NEW YORK - As he languished at an upstate federal prison in 2003, John “Junior” Gotti had plenty to worry about.
The jail, he told visitors, was crawling with informants. He had money problems. Old friends were getting indicted. Other members of the Gotti clan were stealing his money.
And at the root of his troubles was this: The modern mob, he lamented, was losing its manliness.
“Now are we men? Or are we punks or rats or weasels? You tell me,” he angrily asked one friend.
“What are we? Men? Or punks, rats or weasels?”
Gotti's conversations on these and other matters were routinely recorded before his release from prison last year, and the tapes have played a central role in his ongoing racketeering trial in Manhattan.
A jury is to begin deliberating Monday in the case.
Among other things, the son of the legendary mafia boss “Dapper Don” John Gotti is accused of ordering an attack on Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, who was shot twice by would-be kidnappers in 1992.
Prosecutors contend that “Junior” Gotti continued to be involved in mob affairs even after he was imprisoned in 1999.
The defense says the recordings, made at the federal prison in Ray Brook, N.Y., show that Gotti developed a distaste for mob life and retired.
In any case, the tapes provide an inside - and sometimes ridiculous - look at the oft-examined gangster's code, particularly its obsession with “being a man” at all costs.
On this subject, Gotti lectures callers and visitors at length.
Lesson No. 1: Men fight.
“If a guy wants to get all fancy and prancy, if he picks his hands up to you, you pick your hands up back. You're not a punk,” Gotti explained in one recorded talk.
“No hiding behind fences,” he said during another conversation.
“Take our coats off like gentlemen. Now, let's see. Let's see who the tough guy is. No knives. No guns. Like gentleman. ... Let's see who the real man really is.”
Lesson No. 2: Men tolerate no assault on their character.
Gotti is firm on this point when he talks about two uncles who diminished his leadership role in the gang by badmouthing him to his father in 2001, a year before the don's death.
“If any of them ever come here, I'm telling you, I swear it to you, on my dead brother and my dead father, I swear to you, I will meet them by that (prison) door, with two padlocks in my hands and I will crack their skulls, I promise you that. I promise you that. This I take as a solemn oath as a man.”
Lesson No. 3: Manliness is in the blood.
“You're a real man,” he told longtime friend John Ruggiero. “You wanna know why, John? Not only for who you are. But for who your father was. You got his genes, you're a man.”
A person who isn't a man, he added, can't simply become one by acting tough.
“These ain't men you're dealing with, you're dealing with frauds,” he said. “It's like a kid who gets (unintelligible) all his life ... and he gets his milk money taken. What does he grow up to be? A cop. He's got a gun and a badge. That's, that's his equalizer. Got a gun and a badge, now he's a man. Well, that's how all these guys are, John, they're no different.”
Lesson No. 4: A man spends time with family.
“Listen, I love my brother,” Gotti said. “But my brother's a bum. That's all he is. No more no less. He doesn't spend a moment with his own children. I have a hard time respecting any man who doesn't spend any time with his wife and kids.”
Lesson No. 5: Men can do prison time.
“Some guys are made for this. Some guys just aren't,” Gotti said of his life behind bars.
“Gravano was an example,” he said, speaking of the infamous Gambino turncoat Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano. “I mean he was a legendary soldier in the street. Brooklyn, he was a legend in Brooklyn. He got to jail, he fell to pieces.”
Lesson No. 6: Real men don't snitch, but if they do, they don't make stuff up.
“Bottom line is, if you're gonna become a rat, become a rat: Tell the f--- truth. Don't go out of your way to hurt people,” he said.
Gotti has plenty more to say about government cooperators on the tapes, including the star witness in his current trial, Michael “Mikey Scars” DiLeonardo.
DiLeonardo agreed to testify to reduce his own time behind bars. On the tapes, Gotti bristled at a prosecutor's suggestion that such men were “patriots.”
“Patriots? Why? Cause they couldn't do jail time?” Gotti asked.
“Patriot is a guy who's not facing any jail time and thinks a certain lifestyle - my lifestyle - is wrong. You're a civilian ... You never did anything wrong, so you're never going to jail. And you decide tomorrow, ‘Listen, I don't like what John stands for ... here's the information I'm giving you on them: bah, bah, bah, bah.'
“You want to call a citizen a patriot for taking a step like that cause he thought he was doing something right ... I don't know if I can respect it, but I can understand it.”
This is Gotti's third trial in the racketeering case. The first two ended when jurors deadlocked on the charges, in part because of the defense team's argument that he became disenchanted with the mafia and retired long enough ago that the legal deadline for prosecuting him for old crimes has long past.
Which brings us to Gotti's Lesson No. 7: Mafia life stinks.
“So much treachery ... My father couldn't have loved me, to push me into this life,” he lamented to friend Steve Kaplan.
“Ohh ... I'd rather be a Latin King than be what I am,” he said, referring to the Hispanic street gang. “I swear to you, Steve, and I, I mean it on my father's grave. I'm so ashamed. I am so ashamed.”
And at the root of his troubles was this: The modern mob, he lamented, was losing its manliness.
“Now are we men? Or are we punks or rats or weasels? You tell me,” he angrily asked one friend.
“What are we? Men? Or punks, rats or weasels?”
Gotti's conversations on these and other matters were routinely recorded before his release from prison last year, and the tapes have played a central role in his ongoing racketeering trial in Manhattan.
A jury is to begin deliberating Monday in the case.
Among other things, the son of the legendary mafia boss “Dapper Don” John Gotti is accused of ordering an attack on Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, who was shot twice by would-be kidnappers in 1992.
Prosecutors contend that “Junior” Gotti continued to be involved in mob affairs even after he was imprisoned in 1999.
The defense says the recordings, made at the federal prison in Ray Brook, N.Y., show that Gotti developed a distaste for mob life and retired.
In any case, the tapes provide an inside - and sometimes ridiculous - look at the oft-examined gangster's code, particularly its obsession with “being a man” at all costs.
On this subject, Gotti lectures callers and visitors at length.
Lesson No. 1: Men fight.
“If a guy wants to get all fancy and prancy, if he picks his hands up to you, you pick your hands up back. You're not a punk,” Gotti explained in one recorded talk.
“No hiding behind fences,” he said during another conversation.
“Take our coats off like gentlemen. Now, let's see. Let's see who the tough guy is. No knives. No guns. Like gentleman. ... Let's see who the real man really is.”
Lesson No. 2: Men tolerate no assault on their character.
Gotti is firm on this point when he talks about two uncles who diminished his leadership role in the gang by badmouthing him to his father in 2001, a year before the don's death.
“If any of them ever come here, I'm telling you, I swear it to you, on my dead brother and my dead father, I swear to you, I will meet them by that (prison) door, with two padlocks in my hands and I will crack their skulls, I promise you that. I promise you that. This I take as a solemn oath as a man.”
Lesson No. 3: Manliness is in the blood.
“You're a real man,” he told longtime friend John Ruggiero. “You wanna know why, John? Not only for who you are. But for who your father was. You got his genes, you're a man.”
A person who isn't a man, he added, can't simply become one by acting tough.
“These ain't men you're dealing with, you're dealing with frauds,” he said. “It's like a kid who gets (unintelligible) all his life ... and he gets his milk money taken. What does he grow up to be? A cop. He's got a gun and a badge. That's, that's his equalizer. Got a gun and a badge, now he's a man. Well, that's how all these guys are, John, they're no different.”
Lesson No. 4: A man spends time with family.
“Listen, I love my brother,” Gotti said. “But my brother's a bum. That's all he is. No more no less. He doesn't spend a moment with his own children. I have a hard time respecting any man who doesn't spend any time with his wife and kids.”
Lesson No. 5: Men can do prison time.
“Some guys are made for this. Some guys just aren't,” Gotti said of his life behind bars.
“Gravano was an example,” he said, speaking of the infamous Gambino turncoat Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano. “I mean he was a legendary soldier in the street. Brooklyn, he was a legend in Brooklyn. He got to jail, he fell to pieces.”
Lesson No. 6: Real men don't snitch, but if they do, they don't make stuff up.
“Bottom line is, if you're gonna become a rat, become a rat: Tell the f--- truth. Don't go out of your way to hurt people,” he said.
Gotti has plenty more to say about government cooperators on the tapes, including the star witness in his current trial, Michael “Mikey Scars” DiLeonardo.
DiLeonardo agreed to testify to reduce his own time behind bars. On the tapes, Gotti bristled at a prosecutor's suggestion that such men were “patriots.”
“Patriots? Why? Cause they couldn't do jail time?” Gotti asked.
“Patriot is a guy who's not facing any jail time and thinks a certain lifestyle - my lifestyle - is wrong. You're a civilian ... You never did anything wrong, so you're never going to jail. And you decide tomorrow, ‘Listen, I don't like what John stands for ... here's the information I'm giving you on them: bah, bah, bah, bah.'
“You want to call a citizen a patriot for taking a step like that cause he thought he was doing something right ... I don't know if I can respect it, but I can understand it.”
This is Gotti's third trial in the racketeering case. The first two ended when jurors deadlocked on the charges, in part because of the defense team's argument that he became disenchanted with the mafia and retired long enough ago that the legal deadline for prosecuting him for old crimes has long past.
Which brings us to Gotti's Lesson No. 7: Mafia life stinks.
“So much treachery ... My father couldn't have loved me, to push me into this life,” he lamented to friend Steve Kaplan.
“Ohh ... I'd rather be a Latin King than be what I am,” he said, referring to the Hispanic street gang. “I swear to you, Steve, and I, I mean it on my father's grave. I'm so ashamed. I am so ashamed.”
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