I mean you go from the boss of bosses, the most powerful guy in the United States in Organized Crime and one of the most powerful in the world. Then once you go to Prison you actually have to outsource to the Aryan Brotherhood to protect you?

Where were the guys he was locked up with having his back? If I'm a mob guy and someone would have tried to harm John in Prison I'm going after him and fucking him up. I don't give a fuck what I have to do, and I don't care what he tries to do to me. He's fucking going down and I'm hurting that motherfucker so bad that he won't ever be able to talk again. There had to be people in prison with John that he did business with on the outside or maybe I'm wrong on that.

Anyone care to share their input on this? Was John really just a hated guy in general and nobody wanted to help him when he needed it? So they basically just had him fend for himself while he was locked up instead of being loyal to him and protecting him?

Its a sad state of affairs if that was the case. Shows the true colors of the guys who once worked under you, and how jealous and the chip on their shoulder they carried each and every day in regards to who you were to them. If you think about its fucking sad that nobody really gave a fuck about him enough to make sure he was untouchable in there.

He was in Marion dude.

Your whole post is fantasy. It's like when people think biker clubs run prisons.

So that answers part of my question. He was in Marion, which probably didn't have many guys or guys at all that worked with him on the streets. He was pretty much stuck in a prison in the backwoods of Southern Illinois set up by the federal government to get fucked with and be an open target. They probably were hoping he would get murdered in there.

A sad state of affairs in the final years of this mans life.

At the time, Marion was considered the worst prison in the country. In my opinion he was sent there so the FEDS could really stick it up his ass for thumbing his nose at the government all those years. It was basically what the ADX supermax in Colorado is today. Gotti was in there with the worst of the worst and my guess is not only was he despised, but also probably wasn't that respected either.

They did the same to Capone. On tax evasion, he was sent to Atlanta. Then they opened Alcatraz and sent him there for damn tax evasion. Bernie Madoff ruined more lives than Capone and Gotti combined.
Lesson learned, don't thumb your nose up to the government. They're the ones holding the marionette on the Godfather cover.

Bikers have plenty of pull in prison in Canada, Australia and certain European countries (Germany and Denmark come to mind).
In the USA it seems to be a different story. In for instance California, imprisoned members of big time biker clubs usually don't even walk the mainline. They're not down with the Wood-Sureño-Norteño-Black politics so they tend to go SNY. Not because they're punks, they just do their thing and generally steer clear of the bullshit.

He was well liked on the streets and before he went to Marion he served from1968 almost the whole 70s he was only 2 years out.

Great explanation here which discusses Capone and Gotti.....

I think we have to separate the two bosses out very carefully as their experiences were very different.

Before I begin though, it is probably worth noting that life in Prison operates to a very different code to life on the streets. How you carry yourself as a prisoner and how you navigate the prison politics (often racial, rather than territorial) often matter more than your role and profile on the street. If you are a Mafia boss on the street, you may command thousands of men (tens/low hundreds of made men, thousands of associates), but, in a US prison, where race politics rule, white people are the minority, with only the Aryan Brotherhood being a real ‘white powerhouse’. If you do not understand that, or assume your street position means you can ‘rise above it’, you may find yourself on the wrong end of a shank.

Al Capone

In the case of Al Capone, its arguable he was ever treated badly or poorly by other inmates. At Chicago’s County Cook Jail and in Atlanta, Capone seemingly had the run of the prison and was afforded an array of special privileges, including larger cells, better food, and regular visits from the likes of Lucky Luciano et al.

Where the story turns is when Al Capone was shipped off to Alcatraz in August 1934 (Attorney General Homer Cummings got sick of Capone manipulating the system). On arrival, Capone was quickly put in his place by Warden Johnston and the reign of Capone as a ‘special case’ ended.

Once Capone accepted his fate - he is alleged to have infamously said ‘it looks like Alcatraz has got me licked’ - he seemingly acted like a model prisoner; spending his time reading and creating a music ensemble with other inmates like Machine Gun Kelly.

There is little evidence he was treated poorly by other inmates. Where that narrative emerges is that early on in his 4.5 year stay on the Rock, an argument broke out between Capone and James ‘Tex’ Lucas. Lucas’s response was to try and stab Capone repeatedly in the shower block. Capone ended up with a chest wound and minor cuts/slashes to his hands. Once he recovered from the attack, things went back to normal.

The other contributory factor was that the psychological effects of Capone’s early contraction of Syphillis - and his refusal to get it treated when he was diagnosed in his early 20s - rapidly surfaced in his latter days at the Rock. When his symptoms flared, Capone was reported to go from model prisoner to crazed monster in a heartbeat. This level of ‘unpredictability’ meant other inmates would naturally avoid Capone as he became a genuine danger, and, to some degree, meant other inmates started looking down on him as his mental condition deteriorated.

In 1938 he was transferred to Terminal Island in California to see out his sentence (where nothing happened). Released in 1939, he died in 1947.

John Gotti

John Gotti was a brash, personable yet cocky character, both in the streets and in prison. He was also alleged - by Sammy Gravano, at least - to be very racist; making various disparaging and denigrating comments about black people, even in Prison environments. Given my preamble, that is not particularly smart.

Although known as the Teflon Don, Gotti had gone to jail twice prior to his rise to Caporegime and ultimately Boss - three years for a hijacking, four for attempted manslaughter - and, to be fair, there is little evidence that other inmates despised him or treated him poorly. To all intents and purposes, he just did his time.

The reputation of being treated poorly emerged during his final stint in Prison, following his 1992 conviction for Racketeering. When Gotti arrived in Prison - even leading up to the trial - he expected to be treated as the Gambino crime boss, with other inmates offering deference and respect. In any major prison, there will be a few made men and a decent handful of associates, but they are still a minority. No Blood or Crip member, no Mexican Mafia leader, or Aryan Brotherhood shot caller is going to ‘bow down’ to you because of your Mafia title. In Prison, Gotti and other Mafia leaders simply did not have the muscle to back up their position. All they had was their money.

The fact Gotti did not carry himself as other prisoners expected him too - arrogant, mouthy etc - meant a lot of resentment and ill treatment came his way. This came to a head in 1996 when Gotti made a racial slur in front of fellow black inmate Walter Johnson. Johnson turned around and viciously beat up Gotti; leaving him bloody and bruised. With no significant muscle of his own, Gotti could not even respond to this attack. Instead, he paid an undisclosed amount of money (so many different figures get quoted as to be unreliable) to the Aryan Brotherhood (AB) to 1) have himself protected going forward, and 2) murder Johnson. When prison authorities caught wind of this, they quickly whisked Johnson away to another prison before the ABs could carry out their mission.


Conclusion

To conclude, I think the question overstates how both bosses were treated in Prison. Capone clearly wasn’t treated poorly - bar one stabbing incident - and Gotti did manage to spend a number of years in Prison quietly, without incident, or disrespect. It is only in his latter years where his ego and cockiness ran riot that he found out that, in prison, he was arguably just another prisoner in a place full of violent men and killers, and, if he didn’t conduct himself in line with other prisoners expectations, he would be beaten up or treated badly.

It doesn't matter how tough you are, when you're outnumbered by entire prison gangs whose whole existence revolve around pumping iron and carrying weapons, you're completely fucked. For anyone to fault Gotti, Capone, or members of any biker gangs for not being able to stand up against that they watch too many movies or live in some sort of fantasy land. It's not even anything personal, these guys simply went from their world out on the streets to the world of prison gangs. That world belongs to THEM, it's just the way it is.

Honestly if you think about it nobody was fucking with John until he ran his mouth and made a racial comment. All rules apply equally in prison for everyone.

He probably never even made said comment. Prisoners will lie to make it seem worse so they get off the hook for assault. Was the comment recorded? Either way, Gotti didn't rat or run for protective custody and that goes a long way in prison.

I thought gotti was paying AB, then stopped, then got beat up and started paying again?

I heard Gotti never paid the AB. Gotti made a deal with Barry Mills that he'd help him to get a lawyer who'd overturn one of Mills' murder convictions. The AB was of course by far the strongest white force in the prison system so a semi-alliance inside seemed natural to Gotti. Gotti failed to make good on that promise so Mills ordered the AB shot callers in Marion to drop looking out for Gotti.

LCN members, especially back then, were very respected by basically any other group inside - black, hispanic, white, asian...biker...other mob-like groups...whatever. If you were a white hillbilly you basically had no other choice but to get down with the program. If you were an Italian-American wiseguy on the other hand you were allowed to mind your own business.

He got knocked out by a black and begged the CO not to take a pic of him bleeding, he knew it would get back to NY, and it did.

knocked out

in Italy it would be impossible for a mafia boss to be beaten by another prisoner, but in Italy 41-bis prisoners dominate the prisons

He looks pissed as fuck there!

Young, much bigger black guy going after someone half his size in order to make a name for himself.. A black being a bully, what else is new. Blacks are also notorious for rapes in prison for some bizarre reason.
A close friend of mine did 7 years fed time and Gotti was revered. Thats no bull shit either.
I dont believe for a second that he was despised in prison, thats total bull shit.

The black guy really didn't do anything to him he's got one little mark on his forehead that's it. Black man was a dumb fuck.

Lenox, that 100% correct.

Thanks for confirming he was correct. We were all waiting for you to give the final word.

No problem at all there, Benny Boy!....You're very welcome. Glad I could help you out. LOL

He never got knocked out, nor did he beg a corrections officer not to take a picture. He was photographed with a cut on his forehead, and the so-called fight was just a scuffle with Gotti getting hit hard just one,e but staying on his feet.

Gotti was far from despised in prison, in fact I imagine many revered him. That still doesn't make him immune to prison politics.

100% he begged for the pic not to be taken.