John Gotti

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MR. MACHIAVELLI

The assassination of Paul Castellano was a brilliant coup on the part of Gotti, not just in the way the ambush was executed, but also in the preparation of the Gambino family and other crime families for the event itself.

When John Gotti made his decision that he was going to eliminate Paul, he determined who he would recruit to join him in the conspiracy that was ultimately called the Fist. Gotti had to be very careful, because if in trying to recruit other key members of the Gambino family, word got back to Paul, Gotti himself would be sanctioned and executed.

First Sammy was approached, not by Gotti directly, but by Angelo. Sammy realized that Castellano would never survive an all out war with the Bergin crew. Sammy, in spite of his "by the-rules" approach to most things, understood that Paul was not leading the family in the right direction. By Gotti's invitation to Sammy to join up with him, Gotti was signaling that he wanted to unify the family again and heal the schism that had broken the family into two camps. Sammy was behind the idea of new leadership of a unified family.

Sammy told Angelo that he would see how DeCicco and Robert DiBernardo would react to such a proposal before he made a firm commitment. After DeCicco agreed, the three key players were committed: Gotti, Gravano and DeCicco. DiBernardo, a very rich and influential man with strong Teamster connections, signed on shortly afterwards.

Now Gotti needed someone of the older generation, a traditional capo in the family.   Joseph Armone fit the bill. By getting Armone to join the Fist, they reduced the possibility of a civil war within the family.

Gotti and his co-conspirators knew that they had to lay the groundwork for their plan well beyond the Gambino family. In Jerry Capeci and Gene Mustain's book Gotti: Rise and Fall the strategy is described:

Members of the Fist contacted influential men in three other Cosa Nostra families -Luchese, Colombo, and Bonanno -- and asked for support if  "something happened" to Paul. They approached men they regarded as the next generation of leaders, because most of the current leaders had fallen victim to the RICO (racketeering law) sword and were awaiting trial and facing life in prison without parole. For obvious reasons, Paul's friend Chin Gigante was not contacted.

On the day of Paul Castellano's assassination, DeCicco carried on some important political preparations. He went to the Sparks restaurant to make sure that the other capos there did not think that their lives were endangered and to do his best to prevent them from taking any retaliatory action against whoever they thought was responsible.

A couple of days after Paul's death, elderly consigliere Joe Gallo called a meeting of all the Gambino family capos at a restaurant owned by Gravano. Gallo had already warned Gotti that his contacts with the younger leadership of the other families didn't count.   Only the Cosa Nostra Commission could have a leader removed. Consequently, Gotti and the Fist must never admit what they did, regardless of what conclusions were reached by other Gambino family members or other crime family members.

Capeci and Mustain captured the spirit of the dialogue:

"It's terrible, what's happened," Gallo began. "But we don't know who killed Paul, we're investigatin'. Nobody feels worse for Paul's and Tommy's families than me. But we're a family too and we have to stay strong. So that's why we called you here.

None of the captains believed him, of course. But the armed sentries and seating arrangements made reassurance more important than truth.  Nobody had any questions about the murders; Gallo, speaking for Gotti, gave them the only answers they wanted.

The other Cosa Nostra families were given the same message and did not threaten any trouble. The sole exception was Chin Gigante, the boss of the Genovese family who reminded the Gambino capos that eventually someone would have to pay for breaking the Commission rules.

When the Gambino capos met again before the end of the year, John Gotti was formally elected boss of the family.  Fist co-conspirator Frank DeCicco made his nomination.

As a student of Machiavelli, Gotti had a good sense of who in his organization to put into positions of power. DeCicco became his under boss and he made Angelo head of the Bergin crew. Sammy officially took over all of Toddo's operations. Sammy was a very powerful man, but he preferred to remain a shadowy background figure, while Gotti and DeCicco visibly ran the show.  Joseph Armone, the elderly capo who had become a member of the Fist, was given new sources of income. And consigliere Joe Gallo remained in his position under Gotti as he had under Paul Castellano.

Most importantly, Gotti understood the value of public relations. Unlike his predecessor and some of the other family bosses, Gotti realized that favorable publicity would enhance his standing with other Cosa Nostra families, with the members of his own family, and, very importantly, with potential jurors and witnesses. By charming the media, he was able to create a public image of himself as a legendary, almost heroic rogue. Yes, he was a gangster. That could not be denied. But to the public he was a popular and likeable guy -- the way Al Capone was revered on the streets of Chicago in 1930. Gotti was very media astute, a fact which confounded his enemies in law enforcement.