Rewatching some of the Mobsters episodes on bio raised this question.

Outside of the McBratney murder how many hits was Gotti known to have been personally involved in?

The only one I know was the hit on the guy who was presumed to have killed Carlo Gambino's nephew. However, it later turned out that someone else had actually killed Gambino's cousin.

Gotti also got the contract to murder Roy DeMeo, but he pased that one to someone else as he apparantly feared the DeMeo crew too much.

He probably participated in a few more hits and he surely had beaten up a lot of guys.

Wouldnt that all come above with the testimony of Sammy Gravano? I mean, unless he didnt know much about the history of Gotti.

From what I can recall Gravano's testimony was mostly concerned with Gotti's time as boss and maybe his later time as top captain, during which period he wasn't performing hits himself but ordering them/allowing them.

I'm thinking about the early sixties to mid seventies period in Gotti's life, at which time presumably he would have been making a rep for himself. I don't think he and Gravano were aligned at this time but I've never been able to find any primary sources that discuss this area of Gotti's career.

This is a good topic I've been meaning to ask this. I have read on a lot of books on Gotti. for the most part Gotti ordered many hits but did take part in some. These of some of the hits that I know of that he was involved in.

1973- John, Angelo, and Ralph Galione murdered James Mcbratney. Ralph Galione was the Shooter.

January 1979- Tommy desimone was murdered. There are a few different accounts of who killed him. Some say gotti's crew killed him. Other people say Thomas Agro killed him

1979- Joe Spione- Was the brother-in-law of Desimone. Was killed by the Bergin crew since he knew too much about the Desimone murder

August 1979- Gotti, Angelo, and Willie Boy Johnson murdered Anthony Plate. Tony Plate was a loanshark in Miami who worked for Dellacroce. Supposedly plate was a real psycho and committed murders on behalf of dellacroce. In May of 1979 Neil and Plate were indicted for murder. Neil felt that without Plate he would get off so he ordered Gotti to kill him.

July 1980- Gotti order John Favara's death after he accidently ran over his son Frankie

December 1985- Gotti ordered the deaths of Castellano and Bilotti

June 1986- Gotti ordered death of Robert DiBernardo for badmouthing him

1988- Willie Boy was killed when it was discovered he was an informant

1988- Louie Milito was ordered killed by Gotti

1990- Louie Dobono was ordered killed by Gotti



I'm sure there are others but those are the ones I know of

John Favara, so he is really killed by the order of Gotti?
Has it officialy been confirmed, or is it supposed to happened that way?

I think that came out in Willie Boy Johnson's accounts as well as the Carneglia trial.

Lilo, did you mean with personally involved hits were he really participated in or also hits that he ordered?

I'm talking about hits he participated in.

We hear a lot about what a tough, vicious guy he was and I don't doubt that. That said his milieu was full of tough guys so I was trying to determine what made him stand apart.

I know he worked as an enforcer as a teen and young man so I was trying to see if anyone knew of events that he had (allegedly) participated in then that would presumably have given him a rep as a brutal tough guy/killer.

Well Gotti wasn't a triggerman type guy. According to some things I have read Gotti didn't carry guns but wanted his guys to keep them close to them. Also when Gotti got made he became a captain pretty much right away so he didnt have to pull the trigger. The McBratney murder he was present at but he didn't actually kill him Ralph Galione did. The Anthony Plate murder gotti was also present at. But I dont know if he actually pulled the trigger since he was with angelo and Willie Boy but he definetly helped get rid of the body. the Favara murder he was in Florida to establish an alibi. So Gotti may have never personally killed anyone.

So Gotti may have never personally killed anyone.

Good point, Gotti was always keen to give the dirty work to his underlings Why have a dog and bark yourself?

Ya but Nino gaggi was capo and he took part in hits and he was much older than Gotti

I recently read an article from a few years ago by Jerry Capece, and he said Gotti was once punched in the face by Michael Paradiso, and there was no retribution, I don't know if Gotti was made at the time. Paradiso was also the guy who put the hit out on Casso that turned him into a nut job, Capece said Paradiso was nearly as nuts as Casso. If you look back at in time, it is amazing Gotti got to the position he did, eventhough he did by force, he still needed the support of high ranking capo's and support from other families, it is said he got support from all the families accpet the Genovese.

Gotti wouldnt have survived the 1970's if it wasnt for Dellacroce!
Castellano and Joe N Gallo wanted him whacked after the fiasco over McBratney and Galione.
Apparently it was only the word of Dellacroce that convinced Old man Carlo to let him live!

Lucky he had him for a friend.

I think you are talking about the movie Gotti. In real life ralph Galione was not a member of Castellano's crew. He was actually an associate of the Bergin crew. ralph Galione wasn't killed by Gotti but he was killed on Carlo Gambino's orders. Castellano didn't have a probelm with gotti at that time which was around 1973.

I never knew that I thought it was just like in the movie. That is why it is called a movie I guess.

The world may never know. I am sure he har ordered a bit more than he actually was involved himself.

Yes, Gotti got close to the right people at the right time. He seemed more like a thug then a mafia guy. He didn't have the brains to get involved in rackets like labor unions, construction, financial scams, etc. His inner circle seemed to be mostly heroin dealers and hijackers. He wasn't qualifed to run a fast food joint, let alone a higly organized criminal enterprise.

Getting back to Gotti hits, I watched the mafia program narrated by Ray Liotta last week, and Henry Hill was interviewed and he said he was in a bar one time when Gotti came and bashed a guy sitting at table playing cards. Hill said Gotti gave the guy a real good bashing and blood was all over the place, but he didn't know the extent of the injuries, if he lived or not. The story sounded like total bull crap to me, just Hill trying to latch on to a bigger fish. They also interviewed Nino Gaggi's nephew Dominick Montiglio who came off as an egotistica BS'er too.

Ya both those guys are bullshitters. However, Montiglio's claims have been proven. I mean he was around Gaggi and demeo two of the most ruthless hitmen in the past 50 years

Ya both those guys are bullshitters. However, Montiglio's claims have been proven. I mean he was around Gaggi and demeo two of the most ruthless hitmen in the past 50 years [/quote]

I think there was a time when these guys were truthful to a degree but as the years pass they become more and more fantastical. It is like they can't accept they are no longer important or have anything new to add, so they start embellishing things.

Thats what i hate about guys like him, i mean he wasnt a made guy right?
Why do they portray him like he was..

I just wish Henry Borelli or one of the Gemini twins would speak.

The reason we know so much about DeMeo is because of Montiglio and things that Vito Arena and Freddie DiNome said to the cops/FBI.

It would be nice to hear from the living members of the Demeo crew that were important players. I think some of these guys aren't willing to share their story because they still hold hope they will get out of prison one day, for some reason, and telling their story would make them look like a monster. They also probably don't want their families to hear the terrible things they've done. It surprises more guys doing life haven't done a book and told their story, Casso and Gravano are the only ones I can think of. The rest of the books out there are from associates and fringe players for the most part. It would be fascinating to read the memoirs of guys like Carmine Persico, and other guys.

Actually Henry Borelli has been up for a parole hearing but hasn't shown up because when the judge sentenced him in the 80's he said he recommended that he never recieve parole and if a judge says that you pretty much have no chance. Also its hard to imagine any of those guys from the Demeo crew being very truthful because they were so fucked up.

I forget what book it was, I think it was the book about Casso, it said Demeo was very paranoid from doing loads of coke in the last years of his life. I don't know if it's true or not, but you figure with all the crazy stuff they were doing, it wouldn't surprise me they did a lot of drugs and booze to cope. The guy who flipped on Tommy Pitera got pulled over for driving drunk and drugged up. He started talking to the cops about the chopping up bodies and other stuff eventhough he was only in jail for driving drunk, he claimed he was druging and boozing heavily because of the stuff he saw Pitera do. Wasn't Pitera the one who killed Willy Boy Johnson for Gotti?

Ya Pitera did the hit as a favor to gotti. As for the demeo crew members talking to the cops i dont know maybe. Pitera was another psycho but it seemed like even though the demeo crew were out of control they wouldn't talk to the cops about it.

I agree. I think from the get go gotti was a pretty charismatic person and was also somewhat of a tough guy. I think he was able to get people to follow him right away. He also had the luck of running into the Fatico's and making a good impression. In the life it's all about the threat of violence and i think gotti was good at threatening but i don't think he slaughtered a lot of men. He may have a hit or two under his belt (actually pulling the trigger) but i think he ordered far far more.

I'd also like to know what happened to Dracula!

All we really know is that he dissappeared in 1983.
Albert DeMeo claimed he dropped him at the airport and never heard from him again.

Either he lived out his life in obscurity somewhere far away or he ventured back to NY city and the Gemini Twins caught up with him.