tough at all?

When he became boss, was there guys who were pissed off about it?

For the historians on here, let me hear your feedback on this. Thank you!

Does anybody fear John jr. ??

He was stabbed by someone he called a crack head, and yet was shown no respect...

That died with his old man

We are not talking about Jr. We are talking about his father when he was a soldier.

When John sr, went away, who respected or feared him ??

Times were changing and unfortunately the culture in prisons was even getting too woke to want to stand up for John.

But back in the day (1970s) just how feared was he?

He was always feared, until he was locked up....Nobody was gonna fear his orders from jail to the Dopey Don !!!

Was he a good street fighter in his younger years?

Sounds like it..Or at least had the balls to fight

Not sure about this but from what I’ve read he was willing to stand up and fight. How feared is a different matter. When compared to people like Scarpa and Cassidy, I don’t think he had that type of stature. I’d read that he feared Roy DeMeo and what his crew did, though I can’t quite remember where I’d read that.

As a boss it's clear that his ego got the better of him and in as such he was prone to bad decision-making. However, as a street guy everything you can read about Gotti points to the fact that he was plenty feared and respected. He was obviously charismatic, tough, ran quite a fierce and reputable crew and was cosa nostra to his core.

You're right...He had a violent crew that would do all the dirty work for him....

Scarpa would do it himself

John Gotti was extremely feared by everyone. If the year was 1989, I would guarantee you that every single person in this comment section would shit their pants if they knew they had angered that man. He had thousands of people under him and an endless amount of wannabes who wanted to impress him

Definitely. Gotti as a boss may have been a flawed one, but he was still the boss of what was at the time one of the most formidable criminal organizations in the country. And there were still lots of hits taking place in those days. I don't think that crossing John Gotti was on anyone's bucket list.

. I wouldn’t say he was feared by everyone. I mean we can’t forget they whacked Decicco, Eddie Lino, Bobby Boriello all Gotti guys and Gotti didn’t retaliate. He was a tough guy and certainly many mobsters in the Gambinos wouldn’t cross him there were definitely guys out there who were more feared. Demeo(before he was killed), Casso, The Chin, etc we’re certainly more feared

Ask John Favara if he was scared after running over Gotti's son and killing him. Gotti and Roy DeMeo attended Nino Gaggi's daughter's wedding reception at the Plaza Hotel together, how would you like to sit at that table.
NYC during the Seventies was a rough place to grow up and I saw and experienced a lot of street violence as a kid, and I lived in a great neighborhood in Queens. I saw Vietnam Vets strung out on smack after getting wounded and becoming addicted to morphine and then heroin. They used to do stupid shit, like petty crime stuff. There was one we used to call Aqualung, because he had red hair like the guy on the album cover, he pissed somebody off, and they came over to the handball courts at JHS 194, where junkies lounged on the park benches and beat the living fuck out of Aqualung. The guy was standing over Aqualung, grabbing him by the hair, and smashing him in the face. Every time he smashed Aqualung, Aqualung would look up him with a bloody mask and say. "You give up?" while spitting blood and teeth, and the guy would smash him again. This was circa 1971, the same year Gotti got out of jail for, just to give you an idea how it was back then. I remember when Joey Gallo was murdered and my Mom being upset over it.

CNote , a man to be respected on here. You have seen and lived all of this with first-hand experience. I respect the stories you share with us so thank you for your contributions as they are much appreciated!!!

By the way what happened to Aqua after that beating? Did he survive it?