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John Gotti’s Biggest Mistake Gave the FBI Exactly What They Needed | Full Episode · FBI Files

0:08
Speaker 1: New York City's mafia, an organization of brutal gangs. To
0:15
Speaker 1: gain wealth and power, members strong-arm businesses and kill anyone
0:19
Speaker 1: in their way. John Gotti was one of organized crime's
0:26
Speaker 1: fiercest members. He wanted to rule New York City. The
0:32
Speaker 1: FBI had to stop him.
1:08
Speaker 2: John Gotti was ambitious, powerful, and ruthless. He ruled with
1:12
Speaker 2: flash and conspicuous style, playing celebrity with the media and
1:16
Speaker 2: cat and mouse with the FBI. They called John Gotti
1:19
Speaker 2: the Teflon Don. Serious charges just wouldn't stick. I'm Jim Kallstrom,
1:27
Speaker 2: former director of the FBI's New York office. When John
1:30
Speaker 2: Gotti came to power in 1985, organized crime still had
1:34
Speaker 2: its tentacles spread into many legitimate businesses. Like a game
1:39
Speaker 2: of chess, crime bosses were well insulated by layers of pawns.
1:44
Speaker 2: The FBI's job was to penetrate their defenses and capture
1:48
Speaker 2: the king.
1:56
Speaker 1: New York is the home of organized crime in America.
2:01
Speaker 1: Through intimidation, terror, and murder, the five families that make
2:05
Speaker 1: up New York's mafia have corrupted labor unions, run extortion rackets,
2:09
Speaker 1: and infiltrated almost every major industry in the city. Disputes
2:16
Speaker 1: among the crime families often erupt over who controls which
2:20
Speaker 1: union or what industry. These disputes are inevitably and violently resolved.
2:28
Speaker 1: By the 1970s, the Gambino family had emerged as the
2:32
Speaker 1: most violent and the most powerful crime family in the nation.
2:36
Speaker 1: As that decade came to an end, the FBI decided
2:40
Speaker 1: it was time to stop the Mafia's reign of terror.
2:44
Speaker 1: The Bureau's New York office set up five squads assigned
2:47
Speaker 1: to investigate and bring down each criminal family. Special Agent
2:52
Speaker 1: Bruce Mao was assigned to supervise the squad responsible for
2:56
Speaker 1: bringing down the Gambino family.
2:59
Speaker 3: The Bureau realized that we really weren't addressing organized crime
3:02
Speaker 3: here in New York, and so they formed a squads
3:06
Speaker 3: to target each particular crime family and try to address
3:08
Speaker 3: the organized crime problem here in New York. So in
3:11
Speaker 3: 1980 we formed the squad and our target was to
3:14
Speaker 3: put the Gambino family in jail.
3:19
Speaker 1: The main targets of Mao's investigation were the leaders of
3:22
Speaker 1: the Gambino family. The boss, Paul Castellano, and his underboss,
3:27
Speaker 1: Neil de la Croce. Castellano assumed leadership of the family
3:31
Speaker 1: in 1976 when Carlos Gambino The namesake of the family
3:35
Speaker 1: died of natural causes. The FBI were also targeting the
3:42
Speaker 1: most powerful captains in the family, like John Gotti. The
3:47
Speaker 1: captains controlled crews of soldiers who carried out the day-to-day
3:51
Speaker 1: criminal activity for the family. Castellanos' crews would commit the
3:55
Speaker 1: actual crimes, but Castellanos himself did not. Catching him seemed impossible.
4:03
Speaker 1: As the FBI soon learned, the entire hierarchy of the
4:06
Speaker 1: Gambino family was well insulated. The family army consisted of
4:11
Speaker 1: over 50 captains who controlled over 300 soldiers. It was
4:17
Speaker 1: a large and impenetrable secret society, accessible to outsiders only
4:22
Speaker 1: through the lenses of surveillance cameras. But federal racketeering legislation
4:28
Speaker 1: was passed that made ordering criminal acts as much of
4:31
Speaker 1: a crime as committing the crime itself. In order to
4:35
Speaker 1: successfully prosecute the hierarchy of the Gambino family, the FBI
4:39
Speaker 1: had to secretly get them on tape discussing their criminal enterprise.
4:48
Speaker 1: Mao and his team would have to patiently and methodically
4:51
Speaker 1: work their way into the intricate structure of the Gambino family.
4:56
Speaker 1: It would take years to accomplish that goal. Agents tried
5:06
Speaker 1: to learn more by speaking to residents in the neighborhoods
5:09
Speaker 1: where mob activity was prevalent. You might recognize one of
5:18
Speaker 1: these guys.
5:19
Speaker 3: Take a look.
5:20
Speaker 1: Take a good look. Take your time. Few people were
5:24
Speaker 1: willing to talk. Only those on the inside could tell
5:28
Speaker 1: agents who were the real power brokers in the family.
5:32
Speaker 1: Cooperating witnesses and informants had to be developed. Betraying the
5:37
Speaker 1: mafia meant certain death. Informants would be difficult to come by.
5:45
Speaker 1: But some were willing to take the risk. Most were
5:49
Speaker 1: low-level criminals, cutting deals with the government to avoid prosecution
5:52
Speaker 1: and long prison sentences. Whatever their motivation, they gave agents
5:59
Speaker 1: something they did not have before, a backdoor into the
6:02
Speaker 1: Gambino family's criminal operations. Castellano ran the family like a
6:09
Speaker 1: major corporation. Nicknamed within the mafia as the Pope, he
6:17
Speaker 1: used unions to strengthen his grip on various industries in
6:20
Speaker 1: New York. Louis Shillero. head of the FBI's New York office,
6:30
Speaker 1: is an expert on organized crime.
6:33
Speaker 4: One of the most influential things that the Gambino family
6:36
Speaker 4: did was the control of the labor unions in New
6:38
Speaker 4: York City. They exerted at one time tremendous influence in
6:42
Speaker 4: terms of the Longshoremen's Union, in terms of construction industry,
6:46
Speaker 4: trade unions, and in terms of the Teamsters and trucking.
6:50
Speaker 4: By controlling the trade unions in New York City, the
6:52
Speaker 4: Gambino family was able to control construction and certainly had
6:56
Speaker 4: a great influence in the garment center And that generated
6:58
Speaker 4: a tremendous amount of financial base to the family.
7:04
Speaker 1: Castellano knew how to keep his interests under control.
7:07
Speaker 3: Castellano also realized how important it was to rule by
7:11
Speaker 3: fear and terror, so he had several enforcement arms in
7:13
Speaker 3: the family. He had a crew that was famous for
7:17
Speaker 3: killing people, dismembering bodies, and doing all sorts of horrid things.
7:22
Speaker 3: So even though Castellano was known as the businessman's Don,
7:25
Speaker 3: he was a tough guy. He had a hair trigger
7:26
Speaker 3: and temper. and he'd kill you at the drop of
7:29
Speaker 3: a hat.
7:30
Speaker 1: Getting to Castellano directly would be very difficult. His home
7:35
Speaker 1: in Staten Island was a fortress under constant supervision by
7:38
Speaker 1: armed guards. He had also installed a sophisticated alarm system.
7:46
Speaker 1: Agents had no solid evidence to suggest that Castellano conducted
7:50
Speaker 1: criminal business in his home. Without such proof, a court
7:56
Speaker 1: would never authorize an FBI bug or a phone wiretap
7:59
Speaker 1: inside the home. Agents hit the streets. They hope to
8:07
Speaker 1: find one weak link to exploit, one person in the
8:10
Speaker 1: family who made himself vulnerable to electronic surveillance. They learn
8:16
Speaker 1: through informants about a Gambino family crew headed by John
8:20
Speaker 1: Gunn that operated in Queens, headquartered in a private social
8:24
Speaker 1: club called the Bergen Hunt and Fish Club. A few
8:28
Speaker 1: of the FBI's well-placed informants were close to one of
8:31
Speaker 1: Gotti's lieutenants, a man named Angelo Ruggiero. Though known on
8:41
Speaker 1: the streets as the most vicious gang in the Gambino family,
8:45
Speaker 1: agents believe they found their weak link in Gotti's crew.
8:50
Speaker 3: And the reason we did was he had a lieutenant
8:51
Speaker 3: named Angelo Ruggiero who ran the day-to-day operations for Gotti
8:55
Speaker 3: and his crew. And Angelo was an attractive target because,
8:58
Speaker 3: number one, he was very active, involved in a lot
9:01
Speaker 3: of criminal activity. Number two, he had a big mouth.
9:04
Speaker 3: He talked a lot. He was a gossip and a blabbermouth.
9:13
Speaker 1: Mal quickly established surveillance teams to identify, record, and log
9:17
Speaker 1: every person who entered the Bergen Club. Agents learned that
9:32
Speaker 1: John Gotti and his crew made money for the family
9:35
Speaker 1: primarily through hijacking, car thefts, extortion, and illegal gambling operations.
9:56
Speaker 1: Informants told agents that Ruggiero sometimes discussed family business on
10:00
Speaker 1: his daughter's phone. He believed the line listed in her
10:04
Speaker 1: name to be free of FBI bugs. Permission to wiretap
10:15
Speaker 1: a private telephone is granted sparingly. Agents must convince a
10:21
Speaker 1: federal judge that the target is engaged in criminal activity.
10:24
Speaker 1: and that the wiretap is likely to produce more evidence.
10:29
Speaker 1: If conversations are not of a criminal nature, the wiretap
10:32
Speaker 1: must be turned off. The informant's statements were enough to
10:39
Speaker 1: convince a federal judge in late 1981 that Ruggiero's daughter's
10:44
Speaker 1: phone should be tapped. Mao's squad had found a way
10:51
Speaker 1: to infiltrate the Gambino family. The wiretapping of Ruggiero's phone
11:05
Speaker 1: proved to be one of the most successful wiretaps in
11:07
Speaker 1: FBI history. The conversations overheard by the FBI were damning.
11:17
Speaker 1: But agents learned that Ruggiero also held meetings in his
11:20
Speaker 1: home with Gambino members. Mao and his squad had enough
11:25
Speaker 1: evidence to justify placing a microphone in Ruggiero's home. Agents
11:33
Speaker 1: slipped in, installed the bugs in his dining room, and
11:36
Speaker 1: left without a trace. The success of the Mafia has
11:50
Speaker 1: always been its ability to stay one step ahead of
11:53
Speaker 1: law enforcement. What Mao and his squad did not know
11:58
Speaker 1: was that a high-ranking police officer was on the Gambino
12:01
Speaker 1: payroll Though the mole didn't know specific details, he leaked
12:06
Speaker 1: information to family members about ongoing investigations and electronic surveillance operations.
12:16
Speaker 1: Angelo Ruggiero became paranoid that his house was bugged. He
12:23
Speaker 1: searched the house himself, but found nothing. Unconvinced, he called
12:29
Speaker 1: in a professional to conduct a thorough search or sweep
12:32
Speaker 1: for bugs. Yeah, I need someone to come sweep my house, please.
12:49
Speaker 1: Ruggiero ordered the sweep on the tap telephone. When the
12:54
Speaker 1: FBI heard the conversation, they knew they had a crisis.
12:57
Speaker 4: 2345 Richmond Street.
13:02
Speaker 1: Got a problem? The phone tap inside the home was
13:06
Speaker 1: immediately turned off to avoid detection. If discovered, it would
13:11
Speaker 1: destroy weeks of diligent work and send the squad back
13:15
Speaker 1: to square one. And there were no targets as talkative
13:19
Speaker 1: as Ruggiero. The sweeper arrived. with the most sophisticated electronic
13:28
Speaker 1: detection equipment available. After two days of searching the house
13:38
Speaker 1: top to bottom, he was ready to report his findings
13:42
Speaker 1: to Ruggiero. Two days after Ruggiero's house was searched for bugs,
13:48
Speaker 1: agents arrested the man who conducted the sweep of his house.
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Speaker 1: What they learned was indeed shocking. He charged Ruggiero thousands
13:59
Speaker 1: of dollars for his services, but none of his detection
14:02
Speaker 1: equipment worked. He had swindled the mob. Fortunately, he had
14:10
Speaker 1: told Ruggiero his house was clean. It was a lucky
14:14
Speaker 1: break for the FBI. Not only had their bugs not
14:18
Speaker 1: been discovered, but now Ruggiero felt confident to speak freely
14:22
Speaker 1: in his house. And he did so with abandon. right
14:27
Speaker 1: into the FBI microphones. Slowly, the FBI was getting closer
14:33
Speaker 1: to the Gambino family hierarchy. To agents, the conversations were
14:38
Speaker 1: a goldmine. As Ruggiero met with his mob partners, the
14:45
Speaker 1: FBI learned of a major heroin trafficking operation conducted by
14:48
Speaker 1: Ruggiero and John Gotti's younger brother, Eugene. Over a six-month period,
14:56
Speaker 1: Angelo and Eugene Gotti had distributed over 50 kilos of
14:59
Speaker 1: heroin in New York alone. The FBI had every last
15:05
Speaker 1: detail on tape. There was a mafia rule, in effect,
15:10
Speaker 1: that dealing drugs was strictly prohibited. The punishment for getting
15:15
Speaker 1: caught was execution. No appeal, no trial. Ruggiero did not
15:23
Speaker 1: have the boss's permission to deal drugs. and he knew
15:26
Speaker 1: the consequences. The government felt it had a strong case
15:45
Speaker 1: against Ruggiero and Eugene Gotti. In September of 1983, they
15:51
Speaker 1: were charged with running a major heroin distribution network and
15:54
Speaker 1: obstruction of justice. Though all of those indicted were part
15:59
Speaker 1: of John Gotti's crew, his name was not mentioned in
16:02
Speaker 1: the taped conversations. But with the indictment, Castellano would soon
16:08
Speaker 1: find out that Gotti's men were dealing drugs. Learning of
16:13
Speaker 1: the heroin operation, however, was not the only valuable piece
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Speaker 1: of information learned by agents. Just prior to his heroin indictment,
16:22
Speaker 1: Ruggiero would meet with other soldiers and discuss how he
16:26
Speaker 1: and John Gotti would go to Paul Castellano's house every
16:29
Speaker 1: Sunday for a family meeting.
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Speaker 3: And then Angela would give him a blow-by-blow of what
16:33
Speaker 3: happened in Paul's house. The Pope did this, the Pope
16:36
Speaker 3: did that, he's mad at this guy. Everything's going on
16:38
Speaker 3: in the family, we found out, through Angela's big mouth.
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Speaker 3: And then the next day, other soldiers would come over,
16:42
Speaker 3: of course, to Angela to reconstruct what happened again. So
16:45
Speaker 3: we found everything was happening in the Gambino family, thanks
16:47
Speaker 3: to Andrew Ruggiero, John Gotti, and Paul Castellano.
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Speaker 1: Based on the Ruggiero wire, agents now had probable cause
16:55
Speaker 1: to bug the house of Gambino boss Paul Castellano. Getting
17:04
Speaker 1: into Castellano's house took detailed planning and methodical execution. Agents
17:11
Speaker 1: managed to get inside the house and place the bugs.
17:16
Speaker 1: Soon after, they began taping conversations that directly implicated Paul
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Speaker 1: Castellano as the boss of the Gambino family, the man
17:23
Speaker 1: who oversaw a multitude of illegal rackets that cost taxpayers
17:27
Speaker 1: millions of dollars each year. Castellano would meet with his
17:33
Speaker 1: most trusted captains to discuss business. The FBI identified one
17:39
Speaker 1: of those captains as Sammy the Bull Gravano. As his
17:50
Speaker 1: nickname implied, the bull was both strong and aggressive. He
17:54
Speaker 1: was a boxer and a bodybuilder. He was also the
18:00
Speaker 1: family's top enforcer. Rivano generated his money for the family
18:06
Speaker 1: in the construction industry. He was adept at a number
18:12
Speaker 1: of criminal activities, but his most notorious skill was murder.
18:23
Speaker 1: As the FBI continued to investigate powerful captains in the
18:27
Speaker 1: family like John Gotti and Sammy the Bull, their sights
18:30
Speaker 1: remained focused on the boss. In 1985, two years after
18:36
Speaker 1: Ruggiero was indicted, Paul Castellano was arrested and charged along
18:41
Speaker 1: with other New York family bosses with dozens of federal
18:45
Speaker 1: racketeering and conspiracy violations. Out on bail, Castellano continued to
18:50
Speaker 1: run the family. though his attention seemed focused on how
18:53
Speaker 1: to beat the government's case against him. John Gotti was
18:59
Speaker 1: also facing his own legal troubles. An independent investigation led
19:04
Speaker 1: by the U.S. Attorney's Office ended with Gotti and his mentor,
19:08
Speaker 1: underboss Neil Dellacroce, being charged with several counts of racketeering.
19:14
Speaker 1: Dellacroce and Gotti were released on bail, allowing them to
19:18
Speaker 1: continue their criminal operations. Months later, Della Croce lay dying
19:27
Speaker 1: of cancer. The FBI had bugged his bedroom. Gotti and
19:32
Speaker 1: Ruggiero visited, and the FBI was listening. They recorded Gotti
19:38
Speaker 1: talking about his fears that Castellano might kill him and
19:41
Speaker 1: Ruggiero for getting caught on tape discussing their drug dealings
19:46
Speaker 1: and for leading the FBI to Castellano's house. The boss
19:51
Speaker 1: wanted to hear the FBI tapes. Della Croce promised Gotti
19:56
Speaker 1: that he would do anything in his power to protect him.
20:00
Speaker 1: Della Croce's loyalty to Gotti was causing a rift in
20:03
Speaker 1: the family. He was stalling the boss, reluctant to turn
20:08
Speaker 1: the tapes over to Castellano. the Gambino family was splitting
20:13
Speaker 1: in two. Then, in early December of 1985, Neil Delacroce,
20:27
Speaker 1: the Gambino family's second-in-command, died of cancer in his home.
20:36
Speaker 1: On December 16th, two weeks after Delacroce's death, Castellano and
20:41
Speaker 1: his new underboss, Tommy Bellano, pulled up to a fashionable
20:45
Speaker 1: steakhouse in midtown Manhattan to meet some associates for dinner.
20:50
Speaker 1: As they started to exit the car, several men approached
20:53
Speaker 1: them and began firing. Fire! Castellano and Bellotti never knew
21:12
Speaker 1: what hit them. They were killed instantly. When the boss
21:19
Speaker 1: of a family is assassinated, the FBI believes that the
21:22
Speaker 1: person responsible is usually the one who steps up and
21:25
Speaker 1: assumes leadership of the family. It was mafia tradition to
21:30
Speaker 1: pay tribute to a new boss, to show him respect.
21:35
Speaker 1: Two weeks after the murder, Agents watched a parade of
21:38
Speaker 1: high-level Gambino family members enter the Bergen Hunt and Fish Club.
21:45
Speaker 1: They were meeting with John Gotti. Agent Mao and his
21:53
Speaker 1: squad would have to restructure their attack on the Gambino hierarchy.
21:58
Speaker 1: John Gotti was the new boss of the family. Agents
22:03
Speaker 1: pieced together his criminal history and traced his rise to power.
22:10
Speaker 1: John Gotti became a Gambino family associate around 1970. He
22:16
Speaker 1: impressed the boss in 1973 by killing a man who
22:20
Speaker 1: had kidnapped and murdered a relative of Carlos Gambino. Gotti
22:26
Speaker 1: served two years for the hit before he was paroled.
22:29
Speaker 1: Upon his release, he quickly gained respect within the family.
22:33
Speaker 1: He began to make a great deal of money for
22:35
Speaker 1: the family through loan sharking and gambling operations. In his neighborhood,
22:45
Speaker 1: he became a hero of sorts, throwing huge Fourth of
22:48
Speaker 1: July parties every year, complete with fireworks. Special Agent George
22:55
Speaker 1: Gabriel was assigned to Mao's squad in 1985. He quickly
23:01
Speaker 1: became an expert on John Gotti.
23:04
Speaker 5: He took care of if there were old ladies that
23:06
Speaker 5: were in need. If he had money in his pocket,
23:08
Speaker 5: he'd give it out. He was, in some respects, a
23:11
Speaker 5: Robin Hood in his neighborhood. And that's how he carried himself.
23:16
Speaker 5: But how did he make that money? By killing, by robbing,
23:20
Speaker 5: by manipulating, by bribing, by controlling rackets that he didn't
23:24
Speaker 5: have a right to control. And that's a side, when
23:28
Speaker 5: he didn't like you, when you fell on the wrong
23:29
Speaker 5: side of John, you died. I mean, there was no mercy.
23:33
Speaker 1: You died.
23:34
Speaker 5: There was no two ways about it.
23:36
Speaker 1: Gotti was now the king. He found himself in command
23:40
Speaker 1: of a multimillion-dollar crime network made up of scams he
23:44
Speaker 1: did not know existed. He had a lot to learn.
23:49
Speaker 1: With their bugs and surveillance, Special Agent Gabriel and the
23:52
Speaker 1: rest of the FBI squad learned right along with him.
23:56
Speaker 5: John Gotti took over that family. He had to learn
23:58
Speaker 5: what the rackets were, and as he's learning them, we're
24:01
Speaker 5: learning them. Who's got what industries? Who's collecting from what unions?
24:07
Speaker 5: He's asking captains to give him a list of all
24:09
Speaker 5: the soldiers in there and their crews so he could
24:12
Speaker 5: know who he's got in his family and how many.
24:17
Speaker 1: Gotti was the boss, but he still had legal troubles.
24:22
Speaker 1: Six months after becoming the head of the family, He
24:24
Speaker 1: was sent to jail to await trial on loan sharking
24:27
Speaker 1: and gambling charges. Jail didn't slow him down, though. From
24:32
Speaker 1: his cell, Gotti ordered a murder. It was against Robert DiBernardo,
24:38
Speaker 1: who had been a close associate of Gotti. DiBernardo's assassination
24:46
Speaker 1: was set up by Angelo Ruggiero, who was still awaiting
24:48
Speaker 1: trial for his 1983 drug indictment.
24:53
Speaker 5: Angelo's one of the few guys who's got access to
24:55
Speaker 5: John in jail and tells him that Robert DiBernardo is
24:59
Speaker 5: talking subversive behind John's back, the boss's back. He's saying
25:04
Speaker 5: that John isn't fit as the boss and we should
25:06
Speaker 5: appoint somebody else as the boss.
25:09
Speaker 1: Angelo wants this.
25:09
Speaker 5: Done because Angelo owes Robert DiBernardo a lot of money
25:12
Speaker 5: and he doesn't want to pay him back.
25:15
Speaker 1: I was going over some of these contracts here, this
25:18
Speaker 1: public housing contract. On Gotti's behalf, Ruggiero asked Sammy the
25:23
Speaker 1: Bull Gravano to set up the hit. You want some coffee? Yeah,
25:27
Speaker 1: that'd be great. On June 5th, 1986, Di Bernardo showed
25:33
Speaker 1: up for a meeting at Gravano's construction office. Everyone greeted
25:38
Speaker 1: him as usual. Di Bernardo must have suspected nothing. You know,
25:45
Speaker 1: we've got all those contracts.
25:52
Speaker 1: He was shot in the head from behind. His body
25:59
Speaker 1: was never found. The FBI learned of his death through informants.
26:05
Speaker 1: Agents believed Gotti's crew was responsible for the murder, but
26:08
Speaker 1: they needed proof. In August of 96, two months after
26:13
Speaker 1: the DiBernardo hit, Gotti went to trial for the gambling
26:16
Speaker 1: and loan sharking charges filed two years before. but Gotti
26:21
Speaker 1: had not been the primary target of that indictment. The
26:25
Speaker 1: case was originally designed to bring down underboss Neil Dela Croce.
26:30
Speaker 1: The case against Gotti was never that strong, but an
26:33
Speaker 1: ambitious US attorney saw an opportunity to get a mob boss.
26:38
Speaker 1: Though the case did not involve Mao's squad, he sent
26:41
Speaker 1: George Gabriel to observe the trial. During a break in
26:45
Speaker 1: the proceedings, Gabriel came face to face with his adversary,
26:50
Speaker 1: I introduced myself.
26:51
Speaker 5: I told him I'm George Gabriel.
26:52
Speaker 1: I'm with the FBI.
26:54
Speaker 5: I work on Bruce Mao's squad. He says, you tell
26:56
Speaker 5: him I'm going to be home in six weeks. I'm
26:58
Speaker 5: going to beat this one. I said, all right, I'll
27:00
Speaker 5: deliver your message. I said, and if you do, I'll
27:03
Speaker 5: be there to congratulate you because it'll be a good
27:05
Speaker 5: job on your part.
27:06
Speaker 1: He says, good. I hope to see you. On March 13, 1987,
27:11
Speaker 1: Gotti was acquitted on all counts. George Gabriel made good
27:19
Speaker 1: on his promise. After the verdict, Gabriel went to the
27:25
Speaker 1: Bergen Hunt and Fish Club in Queens, where Gotti was
27:27
Speaker 1: having an acquittal party. He congratulated Gotti. To the press,
27:39
Speaker 1: the public, and to prosecutors, John Gotti seemed untouchable. Out
27:49
Speaker 1: of jail, John Gotti resumed his celebrity status. Around town,
27:54
Speaker 1: he was seen at fine restaurants and glitzy nightclubs, always
27:57
Speaker 1: immaculately dressed. Already, he was known as the Dapper Don. Now,
28:03
Speaker 1: with his acquittal, he earned the title of the Teflon Don.
28:07
Speaker 1: Charges slid right off him. To the media, he was
28:10
Speaker 1: glorified as the underdog who took on and beat the government.
28:18
Speaker 1: But now, it was Mao's turn to make a case
28:20
Speaker 1: against Gotti.
28:22
Speaker 3: I get upset when they glorify a guy like that.
28:24
Speaker 3: To me, he's just a common thug, a criminal. He's
28:27
Speaker 3: a terrorist. He doesn't believe in our government. He doesn't
28:29
Speaker 3: believe in voting. He doesn't believe in church. He doesn't
28:31
Speaker 3: believe in family. He's a mass murderer. How can you
28:34
Speaker 3: glorify this guy and make him a role model for
28:36
Speaker 3: your kids? It's very upsetting to me.
28:41
Speaker 1: In order to make his case against Gotti, Mao had
28:44
Speaker 1: to find out where he was conducting his business. The
28:47
Speaker 1: FBI bugs planted at the Bergen Hunt and Fish Club
28:50
Speaker 1: had dried up. Since becoming boss, Gotti wasn't spending as
28:55
Speaker 1: much time there. The squad leaned hard on informants to
28:59
Speaker 1: find out where Gotti held his high-level meetings. It took
29:06
Speaker 1: eight months, but in early 1988, they finally found Gotti's
29:10
Speaker 1: new headquarters. Gotti turned the Ravenite Social Club in Little
29:15
Speaker 1: Italy into his headquarters. It was a symbolic gesture on
29:22
Speaker 1: Gotti's part. The Ravenite was his mentor Neil Dela Croce's
29:26
Speaker 1: old club. Here Gotti would meet with his captains to
29:31
Speaker 1: conduct family business. Agents rented an apartment down the street
29:37
Speaker 1: from the Ravenite. A high-powered camera was installed to record
29:42
Speaker 1: all those who came and went from the club. In
29:46
Speaker 1: February of 1988, the FBI earned court approval to bug
29:50
Speaker 1: the Ravenite. With 30 or 40 people in the room,
29:56
Speaker 1: deciphering conversations was difficult. Cassette tape recordings of white noise
30:06
Speaker 1: were always being played in the club. Hearing conversations through
30:10
Speaker 1: that was impossible. But the FBI had to have John
30:18
Speaker 1: Gotti's orders on tape in order to charge him with
30:21
Speaker 1: running the Gambino family. So far, the bugs in the
30:30
Speaker 1: Ravenite had not produced much evidence. Gotti always suspected he
30:39
Speaker 1: was being listened to by the FBI, and he found
30:42
Speaker 1: clever ways to avoid being overheard.
30:47
Speaker 5: John Gotti was notorious for going on what we describe
30:50
Speaker 5: as a walk talk, where he and the person he
30:53
Speaker 5: had to discuss something secretive. Not all mob business is
30:57
Speaker 5: open to everybody in the mob. There were times where
30:59
Speaker 5: a captain would have to speak with his boss, John
31:02
Speaker 5: Gotti would take that person, and they'd go outside. Going outside,
31:05
Speaker 5: they're evading the possibility of a bug.
31:09
Speaker 1: No matter what agents did, it seemed the mob was
31:12
Speaker 1: anticipating their every move, at times even taunting them.
31:19
Speaker 5: When I would sit in the van outside the Ravenite,
31:22
Speaker 5: they would bang on every van on the street and whisper,
31:26
Speaker 5: we know you're in there. You get made all the time,
31:30
Speaker 5: and you try your darndest not to, but it happens.
31:33
Speaker 5: And you just have to stay with it.
31:43
Speaker 1: John Gotti ordered another hit out of range of the
31:46
Speaker 1: FBI bugs. This time, it was Louie Melita, a Gambino
31:50
Speaker 1: soldier whose loyalty to Gotti was suspect. Gotti felt Melita
31:56
Speaker 1: was a threat to the family administration. since Milito had
31:59
Speaker 1: been a close business associate of Paul Castellano and Tommy Bilotti.
32:04
Speaker 1: Sammy the Bull agreed to oversee the hit. He, too,
32:08
Speaker 1: had little use for Milito. Sammy felt he was trying
32:11
Speaker 1: to move in on the construction industry. Milito was shot
32:18
Speaker 1: dead under Gravano's supervision, his body removed and never found.
32:25
Speaker 1: The FBI learned of the hit through informant rumor But again,
32:31
Speaker 1: there was not enough hard evidence on Gotti to arrest him.
32:35
Speaker 1: Gotti was ordering people killed right under the FBI's nose.
32:42
Speaker 1: The cat and mouse game intensified, and so did the
32:45
Speaker 1: pressure on the FBI to stop him from ordering more killings.
32:51
Speaker 1: Mao knew he was overlooking something. Gotti must be talking,
32:56
Speaker 1: but the FBI didn't know where. In December 1988, Bruce
33:03
Speaker 1: Mao decided it was time to shut down the wire
33:06
Speaker 1: and regroup.
33:07
Speaker 3: It was a very frustrating time because we knew we
33:13
Speaker 3: were so close. We had these guys on videotape. We
33:15
Speaker 3: could see them coming and going. We saw the walk
33:17
Speaker 3: talks around the street. We were so close, but yet
33:20
Speaker 3: so far away from achieving our goals.
33:23
Speaker 1: The bugs were shut down, but the FBI's Gambino squad
33:26
Speaker 1: would not give up. they developed a new informant who
33:30
Speaker 1: told them Gotti would sometimes be in deep conversation with
33:34
Speaker 1: one of his men in the Ravenite. Then abruptly, they
33:41
Speaker 1: would leave the table and go into a hallway behind
33:44
Speaker 1: the club. Usually they were gone for 10 or 15 minutes.
33:51
Speaker 1: The meetings in the hall were no doubt incriminating ones.
33:55
Speaker 1: And in a quiet hallway, FBI bugs could pick up
33:58
Speaker 1: more of the conversations. The squad quickly took advantage of
34:03
Speaker 1: the opportunity. In October of 1989, agents bugged the hall.
34:20
Speaker 1: They recorded Gotti meeting with several Gambino family members there.
34:29
Speaker 1: The bug produced some evidence against Gotti, but not the
34:33
Speaker 1: evidence they needed to put him away for life. Gotti
34:37
Speaker 1: had to be meeting his men in another location within
34:40
Speaker 1: the building. Somewhere where he felt comfortable and safe.
34:47
Speaker 2: Okay, get down.
35:05
Speaker 1: In the fall of 1989, agents learned from informants about
35:08
Speaker 1: another location within the building that Gotti frequented. Nettie Cirelli
35:13
Speaker 1: was a widow. Her husband, Michael, had been caretaker of
35:17
Speaker 1: the Ravenite Club. When he died, she remained in the
35:22
Speaker 1: apartment they shared, just two floors above the club. It
35:26
Speaker 1: was believed that Gotti used Mrs. Cirelli's apartment to talk
35:29
Speaker 1: about sensitive family business. Getting into Mrs. Cirelli's apartment undetected
35:35
Speaker 1: was going to be a problem. She rarely left. As
35:41
Speaker 1: the FBI Special Operations Squad tried to figure a way in,
35:45
Speaker 1: agents learned that Mrs. Cirelli would be leaving town for
35:48
Speaker 1: the Thanksgiving holiday. It was the opportunity they had been
36:00
Speaker 1: waiting for. Agents went to work. they sneaked into the
36:07
Speaker 1: apartment in the middle of the night and placed the bugs.
36:16
Speaker 1: On November 30th, 1989, the first conversation taped in Mrs.
36:21
Speaker 1: Sorelli's apartment came over the wires. Crisp and clear, all
36:25
Speaker 1: participants talked freely. They spoke directly, using no code words
36:31
Speaker 1: or sign language like they often did when a bug was...
36:36
Speaker 1: For weeks, agents listened in on the apartment conversations. On
36:48
Speaker 1: December 12, 1989, they got the biggest break they could
36:52
Speaker 1: ever have hoped for. That day, Gotti and his underboss,
36:57
Speaker 1: Frank Locascio, met at the apartment. In a rambling conversation,
37:03
Speaker 1: Gotti left a trail of evidence that would later haunt him.
37:10
Speaker 1: He explained labor union rackets and other crimes. And he
37:15
Speaker 1: talked about ordering the murders of several people. The agents
37:19
Speaker 1: monitoring Gotti that night could barely believe their ears. More
37:25
Speaker 1: shocking to agents was what they heard Gotti say about
37:28
Speaker 1: Sammy Gravano. For over an hour, Gotti went on a
37:33
Speaker 1: verbal rampage about Sammy. He said Gravano was getting greedy,
37:39
Speaker 1: taking too big of a cut from the construction racket profits.
37:45
Speaker 1: He was becoming too active in the family, not respecting
37:48
Speaker 1: Gotti's authority. Gotti suggested that two murders that he himself
37:52
Speaker 1: had ordered were because Sammy was trying to protect his
37:55
Speaker 1: own interests. According to Gotti, Sammy had suckered him into
37:59
Speaker 1: murdering DiBernardo and Melito.
38:02
Speaker 3: It was a very important conversation because during this Long diatribe,
38:06
Speaker 3: John confessed to two murders. He confessed to ordering the
38:10
Speaker 3: hit on Robert DiBernardo. He confessed to ordering the hit
38:12
Speaker 3: on Louie Melito. Both he claimed that Gravano's urging to
38:15
Speaker 3: have murdered. He also talked about a third guy named
38:18
Speaker 3: Louie DiBerno who was going to murder another partner of Sammy's.
38:22
Speaker 3: John detailed also his control of different labor unions. He
38:25
Speaker 3: also detailed how much money he's making from different illegal activities.
38:30
Speaker 3: It was our smoking gun. It was the best tape
38:31
Speaker 3: of the entire electronic surveillance.
38:35
Speaker 1: After recording a few more conversations, the wire in the
38:38
Speaker 1: apartment was turned off in May of 1990. For Mao's
38:43
Speaker 1: Gambino squad, all the years of patience had finally paid off.
38:48
Speaker 1: They had the best evidence they could imagine, and it
38:51
Speaker 1: was John Gotti himself. Over the next few months, agents
38:58
Speaker 1: put together their case against Gotti. The case against the
39:04
Speaker 1: Gambino family hierarchy, which began a decade earlier, was ready
39:08
Speaker 1: to come to a close. On December 12, 1990, exactly
39:13
Speaker 1: a year after Gotti's fateful conversation, Special Agent George Gabriel
39:18
Speaker 1: and two others went to the Ravenite Social Club. Their
39:21
Speaker 1: purpose was to arrest John Gotti, Sammy Gravano, and Frank Lucascio.
39:27
Speaker 1: Backup officers were close behind, or so Gabriel thought.
39:33
Speaker 5: When I went into the club to arrest them, they
39:36
Speaker 5: had just ordered coffee. And myself, my partner, and one
39:39
Speaker 5: of the police officers kind of accidentally went into the
39:42
Speaker 5: club ahead of the rest of the arrest team. We
39:45
Speaker 5: were about a minute ahead of everybody. So there we
39:47
Speaker 5: were in the classic, you know, we've got you surrounded.
39:50
Speaker 5: They were looking behind us, and there was nobody there.
39:53
Speaker 5: There wasn't a problem. Everybody complied with what we asked for.
39:57
Speaker 5: And either John or Sammy asked if they can have
40:00
Speaker 5: their cup of coffee, and I said, yeah, go ahead.
40:02
Speaker 5: We've got plenty of time before we leave.
40:06
Speaker 1: On his way to be booked, Gotti asked Agent Gabriel
40:09
Speaker 1: what he was charged with. Gabriel ran down the list
40:12
Speaker 1: and told Gotti of the taped conversations, especially in the
40:15
Speaker 1: hallway in the apartment. At that, Gotti fell quiet. At
40:22
Speaker 1: a bail hearing a few days later, the three defendants
40:25
Speaker 1: heard excerpts from the FBI's tapes. They played a segment
40:29
Speaker 1: from the December 12th conversation. Sammy Gravano heard Gotti bashing
40:35
Speaker 1: his character.
40:37
Speaker 3: For the first time in life, John Gotti was embarrassed.
40:39
Speaker 3: He was turning shades of blue and pink and trying
40:41
Speaker 3: to duck under the table. Sammy was turning red. You
40:43
Speaker 3: could tell he was hot on a firecracker. And they
40:45
Speaker 3: kept looking at each other like, What's going on here?
40:49
Speaker 3: But that tape planted the seeds for the first time
40:51
Speaker 3: in Gravano's mind that he and John Gotti could never coexist,
40:56
Speaker 3: and one had to kill the other if they ever
40:58
Speaker 3: got out of jail.
41:03
Speaker 1: After hearing the tape, Gravano realized Gotti's defense strategy would
41:07
Speaker 1: be to blame him for the murders. Gravano was being
41:11
Speaker 1: set up as the fall guy. On November 8, 1991,
41:17
Speaker 1: Gravano decided to cooperate with the FBI and tell them
41:21
Speaker 1: everything he knew about the Gambino family. He filled in
41:26
Speaker 1: all of the details that were missing from the recordings
41:29
Speaker 1: about how he and Gotti committed crimes on behalf of
41:32
Speaker 1: the Gambino family and managed to stay one step ahead
41:35
Speaker 1: of law enforcement. Gravano arranged payoffs to jurors and a
41:41
Speaker 1: high-level police officer who had been supplying Gotti with classified information.
41:46
Speaker 1: Both the jurors and the corrupt officer were indicted and
41:49
Speaker 1: given jail sentences. Gabriel finally learned why Gotti had been
41:54
Speaker 1: able to avoid successful prosecutions.
41:58
Speaker 5: He's out there in everybody's face. I beat the government.
42:01
Speaker 5: They've got nothing on me. Reality was, he bought the jury.
42:05
Speaker 5: Sammy Gravano paid a juror $ 60, 000 to throw that case.
42:11
Speaker 5: And that's how he wins his case.
42:15
Speaker 1: The question most in need of an answer concerned the
42:18
Speaker 1: Castellano assassination. Through Gravano, the FBI finally learned the truth.
42:27
Speaker 1: The seeds for Castellano's assassination were planted when Angelo Ruggiero
42:31
Speaker 1: and Eugene Gotti were indicted in the heroin distribution ring
42:35
Speaker 1: in 1983. The prohibited operation could no longer be kept
42:39
Speaker 1: quiet from the boss. Castellano learned that the government's case
42:44
Speaker 1: was based on FBI recordings of Ruggiero. Castellano was furious.
42:50
Speaker 1: He wanted to hear the tapes for himself. Events began
42:54
Speaker 1: to snowball.
42:57
Speaker 3: In 1984, the tapes were finally turned over to the defense,
43:00
Speaker 3: and for the first time, all the co-defendants and defense
43:03
Speaker 3: attorneys had all these tapes of Angelo Blavin about heroin trafficking,
43:06
Speaker 3: meetings at Castellano's house, commission meetings, etc.
43:08
Speaker 1: etc.
43:08
Speaker 3: So, Around 1984, Castellano, being the boss of the family,
43:16
Speaker 3: asked Ruggiero for a copy of the tapes.
43:20
Speaker 1: The tension between Gotti and Castellano was held in check
43:23
Speaker 1: by Della Croce. But when Della Croce died, the barriers
43:27
Speaker 1: were down. A few days after Della Croce's death, Castellano
43:37
Speaker 1: summoned his captains for a meeting. Tommy Bellotti would replace
43:41
Speaker 1: Della Croce as underboss. More ominously, Castellano declared that Gotti's
43:47
Speaker 1: crew would be disbanded, his men absorbed into other crews.
43:52
Speaker 1: Castellano had finally listened to the Ruggiero tapes. They had
43:56
Speaker 1: given the government such a good case that after the trial,
44:00
Speaker 1: there probably wouldn't be much of a Gotti crew anyway.
44:04
Speaker 1: Gotti was furious, and he knew he was a target.
44:11
Speaker 1: There was grumbling among the ranks that Castellano was preoccupied
44:15
Speaker 1: with his legal problems and wasn't paying enough attention to
44:18
Speaker 1: the family. Some members thought he was pocketing too much
44:22
Speaker 1: money for himself, not spreading it around among the soldiers
44:25
Speaker 1: and captains. Gotti began to formulate his takeover. He had
44:31
Speaker 1: Angelo Ruggiero approach three of the four other mafia families.
44:36
Speaker 1: He wanted to know if they would look the other
44:37
Speaker 1: way if something were to happen to Castellano. The family
44:41
Speaker 1: said they would not interfere. Gotti carefully picked a few
44:46
Speaker 1: soldiers to help plan the hit. In particular, there was
44:49
Speaker 1: one Gambino member whose support would be crucial if the
44:52
Speaker 1: hit was going to succeed. Ruggiero was sent to ask
45:01
Speaker 1: Sammy Gravano if he would participate in the murder of Castellano.
45:09
Speaker 1: Gravano agreed. He was aware of the growing dissent within
45:14
Speaker 1: the family. He also knew that John Gotti was powerful
45:20
Speaker 1: enough to pull off the murder of the boss. And
45:23
Speaker 1: when the other families agreed to stay out of the way,
45:26
Speaker 1: Sammy knew the smart play was to back Gotti. Gatti
45:35
Speaker 1: put together a team of five Gambino family members to
45:38
Speaker 1: plan Castellano's assassination. They called themselves the Fist of Five.
45:44
Speaker 1: Hitting the boss of the mafia's largest family was a
45:47
Speaker 1: formidable task. The Fist would have to find Castellano away
45:52
Speaker 1: from his loyalists. And they knew that Castellano was under
45:56
Speaker 1: constant law enforcement scrutiny. He must be hit someplace where
46:01
Speaker 1: the FBI was not apt to be following him. Their
46:07
Speaker 1: best opportunity came in mid-December 1985. Castellano had asked five
46:13
Speaker 1: of his captains to meet him for dinner at Sparks
46:15
Speaker 1: Steakhouse in midtown Manhattan. But one of the captains was
46:19
Speaker 1: a member of the Fist. The night before the planned hit,
46:24
Speaker 1: the Fist convened at a construction office used by Gravano.
46:40
Speaker 1: Four shooters had been hired, two for Castellano and two
46:43
Speaker 1: for his driver and underboss, Tommy Bellani. The murders had
46:54
Speaker 1: been meticulously planned. On December 16th, the team gathered in
46:59
Speaker 1: a park about a mile from Sparks. The four shooters
47:04
Speaker 1: dressed alike in black Russian hats and light-colored trench coats.
47:08
Speaker 1: If seen by witnesses, they were more likely to be
47:11
Speaker 1: remembered for what they wore rather than their faces. The
47:18
Speaker 1: primary shooters were to pair off just outside Sparks. Angelo
47:23
Speaker 1: Ruggiero was one of four backups who would block all
47:26
Speaker 1: avenues of escape. Gotti and Gravano would observe from down
47:34
Speaker 1: the street in their parked car, ready to shoot if necessary.
47:38
Speaker 1: If something went wrong, if they missed on the street,
47:41
Speaker 1: they were to move into Sparks, firing until Castellano and
47:44
Speaker 1: Bellotti were killed. No matter who got in the way,
47:48
Speaker 1: Castellano and Bellotti had to die. It was dusk when
47:54
Speaker 1: Gotti and Gravano headed towards Sparks' steakhouse. The shooters took
48:03
Speaker 1: their places. Gotti and Gravano soon found their vantage point.
48:08
Speaker 1: a parking space at an intersection down the street from
48:11
Speaker 1: the restaurant. They waited in the car. Castellano was late.
48:17
Speaker 1: Perhaps he'd been tipped off about the plot on his life.
48:20
Speaker 1: In the middle of a conversation with Gotti, Gravano suddenly
48:23
Speaker 1: looked to his left and panicked at what he saw.
48:30
Speaker 1: It was a black Lincoln with Bellotti at the wheel
48:33
Speaker 1: and Castellano beside him. For one moment, Ravano and Gatti
48:40
Speaker 1: thought they would be seen. But the light changed and
48:50
Speaker 1: the car moved on. Ravano radioed ahead. It was time.
49:09
Speaker 1: As Bilotti pulled the car to the curb, the assassin's advanced.
49:37
Speaker 1: Paul Castellano and Tommy Bellotti. lay outside the car, each
49:41
Speaker 1: shot by six bullets. According to Gravano, Gotti eased the
49:49
Speaker 1: car into the street and passed the bodies sprawled on
49:52
Speaker 1: the pavement. He had to be sure Castellano was dead.
49:59
Speaker 1: Gravano's detailed account finally put an end to the speculation.
50:10
Speaker 1: As part of his plea bargain, Ravano testified against his
50:13
Speaker 1: former boss. He admitted to his role in 19 mob-related murders.
50:19
Speaker 1: He served five years in prison and voluntarily entered the
50:22
Speaker 1: Witness Protection Program. On April 2, 1992, John Gotti was
50:28
Speaker 1: convicted of five murders, including Paul Castellanos and Tommy Bellavio.
50:35
Speaker 1: He also was found guilty of other crimes under the
50:37
Speaker 1: umbrella of obstruction of justice and racketeering. They included bribery
50:43
Speaker 1: of a police officer, jury tampering, gambling, bookmaking, tax evasion,
50:49
Speaker 1: and attempted murder. John Gotti lived out his life in
50:54
Speaker 1: federal custody, stripped of his audience, his expensive suits, and
50:58
Speaker 1: his flamboyant style. He died in a prison hospital on
51:02
Speaker 1: June 10, 2002. The FBI crackdown on organized crime is working.
51:10
Speaker 1: Luis Chiliro, head of the New York office, is optimistic
51:13
Speaker 1: about New York's future.
51:15
Speaker 4: People today, I think, can build a building in New
51:18
Speaker 4: York City without being shaken down by a Cosa Nostra family.
51:21
Speaker 4: I think a restaurant in New York City could have
51:23
Speaker 4: their garbage picked up without fearing that they will be
51:26
Speaker 4: shaken down if they don't pick a particular quarter. People
51:29
Speaker 4: today can compete on the Fulton Fish Market. without the
51:32
Speaker 4: necessity of paying off one of the particular New York
51:35
Speaker 4: crime families. So we've come a long way. There is
51:38
Speaker 4: certainly a lot of things that left to be done,
51:40
Speaker 4: but I think people generally in New York City certainly
51:44
Speaker 4: are starting to feel the effects of this effort.
51:48
Speaker 1: The battle rages on in New York City. Mafia families
51:52
Speaker 1: continue to plunder, continue to kill. But because of the
51:56
Speaker 1: ceaseless efforts of the FBI, The people of New York
52:00
Speaker 1: are beginning to feel relief as more and more mobsters
52:03
Speaker 1: like John Gotti are taken off the streets.