Lou Para, Agreed 100%. Very good strategy. In addition to everything you said, Gotti should have had his own Crew. The Top Boss in Chicago always had the Strongest Crew, he was never alone or vulnerable.
Gotti was a terrible Boss. He thought he was in show business. Carlo Gambino was the complete opposite. Gambino was a real Mafia Boss. Not Gotti. Gotti was in way over his head. While Gotti was trying to understand everything involved in the Gambino Family, The Feds were learning right along with him. It was almost like Gambino Mafia Class 101 in College. Gotti and the Feds were all in class together.

You picked a great example of a true Mafia Boss. Gambino didn't even have a phone in his house,and despite constant surveillance of his home,was never captured on wiretaps or film doing anything. Supposedly, when a name came up for possible elimination,all he had to do was nod his head or sigh,and the guy was history. No one could ever testify to getting a direct order of any kind from Gambino.
Lastly,Gambino was known for only resorting to violence when all other avenues were exhausted,and he never acted out of emotion. He always took the action that was best for business,regardless of his personal feelings.

BRONX I'm closing down this account this is for you and you only.

Red, why would that stop plots?
Because Johnny said you gotta show up! Why becos it will stop dissension is the ranks...?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWzoXOtxXuc 0:30, 20:04

The best bosses are the ones who behave more like businessmen (Castellano, Gambino,...). In that respect Gotti was absolutely terrible.
On the other hand, as a gangster Gotti was terrific. A natural leader, tough, loyal with an ability to make tons of money. You can say what you want about him, but the guy had balls and was a gangster through and through. As a Capo he would've been good at what he did.

No, he was a respectable capo and gangster but not a good boss.

he single handedly destroyed the secrecy and put the LCN on the front page of time magazine. Was he a gangsters gangster, yes. He would have been a good boss in the 1930s.

U guys have to keep in mind that gotti represented an era that the feds decided to turn up thier efforts on the mafia, tony ducks was a great boss and even he was caught on tapes because they bugged his car, that don't make him a bad boss sometimes u just have to tip ur hat to the other guys, what spanked gotti was' not the public meetings, it was the feds breaking into the apartment above the social club and bugging it, with out the info that was caught on that bug gotti walks again and sammy never would have turned, it was a brilliant idea to hold private talks upstairs, but sometimes u have to tip ur hat

Bigfella,I agree with you and to add to it even Big Paul and Salerno among others were caught on wiretaps.Although,it seems the mobsters like Gotti after the commission trial would suspect they were being bugged everywhere they happen to be.You would think Gotti would have just been more careful.I just read my second book on Tony Spilotro.He is a good example of a very smart gangster.He acted as though,correctly that he was always being recorded.He even covered his lips on the street and drove out in the desert to talk mob business.After years of wiretaps,nothing.

While it is true that other Mob Bosses were caught on tape, I think that the question of Gotti's fitness as a Boss goes beyond just being wiretapped. He courted the spotlight,loved being photographed and written about,and enjoyed rubbing it in the face of the Law Enforcement community.The power,wealth,and respect of the Gambino Family took a nosedive under his reign.His inner circle was composed of nitwits like Angelo Ruggiero,his brothers Pete and Gene Gotti,Tony Roach,and,later on,his son John Jr.He kept the Family away from lucrative legit and semi-legit business.Had he not gone to jail,I think he would have wound up going the way of Big Paulie within three to five years.

A "good" boss is a boss that have leadership abilities and who is able to lead a Family in one direction. And if he´s not able to keep himself out of indictments and out of the risk of getting himself imprisoned, he´ll lose credibility with his troops. After all, the troops are dependent on his connections and power. A good boss also needs to be fair, so he must forget about being selfish, if he wants to keep the job.

Did John Gotti have these traits? Maybe he did, maybe he didn´t. But Gotti´s biggest problem was that he loved the lime light and he loved the attention given to him by the media. His nonhcalant ways when speaking to the media (and he sometimes trash talked the government) just added fuel to the fire which of course pissed the prosecution side off. A smarter boss would never challenge the government like that. Gotti seems to have thought that he was bigger than life.

Gotti wasnt a good boss thats pretty clear. I mean its a miracle he rose as fast as he did. He was made and became a capo mostly because of Neil Dellacroce. I mean he was a hijacker thats about it. Yes he some eladership qualities but wasnt smart enough to lead by example. he also knew nothing about other rackets such as white collar rackets which were more prominent in the 80's that the blue collar rackets in the early days.

This shouldn't even be a topic. He disrespected La Cosa Nostra, he ignored the rules set forth more than a century ago and he died in a cage like a squeaking little gerbil. That's Justice IMO for the piece of shit that he was. Guys like Gotti make it to Capo at best, at least in the eyes of the old timers like Gambino. Even Dellacroce, as blue collar as it gets, respected that the boss is the boss is the boss. Gotti is a prime example on how not to run an illegal business empire

Gotti was an awful boss but he did believe in the mafia and what it used to stand for. If it were not for the fact that he was a violent guy, he never would have got anywhere in the mob. He was a degenerate gambler and he was never a great earner. His brother Gene was the real money maker in the Gotti family. Even Angelo Ruggiero made more money than Gotti ever brought in by himself. If he did not have his crew to leech off of he would be no different than any other degenerate gambler who hangs out at the track. In many ways Gotti could be the luckiest mob guy ever, except for the life in prison thing lol. Just my two cents.

I honestly believe he never actually killed anyone himself, although he clearly ordered many hits.

when time magazine put the cover pic of gotti pres regan got pissed and turned up the heat,task forces formed,press followed gotti and he got loads of ink,making his capo,s show up at ravenite wasn't secret,feds got wise and bugged. anybody at that time was a boss got pinched with wire taps and informants,john spread the money around ,he didnt ruin the gambinos ,gravano did,never be a boss like gotti again.yes he was a good boss,if you knew your crew was gona be taken out ,wood you sit and let it happen,

http://books.google.ie/books?id=eCgAAAAA...loc&f=false

Good, lengthy article on Gotti with some interesting pictures. Perhaps you have already seen it. Thought it interesting so here it is for those who haven't seen it.

It's from New York Magazine circa early to mid 90's.

I wonder what some of the other capos thought of Gotti, particularly John Gambino and the other zips.

As uncle junior said in the movie Gotti.

"your turning this thing of ours into entertainment for every jadrool who watches the 6 o'clock news"

"but the boss of la cosa nostra doesn't belong on the cover of times magazine"

The feds were able to get Cutler removed as Gotti's lawyer, I was wondering how others felt about that from a legal perspective?

It wouldn't have made a difference. The tapes were too damning.

I don't understand why guys keep adding that he loved the limelight and that he didn't know much about the white collar crimes? It's almost as if they either aren't reading the responses of the preceding posters or are just feeling the need to add their repetitive two cents. I'm all for participation here, but c'mon man, add something of value that we haven't heard or read yet. It's just annoying reading more of the same, just worded a little differently.

This has been my view all along. Sure, Castellano was a white collar type who stayed indoors, but he was a good businessman.

Even Dellacroce, when he got passed over for the boss role, told Gotti that maybe a Castellano 'banker' type of boss was now the way forward.

Gotti was way too visible and flashy. LCN had become massive and maybe the job was too big for him. He didn't hide his 'secret society' activities very well... and he was probably more greedy than big Pauly himself!

When Gotti went down he took half the capos with him. He was a hardcore gangster but not too bright plus the big ego. Going down because of a rat is one thing but talking about past murders on bugs a few years after the commission case that was built on bugs? After the commission case I believe he was the only boss whose case was built on bugs.

gotti was boss all of 86 87 88 89 90. he must have made 60 new guys. 1 nite in 86 scarpa tells the feds gotti made his brother Pete and 12 other guys. probably all the guys in his crew that killed big Paul but gotti brought a lot of new blood into the family even cefulo the boss today. remember in Sammy books were gotti told chin he has about 40 guys to make an chin says that my biz. they were having making ceromys every 2 months. do we know if he ever striped capos that were from Paul's time. I don't think he ever striped nino. think gotti like he shot a cop.nino was a Gangster.

really? i was always under the impression but he was very "fair" and less greedy boss in general, especially compared to castellano.

Your impression is correct. I have no idea why the other poster stated that he was probably more greedy than Paulie other than the fact that he's just stating his misguided opinion. All of these guys are greedy when it comes down to it. Its hard not to be when you have easy money and lots of it flowing into your coffers. But if you put up comparisons as to who was most greedy, Gotti, I believe as do many others based on facts and testimony of others who knew and dealt with him, would be well below Paulie on the greed meter. That is a view that really has not been disputed throughout the years. Hell, he was always accusing others of having green eyes and one could say that the accuser is the most guilty of the accusation but again, all evidence and opinion of the mans MO leads one to the conclusion that no, he was not as if not moreso greedy than Paulie.

JG wanted to get caught and put away, the power/$$$, gambling addiction, and media exposure went to JG and his family's heads-and to Gravano too, and JG wasn't cut out for any sort of leadership position.

Frankly, who even wanted the top "Boss of Bosses" job after Gotti fell? Too much heat.

I still believe Gotti was motivated by greed, and by simple ambition. He was also motivated by jealousy and by bitterness over Dellacroce getting snubbed in favour of Paul.

In fact, I think the Castellano hit wasn't even officially sanctioned or approved by all five families? (Was it four?)

Neil tried to tell Gotti that maybe it was time to move towards slick, sophisticated white collar crime to usher in a new era of LCN and drift away from blue collar or street thuggery because the world was changing and many of the guys in the mob at the time were getting older.

Gotti was sentenced to life in prison and that was where he died.. such a good boss.

I agree with you that Gotti was motivated by greed. They all are to a certain degree. None of these guys have altogether altruistic reasons for doing what they do. What I took issue with is that your comment stated that maybe he was even more greedy than Paulie. To that I say no. Why do you state thst? At least give some reasons and examples to back up a statement like that because it just isn't a statement that's really made or accepted.

let us say he was no paul castellano. he was too much in the spotlight. la casa nostra is supposed to be secretive not on the cover of time magazine.