April 11, 2010 9:19 PM
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Gotti Jr. on Living and Leaving a Life of Crime
With his father in prison for life, federal investigators turned their attention to Junior, who they say became the acting boss and de facto head of the Gambino family, a title and characterization that Gotti and his lawyer Charles Carnesi quibble with.
"I was my father's son, I'd be his eyes and ears. I'd handle the lawyers, I'd handle the monetary issues to a point," Gotti explained.
"Would it be incorrect to say that you were the acting head or the head of the Gambino family after your father went to prison?" Kroft asked.
"I don't think that that's the title that John ever accepted. I think that's sumpin' that law enforcement may [have] been suggesting. I think it may have been at one point in time his father's desire for him to succeed him," Carnesi said.
"I more or less call myself a loyal son. That's my title. That's a title I like," Gotti said.
It is a fine but important linguistic distinction under federal racketeering law. If John Gotti Jr. were to acknowledge that he had responsibility for running a criminal enterprise like La Cosa Nostra, he could be prosecuted for any criminal act committed by that group during his tenure, regardless of whether he was directly involved.
"Did you ever talk to him about any of this stuff?" Kroft asked.
"No. No. My father tried his best to shelter me from certain things," Gotti said.
"I mean, that seems kinda hard to believe," Kroft remarked.
"There was no communication between my father and I regarding that. There was none," Gotti said.
"In part because the conversation would have been recorded?" Kroft asked.
"Absolutely. Absolutely," Gotti acknowledged.
Gotti says all of his business conversations with his father were relayed through emissaries. Whatever you call that "loyal son period," which lasted for seven years, it did not go smoothly. When authorities found $358,000 in the basement of his home along with a list of recently inducted mafia members, his father was taped calling his son an imbecile, and the New York tabloid press had a field day.
"They used to make fun of you, that they used to say that you weren't ready for the job. People were unhappy with you. That you were kind of the Dopey Don. Did any of that get to you?" Kroft asked.
"Not at all. First of all, every time the Gottis were in the tabloids on the front page, the [newspaper] sales would go up about eight percent, I believe. And that's proven. It was eight or ten percent increase in sales," Gotti said. "So, it made good read. Who cares? Dopey Don. Who cares?"
But over time, Gotti says, he began to have second thoughts about the life he had chosen.
Asked when he began to sour on this whole thing, Gotti told Kroft, "Before I had my children, I really didn't care if I died in jail. But then once you have children, your perspective completely changes. Now you live your life for them. And I looked at my son. And I looked at my daughter. I looked at my other son, all my children. And I would say to myself, 'Wow, if I'm gone, what are they gonna do?'"
By the late 1990s, he learned that the federal government was preparing to file charges against him for racketeering, and he began to wonder whether he had the stomach for the job.
Gotti acknowledges there was a lot of treachery. "There's treachery in every…there's treachery in the corporate world. Equally, I have to say, I can't say more so. Equally so in the streets."
"Still, it was dealt with a little differently on the streets, though?" Kroft asked.
"Careers are made and broken. Guys are bankrupted. Yeah, I can see where you're going with this," Gotti replied.
Asked if he ever worried about getting killed, Gotti said, "Every day. Every day. That's a possibility. It's a possibility that something could happen to you every day of your life. And you know something, when you hang out in the streets you're hanging with a different type of a person. You know, you don't know what's gonna happen. You know, you can be with Tony's here today, then Tony's doing ten years tomorrow. Billy's here today, and then you never see him again. Who knows? Anything's possible. It's a volatile existence."
Copyright 2010 CBS. All rights reserved. "I was my father's son, I'd be his eyes and ears. I'd handle the lawyers, I'd handle the monetary issues to a point," Gotti explained.
"Would it be incorrect to say that you were the acting head or the head of the Gambino family after your father went to prison?" Kroft asked.
"I don't think that that's the title that John ever accepted. I think that's sumpin' that law enforcement may [have] been suggesting. I think it may have been at one point in time his father's desire for him to succeed him," Carnesi said.
"I more or less call myself a loyal son. That's my title. That's a title I like," Gotti said.
It is a fine but important linguistic distinction under federal racketeering law. If John Gotti Jr. were to acknowledge that he had responsibility for running a criminal enterprise like La Cosa Nostra, he could be prosecuted for any criminal act committed by that group during his tenure, regardless of whether he was directly involved.
"Did you ever talk to him about any of this stuff?" Kroft asked.
"No. No. My father tried his best to shelter me from certain things," Gotti said.
"I mean, that seems kinda hard to believe," Kroft remarked.
"There was no communication between my father and I regarding that. There was none," Gotti said.
"In part because the conversation would have been recorded?" Kroft asked.
"Absolutely. Absolutely," Gotti acknowledged.
Gotti says all of his business conversations with his father were relayed through emissaries. Whatever you call that "loyal son period," which lasted for seven years, it did not go smoothly. When authorities found $358,000 in the basement of his home along with a list of recently inducted mafia members, his father was taped calling his son an imbecile, and the New York tabloid press had a field day.
"They used to make fun of you, that they used to say that you weren't ready for the job. People were unhappy with you. That you were kind of the Dopey Don. Did any of that get to you?" Kroft asked.
"Not at all. First of all, every time the Gottis were in the tabloids on the front page, the [newspaper] sales would go up about eight percent, I believe. And that's proven. It was eight or ten percent increase in sales," Gotti said. "So, it made good read. Who cares? Dopey Don. Who cares?"
But over time, Gotti says, he began to have second thoughts about the life he had chosen.
Asked when he began to sour on this whole thing, Gotti told Kroft, "Before I had my children, I really didn't care if I died in jail. But then once you have children, your perspective completely changes. Now you live your life for them. And I looked at my son. And I looked at my daughter. I looked at my other son, all my children. And I would say to myself, 'Wow, if I'm gone, what are they gonna do?'"
By the late 1990s, he learned that the federal government was preparing to file charges against him for racketeering, and he began to wonder whether he had the stomach for the job.
Gotti acknowledges there was a lot of treachery. "There's treachery in every…there's treachery in the corporate world. Equally, I have to say, I can't say more so. Equally so in the streets."
"Still, it was dealt with a little differently on the streets, though?" Kroft asked.
"Careers are made and broken. Guys are bankrupted. Yeah, I can see where you're going with this," Gotti replied.
Asked if he ever worried about getting killed, Gotti said, "Every day. Every day. That's a possibility. It's a possibility that something could happen to you every day of your life. And you know something, when you hang out in the streets you're hanging with a different type of a person. You know, you don't know what's gonna happen. You know, you can be with Tony's here today, then Tony's doing ten years tomorrow. Billy's here today, and then you never see him again. Who knows? Anything's possible. It's a volatile existence."
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