John Gotti, the former head of New York's Gambino crime family, died in a prison hospital today at age 61.

June 10, 2002 12:11 PM

John Gotti, the former head of New York's Gambino crime family, died in a prison hospital today at age 61. He was serving a life sentence after 1992 convictions for racketeering and six killings. "Sammy Bull" Gravano must be breathing easier today.
posted by tranquileye (12 comments total)

Inspiration for the worst Dylan song ever.
posted by maudlin at 12:21 PM on June 10, 2002

Whoops -- wrong guy, but that song still needs to be aired and scorned on a regular basis. Je regrette rien.
posted by maudlin at 12:22 PM on June 10, 2002

Sam Gravano has no reason to breathe easier. He never had to be afraid of the man, John Gotti. He had to be afraid of John Gotti's people finding him and knocking on his door, i.e. the low-life scum criminals still walking the streets doing the mob's dirty work because they think this guy and others like him are some kind of heros.
posted by tomorama at 12:54 PM on June 10, 2002

The creepiest part of that article is at the end, where it tells how the man who accidentally hit and killed Gotti's son, who was riding a minibike, was abducted and never seen again. And no charges were ever filed.
posted by mecran01 at 1:42 PM on June 10, 2002

That's not so peculiar, mecran01. Happens all the time.

It'd be a shame if you were to, you know, get hurt telling people about it, don't you think?

What's your exact street address and telephone number again, mecran01?
posted by Kafkaesque at 1:57 PM on June 10, 2002

maudlin,
you're talking about this song, man, "King of New York"
But leave Bob alone...
posted by matteo at 2:16 PM on June 10, 2002

That's kinda why I always preffered Scorsese's gangster movies, Skallas, his flicks portrays them as heartless scum while still being entertaining as hell.
posted by jonmc at 4:04 PM on June 10, 2002

i'm glad john gotti's dead, he was a scum bag.
posted by mokey at 4:08 PM on June 10, 2002

So a dirty rat dies in a cage. Why are we supposed to consider this "news," much less care? Back to the Sopranos, everyone.
posted by rushmc at 4:53 PM on June 10, 2002

Um, anyway...


Actualy, a guy prosicuters say was in charge of the gambino crime family was arested the other day. CNN had this 'mob expert' on, who claimed that the mobbing days are over.
posted by delmoi at 5:10 PM on June 10, 2002

Hey matteo, thanks for the correct song info. But I can't leave Bob alone on this one. I was a huge Dylan freak in 75 when Desire came out, and I still hold a lot of the man's work as some of the best out there, but that love song to Joey Gallo was an embarrassment. I think Lester Bangs tore Dylan a new one in Creem early in 76 over the album and that song in particular and I was still enough of a fan to write a passionate rebuttal during math class (confiscated by the teacher and never posted, thank goodness, because Bangs was right).
posted by maudlin at 5:55 PM on June 10, 2002

yesh. john gotti is a scumbag. and oj is innocent.
posted by jcterminal at 8:30 PM on June 10, 2002