Inside the American Mob (2013–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Rise & Fall of Gotti - full transcript
It is 1986, and with most of the mafia family bosses in jail, it's every man for himself. One gangster sees chaos as an opportunity, John Gotti.
FRANZESE: The first time I met
John Gotti was around the time
when his son Frankie got killed.
The first time I really
encountered him was at
the funeral.
NEWS REPORTER: On
March 12th, 1980,
12-year-old Frank Gotti
was riding his mini bike
on the street.
NEWS REPORTER 2: John Favaro,
a neighbour of Gotti's,
accidentally hit him with a car
pulling out of his driveway.
COFFEY: Gotti's wife,
she kept browbeating him.
you gotta do something about
the next door neighbor.
POLISI: John Gotti had hundreds
and hundreds of men under him.
So he could cause
somebody great harm.
you know, with the
raising of a finger.
COFFEY:He takes his wife to
Florida, gives the contract
to his underlings. They kidnap
this guy out of a diner
in Nassau County, New York
MOUW: Hit him with
some baseball bats,
put him in the back of a
van, shot and killed him.
COFFEY: And they cut him
in half with a chainsaw,
All while John and his wife were
in Florida so he had an alibi.
We never found the body.
POLISI: Gotti had
developed an army.
He started recruiting hit
men from all over the place.
He could kill somebody
in 30 seconds.
Unbelievable the
power that he had.
GIULIANI: We have now proven
in a court of law beyond a
reasonable doubt not only
that there's a mafia,
but that there's a commission,
that it runs the mafia.
NARRATOR: IT IS 1986 AND THE
FORTUNES OF THE FIVE FAMILIES
OF THE AMERICAN MOB
ARE CHANGING RAPIDLY.
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT HAS
SUCCESSFULLY PROSECUTED THE
BOSSES OF THE RULING CRIME
FAMILIES, USING STATE OF THE ART
ELECTRONIC WIRE-TAPPING AND A
GROUND BREAKING LAW CALLED RICO
TO SEND MOST OF THE LEADERSHIP
AWAY FOR LIFE.
FRANZESE: It was eye opening.
Here's all the bosses, they're
getting convicted, they're gone.
They're going away.
I mean this was a rumble
throughout all the families.
What happens now, you know?
DEVECCHIO: So it left a huge
vacuum in command and control
at the top levels
of organized crime.
And it threw the
families in disarray.
NARRATOR: WITH THE
BOSSES IN PRISON,
THE MOB IS A HEADLESS SNAKE
AND AN ERA OF CHAOS AND MURDER
ERUPTS.
ONE GANGSTER SEES THIS
AS AN OPPORTUNITY.
THIS MAN: JOHN GOTTI.
A CAPTAIN IN THE GAMBINO FAMILY
WITH A REPUTATION FOR UNBRIDLED
VIOLENCE AND A VAULTING AMBITION
POLISI: He was sort of
an unknown wise guy.
But Gotti would walk around
with his chest out saying,
one day I'm gonna be the boss.
Of course we thought
it was ridiculous.
NARRATOR: GOTTI WILL ATTEMPT
TO BRING BACK THE GLORY DAYS TO
THE FIVE FAMILIES OF COSA NOSTRA
THESE PEOPLE ARE WITNESSES
TO A SECRET HISTORY,
STEPPING OUT OF THE SHADOWS TO
TELL THEIR STORY FIRST HAND.
A FEW STAY HIDDEN
FOR PERSONAL SAFETY,
FEARFUL OF AN ORGANIZATION THAT
MOST AMERICANS ARE NOW BEGINNING
TO SEE IN THE 1980S AS A THREAT
TO THE HEALTH OF THE COUNTRY,
AND A VERY REAL TAX ON
THEIR EVERY DAY LIVES.
THE MOST SUCCESSFUL OF THOSE
FAMILIES IN THIS GROUP,
THE GAMBINO FAMILY.
A CRIMINAL POWERHOUSE
IN THE 80S.
CHERTOFF: The Gambino family
was the largest family and
historically probably had been
the most powerful family.
It gets its name
from Carlo Gambino,
who was a boss of the
family back in the 1950's.
And it was probably the family
that had the greatest wealth.
RAAB: They were all
always very successful.
And they didn't depend on
just one or two crimes.
They were into everything.
DEVECCHIO: Loan
sharking, gambling...
the Gambino's had a lot of
influence in the garment
industry, with the unions.
NARRATOR: IN 1982, THE GAMBINO
BOSS IS A GUY NAMED BIG
PAUL CASTELLANO.
MCDONALD: Paul Castellano ran
the family in a very different
way from the way other
bosses ran their families.
He was a very sophisticated,
almost business-like boss.
MOUW: Paul's mansion was
called the white house...
And he tried to run the
family from the house.
NARRATOR: CAPTAINS TREK
FROM BROOKLYN, QUEENS,
AND MANHATTAN TO THE WHITE HOUSE
IN STATEN ISLAND TO DISCUSS
BUSINESS, AND
BUSINESS IS BOOMING.
CASTELLANO CONTROLS MUCH OF
EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE CITY,
AND GETS A PIECE OF THE ACTION
WHENEVER A NEW YORKER BUYS
A CHICKEN OR RENTS AN APARTMENT.
HE HAS RULES.
ONE OF THEM: NO ONE IN THE
GAMBINO FAMILY IS ALLOWED
TO SELL DRUGS, AND THAT'S
A SERIOUS PROBLEM FOR ONE
OF THEIR CAPTAINS, JOHN GOTTI.
MOUW: 1985 Gotti had most of
his crew under indictment for
narcotics trafficking.
These guys were distributing
50 kilos of heroin in a 6-month
period.
KOSSLER: Under the rules
of the La Cosa Nostra,
you are not permitted to engage
in narcotics trafficking.
NARRATOR: BUT GOTTI IS
FLAGRANTLY BREAKING THAT RULE,
AND OTHER BOSSES WANT
CASTELLANO TO TAKE ACTION.
KOSSLER: At that time Chin
Gigante of the Genovese family
was putting pressure
on Castellano.
Gigante was telling Castellano
that you're gonna have
to kill these guys.
NARRATOR: THEN IN 1985, PAUL
CASTELLANO IS INDICTED ON
CHARGES OF CONSPIRACY AND
MURDER IN THE COMMISSION CASE.
GOTTI SEES A ONE OF A KIND
CHANCE TO GET RID OF BIG PAUL
AND TAKE OVER THE
GAMBINO FAMILY.
MOUW: Their break came when they
found out Castellano was having
dinner on December 16th at
Spark's Steakhouse in Manhattan.
So the hit team gets assembled
and Gotti's on the scene
with Gravano. Gravano's driving.
They have 4 shooters
on the street.
They have a couple crash cars,
they have a couple getaway cars.
There's probably 15
guys on the street.
Bilotti and Castellano drive by.
Gravano has a walkie talkie,
he radios, they're coming.
The car pulls in
front of Sparks,
the four shooters
converge on them.
They fire umpteen rounds, and
they assassinate Castellano
and Bilotti.
TOM BROKAW: The dead
godfather, Paul Castellano,
and his bodyguard, were
gunned down as they stepped
from their limousine outside
a popular New York steakhouse.
NEWS REPORTER: Not for 50 years
has New York seen a mob murder
of this great a magnitude.
FBI MAN: I think we're
witnessing at least a part
of the changing of the guard.
I think we're witnessing
a convolution within
La Cosa Nostra that hasn't
been seen since its beginnings.
MOUW: The mobsters call
this the holocaust,
the hit of the century.
NARRATOR: AT FIRST IT'S NOT
ENTIRELY CLEAR WHO PULLED OFF
THE MONSTER HIT.
REPORTER: Are there
any eyewitnesses?
COMMISSIONER: Well, we
haven't come up with anybody
that is volunteering
anything at this point.
MOUW: I think 3 or 4 saw
something substantive.
But everybody else knew it's a
mob hit, I didn't see nothing,
I don't want to get involved.
NARRATOR: BUT SOME WITHIN COSA
NOSTRA MAKE AN EDUCATED GUESS.
GOTTI.
FAT SAL: Gotti knew if he didn't
kill them that he would be
killed.
And he knew that after killing
them he would take over
the family.
MOUW: About a month later they
had what they called a captain's
meeting for the Gambino family.
At which time the captains elect
the new boss of the family.
And Frank DeCicco says,
I nominate John Gotti.
Everybody in favor raises
their hand, says ay,
he's elected boss of the family.
John says, I nominate Frank
DeCicco to be the underboss.
And we have a new
administration in the family.
NARRATOR: BY TAKING
OUT PAUL CASTELLANO,
GOTTI ESTABLISHES HIMSELF AS THE
BRASHEST, BOLDEST CAPTAIN EVER.
POLISI: He just went and did
it, openly and audaciously.
And went to all the other
captains and said hey
I'm the boss now
and that was it.
CUTLER: He had a- a particular
magnetic personality,
that I hadn't encountered
before in my life.
POLISI: He went from a wannabe
wise guy to a superstar within
the mob, a mob star.
GOTTI: tell me about it.
POLISI: Instantly he
became a media sensation.
GOTTI: You fellas must
have a lot of film.
MOUW: John was really the first
boss to actually court reporters
and court publicity.
FAT SAL: All of the sudden you
start seeing his pictures...
$3,000 suits...
And walking around smiling for
the cameras and y'know, we know,
we've been in this life
since we were kids,
we know we supposed to stay low.
Not smile for the cameras
and say, Hey, how you doin?
MCDONALD: He was
very fashionable.
He wore tailored suits
and tailored overcoats,
and you know, fancy
scarf, and y'know,
he walked with a swagger,
and so he took on the name
Dapper Don... And
I'm sure he relished in that.
GIULIANI: I always thought the
Dapper Don was a basic moron.
This guy who you know likes
to show up to watch murders.
Last thing in the world you
wanna do is show up to watch
a murder.
The last thing in the world you
want to do is bring attention
to yourself.
POLISI: I think a lot of people
resented Gotti of who he was,
he was just so out there.
He'll do the unexpected
and doesn't care.
CUTLER: He was always on.
He was bullet on.
NARRATOR: GOTTI
SWAGGERS IN PUBLIC,
BUT INSIDE THE AMERICAN
MOB HIS ENEMIES ARE MASSING
FOR A COUNTER ATTACK.
THE HIT ON CASTELLANO WAS NOT
SANCTIONED BY THE COMMISSION,
THE GOVERNING BOARD
OF THE FIVE FAMILIES,
AND THEREFOR MUST BE
PUNISHED BY DEATH.
PONZI: Two particular factions
of local organized crime were
particularly riled about the
fact that it was an unsanctioned
hit.
Particularly the Lucchese crime
family where Anthony Casso was
the underboss, and the Genovese
crime family where Vincent
The Chin Gigante was the boss.
RAAB: Vincent Chin Gigante
was a close pal of Big Paul.
They were involved in many
underworld deals together.
Million dollar deals.
Gigante decided that
Gotti had to be killed.
NARRATOR: GENOVESE BOSS VINCENT
THE CHIN GIGANTE IS THE POLAR
OPPOSITE OF GOTTI, A BOSS
WHO SHUNS THE LIMELIGHT.
ANASTASIA:The Genovese crime
family is the Ivy League
of the five families.
They're very intelligent, very
sophisticated, and they get it,
they know, and they understand
how it's supposed to operate.
You don't want to
tangle with these guys.
NARRATOR: GOTTI LOVES
HEADLINES, BUT THE GENOVESE KEEP
THEIR LEADERSHIP TOP SECRET.
ANASTASIA: The longest time the
Genovese's never made it clear
who the boss was.
It was like bait and switch.
They would prop somebody
up, say he's the boss,
but he wasn't really the boss.
They played that game of
chess with law enforcement,
and I think with
other crime families.
Their business was
their business,
nobody else needed to
know anything about it.
Gigante epitomized that.
MOUW: Chin Gigante was the boss
of the Genovese family
for a number of years.
And what his M.O. was
to play insane. He was crazy.
MALE: He ain't gonna answer you.
He don't understand.
REPORTER: His doctors say the
man in pajamas is mentally ill,
not a godfather but a man
with the mind of a child.
STAMBOULIDIS: He had a routine.
Law enforcement members
sometimes called it the Gigante
Shuffle, but he would dress
down in sometimes pajamas,
always a tattered bathrobe.
MOUW: His theory was
if he got arrested,
he'd get off by
insanity defense,
which he tried several
times, and it worked.
POLISI: You know everybody
has a little game.
And he played a game as
the 'odd father'. Fascinating.
Running around New York City
with a robe on like he's a half
a bubble off or
a crispy critter.
But in fact, he was a very
astute streetwise gangster.
FAT SAL: He was no pushover.
When he had to order his
guys to go out and kill,
he would order his guys
to go out and kill.
NARRATOR: BUT THE GENOVESE BOSS
DOESN'T TAKE DIRECT ACTION.
INSTEAD GIGANTE GIVES THE JOB
OF TAKING OUT GOTTI TO ANOTHER
OF NEW YORK'S FIVE MOB
FAMILIES, THE LUCCHESE FAMILY.
SPECIFICALLY THIS MAN,
ANTHONY GASPIPE CASSO.
PONZI: Anthony Gaspipe Casso was
the underboss of the Lucchese
crime family.
He was a particularly
ruthless individual,
feared by his own associates and
by competing members of other
crime families.
FAT SAL: Gaspipe's reputation
was Gaspipe would have a dream
that a guy was a
rat, an informant,
and he would send out
a crew to kill him.
NARRATOR: GASPIPE CASSO GOES
AFTER GOTTI IN AN UNEXPECTED WAY
FAT SAL: From what I understand
is uh...they were tryin to kill
John Gotti and Frankie
DeCicco that day.
So they wind up planting a bomb
under Frankie DeCicco's car
on 86th street when
he was at the club.
John Gotti never
showed up that day.
NARRATOR: BUT DECICCO DOES.
POLISI: They blew up
Decicco's car with him in it.
I guess there was like a remote
bomb that they pulled off,
so they went high-tech.
NARRATOR: GAMBINO UNDERBOSS
FRANK DECICCO DIES INSTANTLY,
AND NOW GOTTI VOWS REVENGE.
AN ALL OUT WAR IS ABOUT TO
ERUPT IN THE AMERICAN MOB.
SOME SAY GOTTI KNOWS
WHO TRIED TO KILL HIM,
AND NOW STRIKES BACK
WITH A VENGEANCE.
PONZI:It was clear that Casso
had his hand in the planning of
that event, possibly was present
for the detonation of the device
that actually went off
and blew up the vehicle.
And as a result, the Gambino's
were intent on getting even
with Casso.
NARRATOR: ANTHONY
'GASPIPE' CASSO,
THE FEROCIOUS UNDERBOSS OF
THE RIVAL LUCCHESE FAMILY.
THE GAMBINOS SET UP AN AMBUSH
USING CASSO'S RELATIVE.
PONZI: Casso receives a
telephone call from a nephew of
his and is told that the nephew
had set up a meeting where Casso
would be able to take advantage
of a scheme to cash stolen
checks and Casso is interested
in attending that meeting,
responds to a
predetermined location,
and is actually sitting in his
car having an ice cream when
two cars pull up alongside of
him and begin to fire at him
from multiple angles.
CASSO: Ah! Ah! Ah!
NARRATOR: THEY ONLY WOUND CASSO.
PONZI: He's able to slide out
the driver's side and crawl
into a restaurant...
He goes down into the basement
of the restaurant and locks
himself in a freezer waiting
for his assailants to vacate
the area.
NARRATOR: CASSO SURVIVES AND NOW
IT'S HIS TURN TO STRIKE BACK.
PONZI:Casso was convinced that
the attempt on his life had come
from within the Gambino crime
family, but he needed proof.
He also was hell bent on
identifying the individuals
involved and exacting
his own, uh, revenge.
NARRATOR: ENTER A SMALL TIME
CRIMINAL NAMED BURT KAPLAN,
A GUY WITH CONNECTIONS
IN UNLIKELY PLACES.
LIKE THE NEW YORK CITY
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
PONZI:That was when Burt Kaplan
approached Casso and told him
that he could reach out to
two detectives that he knew,
two detectives who had already
done some work for Kaplan that
Kaplan was very satisfied with,
and that he could not only
identify the individual ones
involved but provide specific
information as to
their whereabouts.
NARRATOR: KAPLAN INTRODUCES
CASSO TO TWO NEW YORK CITY
POLICE DETECTIVES, STEVE
CARACAPPA AND LOU EPPOLITO,
COPS WHO ARE WILLING TO DO
DIRTY WORK FOR EXTRA PAY.
PONZI:Steve Caracappa worked
with Lou Eppolito in the
Brooklyn Robbery Squad.
They were partners
together in the late 70s.
And the vast majority of people
who worked with Eppolito knew
that he was the son of a member
of the Gambino crime family and
were always curious about how he
ever wound up becoming a member
of the New York City
Police Department.
FAT SAL: He was a gangster
with a badge, basically.
That's what he was.
And he had a partner
named Caracappa.
HORMOZI: Stephen Caracappa was a
detective in the organized crime
homicide unit that was
part of major crimes.
A very prestigious unit of the
New York City Police Department.
NARRATOR: FOR A PRICE, CARACAPPA
AND EPPOLITO SUPPLY A LIST
TO GASPIPE CASSO.
ON IT, THE NAMES OF MEN RUMOURED
TO BE INVOLVED IN THE HIT
AGAINST HIM.
ONE OF THOSE NAMES
IS JIMMY HYDELL.
PONZI:Jimmy Hydell was a
low-level mob associate.
A street thug a
tough, tough kid.
FAT SAL: He was
kind of a maniac.
Did a lot of bad things,
killed a lot of people.
Somebody from the
Gambino family,
they offered Jimmy
Hydell the world.
They told him, Go kill Gaspipe.
He told everybody, They
told me to do this. I did this.
HORMOZI: Casso wants revenge.
He's searching desperately, high
and wide, to find Jimmy Hydell.
Hydell's now in hiding.
He knows this is trouble.
And so the message is sent
through Burt Kaplan to Eppolito
and Caracappa to find Hydell
and to bring him back alive.
PONZI: And an agreement is
made wherein the detectives
will abduct Hydell from
the street and deliver him
to Anthony Casso.
The amount agreed upon
was $30,000 dollars.
NARRATOR: THE COPS USE THEIR
RESOURCES AT THE NYPD TO TRACK
DOWN HYDELL.
BUT IT'S NOT LONG BEFORE
THEY RECEIVE THE PERFECT LEAD
FROM JIMMY HYDELL HIMSELF.
PONZI:Hydell was to meet a capo
in the Gambino crime family
at Dyker Park in Brooklyn
on this October day in 1986.
And Hydell was concerned that
something bad might come out of
the meeting, so he actually
contacted the 6-2 precinct.
He contacted them, I believe,
for his own protection.
What he could have never dreamed
or expected is that that
information found itself into
the hands of detectives Eppolito
and Caracappa, and they were
at Dyker Park that day looking
for him.
FAT SAL: I was standing on
the corner with Frank Hydell,
Jimmy Hydell's brother.
We were on 15th avenue
and 86th street.
He looked to the left and
there's Eppolito and Caracappa
driving by.
Frank Hydell says, I just seen
them two scumbags by our house.
They must be looking to
lock up my brother Jimmy.
HORMOZI: They see him walking
on the street, pull him over...
EPPOLITO-CARACAPPA:
Come on, come on! Move it!
FAT SAL: They kidnapped him and
they brought him to Gaspipe.
PONZI: Casso takes
Hydell to a home in Brooklyn
And he takes Hydell down to
the basement of that building.
and commences to torture
him while he extracts from him
the people that were behind the
murder attempt on his life.
HYDELL: Ah! Ah! Omph!
FAT SAL: He tortured
him for hours.
HYDELL: cough, Ah! Ah!
FAT SAL: So Jimmy eventually
broke down and told them
who sent him to kill him.
HORMOZI: He gives up
the name Eddie Lino,
a captain in the Gambino
organized crime family.
Casso then kills him by
shooting him numerous times.
The body's never been found.
NARRATOR: NO ONE DOUBTS
JIMMY HYDELL IS DEAD,
AND HIS BLOOD SEALS THE DEAL
BETWEEN CASSO AND THE NEW YORK
CITY POLICE DETECTIVES.
HORMOZI: From then, their
relationship is formed
and they're put on the payroll
effectively and given money
every month to collect
information and have services
provided by these two men.
NARRATOR: GASPIPE NOW KNOWS
WHO TRIED TO KILL HIM.
THE PATH TAKES HIM TO GOTTI.
GOTTI CONFIDANT AND GAMBINO
FAMILY CAPTAIN EDDIE LINO.
PONZI: Casso's motive for the
hit on Eddie Lino was two-fold.
Jimmy Hydell told Casso
that Eddie Lino was aware
of the contract on Casso's life.
Additionally, he was perceived
as someone very close
to John Gotti, And if Casso was
successful in exacting revenge
for the Castellano
murder on John Gotti,
Lino would be someone that he
would have to be worried about.
NARRATOR: GOTTI IS A MARKED MAN
FOR THE UNSANCTIONED MURDER OF
HIS BOSS, BIG PAUL CASTELLANO.
AND THOSE CONNECTED TO
GOTTI, LIKE EDDIE LINO,
ARE IN THE CROSS HAIRS AS WELL.
SO CASSO GIVES THE JOB TO KILL
LINO TO THE PAIR OF NEW YORK
CITY COPS IN HIS POCKET, STEVE
CARACAPPA AND LOU EPPOLITO.
THE PRICE TAG: SEVENTY-FIVE
THOUSAND DOLLARS.
FAT SAL: Eddie Lino left
the club on Avenue U.
When he left, everybody seen
Eppolito and Caracappa following
him, so they thought he was
just under surveillance.
HORMOZI: They use their
sirens to pull Eddie Lino
over on the Belt Parkway.
He stops the car.
He thinks it's just a police
stop, maybe he was speeding,
who knows.
PONZI:They ask him
if he's Frankie Lino,
who happens to be
a cousin of his,
which distracts him momentarily,
and then he is shot and killed.
HORMOZI: And they
leave him for dead,
get in their police
car and drive away.
The Eddie Lino hit is the first
time that these two cops have
actually executed
someone for Anthony Casso
and the Lucchese family.
Here you have people who are
entrusted with keeping law and
order in your city participating
in a gruesome, heinous crime.
It's the dissolution of
civilization at this point.
NARRATOR: WITH TWO OF JOHN
GOTTI'S CLOSE CONFIDANTS
NOW DEAD, THE BOSS TAKES AN
UNEXPECTED STEP HE MAKES PEACE.
POLISI: John Gotti was the
type of guy that was very,
very in tune, perceptive,
intuitive on the street.
RAAB: He decides it's time
that the families stop fighting
with each other,
that peace is needed.
And he and Gigante and
the Lucchese leaders,
including Gaspipe Casso,
arrange to have a meeting.
They forgive each other,
Gigante claims he never tried
to kill Gotti, Gotti accepts it.
And the truce is arranged.
NARRATOR: ON THE VERGE
OF ASSASSINATION,
GOTTI SAVES HIS OWN SKIN.
BUT LAW ENFORCEMENT IS
STILL GUNNING FOR HIM.
KALLSTROM: John Gotti was a
particularly slippery guy.
He beat a lot of raps, a lot
of state court indictments
and challenges.
Hung juries, things like that.
POLISI: He always found a
way to intimidate witnesses,
somebody disappeared, it was
reasonable doubt, you know,
this kinda thing.
NARRATOR: ONE SUCH CASE IS A
CONSPIRACY INDICTMENT INCLUDING
RACKETEERING AND MURDER, PULLED
TOGETHER WITH FLIMSY EVIDENCE
AND TESTIMONY FROM KNOWN MOB
ASSOCIATES, LIKE SAL POLISI.
JOHN MARKS: What was it like
to testify against Gotti?
POLISI: Oh my gosh!
I was a junky for excitement.
It was another rush.
He was sitting 20
feet away from me!
He took his hand, he put it
under the table and made like
a gun, said, I'm gonna get you.
And I waved at him and I
said, yeah, okay, right.
And after about 2 days then
I start to get cross-examined
by all these attorneys
like Bruce Cutler.
CUTLER: Sal Polisi was a
low-life, a miscreant criminal.
POLISI: And he was a
pugnacious type of a guy.
CULTER: This is not the KGB.
This is America!
POLISI: He was real
physical, energetic, loud.
He was an actor.
CUTLER: When you build cases on
rotten scoundrels you expose
these low-life witnesses
for who they are!
POLISI: And of course
he tore me up for days.
And he said, How do you
describe yourself, Mr. Polisi?
I says, I lived on
un-American life.
But I've decided to
completely change my life.
And he looked at me and said,
That's never gonna happen.
Once a criminal,
always a criminal.
CUTLER: You are the people, and
it's gonna be now your turn to
see through the poison and come
back with the right decision.
Something you can live with.
POLISI: Well when you put
mobsters and con artists
and crooks and thieves
on the stand, you know,
it doesn't take a
genius to discredit.
JURY: We find him not guilty.
MAN: AY! Johnny!
REPORTER: After the verdict,
Jon Gotti drove to his Mulberry
Street headquarters, The
Ravenite Social Club.
He was greeted with
cheers and hugs.
POLISI: Everybody loved him!
You know, all the people
in New York loved him.
They figured he was an underdog,
and he was this great gregarious
gangster. Teflon Don.
NARRATOR: WHEN GOTTI
ISN'T BEATING CASES,
HE'S HOLDING COURT VERY
PUBLICLY AT HIS SOCIAL CLUB,
THE RAVENITE.
CUTLER: The Ravenite,
when I used to go,
was chock full of activity.
POLISI: All the made guys would
walk up and down the street
there, And uh,
sort of hold court
CUTLER: It was a serious
place For serious minded men.
And John loved it.
NARRATOR: BUT THE FEDS
AREN'T JUST WATCHING,
THEY'RE LISTENING AS WELL.
THEY PLANT A BUG INSIDE THE
RAVENITE CLUB WHERE GOTTI DOES
ALL HIS WHEELING AND DEALING,
BUT THERE'S A HITCH.
KALLSTROM: It was much too
noisy, too many people,
a jukebox playing, and it was
really a bad environment.
MOUW: We just couldn't pick
up these conversations,
so based on that we had to shut
down our electronic surveillance
in um late 1988.
KALLSTROM: As you look back
over the surveillance records,
something jumped out at us and
that was that on a certain night
Like clockwork, over the
course of a couple of months,
a little old Italian lady would
come out the side door next
to the Ravenite social club and
she'd come back two hours later,
at the pretty much
the same time.
So we said you
know, what is this?
MOUW: We learned from a high
level informant that There's an
apartment up there, number
10, occupied by a widow.
And they'd go up there and use
her apartment for high-level
meetings.
NARRATOR: IT'S THE BREAK
THEY'VE BEEN WAITING FOR.
KALLSTROM: The case agents got a
new court order and uh we made
another entry And went upstairs,
and found this beautiful little
apartment with a living room
where they would have had to sit
'cause there was no other
place to sit in there.
We knew that this was gonna
be a quiet environment.
There was no radio in there.
There was a television
but, ya know,
I think they felt
extremely safe in there.
It wasn't long after that that I
got this call from Kossler and
then Bruce Mouw jumping up and
down in excitement because, uh,
it was a goldmine.
The first night
that they got them,
Gotti talked about pretty much
everything that he was doing.
He kinda reviewed all the
different criminal activity
going on in the family.
And who was good and who was bad
and who needed to be killed and
what he thought of his lawyer
and a whole host of things.
GOTTI: This is gonna be
La Cosa Nostra 'til I die.
Be it an hour from
now, or be it tonight,
or a hundred years from
now when I'm in jail.
It's gonna be La Cosa Nostra.
KALLSTROM: It was just some
of the best we ever had.
GOTTI: You tell this
punk, I, me, John Gotti,
will sever your xxxxx head off.
NARRATOR: IT'S A TREASURE TROVE
OF INFORMATION IN THE FBI'S
EFFORT TO TAKE DOWN GOTTI.
FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE DAPPER
DON MAY BE IN REAL TROUBLE.
IT'S 1990.
THE KEY MOB BOSSES ARE IN PRISON
AND CHAOS ERUPTS AMONG THE FIVE
FAMILIES.
GAMBINO BOSS JOHN GOTTI ENDS
ONE FEUD WITH THE GENOVESE AND
LUCCHESE FAMILIES, BUT NOW THE
COLOMBOS ARE ABOUT TO GO TO WAR
WITH EACH OTHER, WITH COLOMBO
BOSS CARMINE 'THE SNAKE' PERSICO
CALLING THE SHOTS
FROM BEHIND BARS.
DEVECCHIO: After being given
a sentence of a 139 years
Carmine Persico was virtually
in jail for life. He knew that.
NARRATOR: PERSICO'S FIRST CHOICE
TO RUN THE COLOMBO FAMILY WOULD
BE HIS SON, LITTLE ALLIE BOY
PERISCO, BUT LIKE HIS FATHER,
LITTLE ALLIE BOY'S
IN PRISON TOO.
SO PERSICO APPOINTS
ANOTHER FAMILY MEMBER.
FAT SAL: Vic Orena was
Junior Persico's cousin.
And that's why Junior gave
him the reins of the family,
coz I guess he trusted him.
NARRATOR: BUT THE HEAD OF THE
GAMBINO FAMILY, JOHN GOTTI,
DOESN'T LIKE THE MOVE
AND STIRS UP TROUBLE.
FAT SAL: John Gotti
wanted another puppet,
So he pumped Vic Orena up to
tell Junior that he was no
longer the boss of the family.
DEVECCHIO: Orena
inducted a lot of men,
and they owed their
loyalty to him.
And Orena said, It's
good being the king.
I don't want Little
Allie Boy to be the boss.
I wanna be the boss.
So he asked the consigliere,
who was Carmine Sessa, he said,
I want you to go poll
all the captains and find out
what they think.
And Sessa was smart enough not
to do that because he knew if
he'd done that, Persico would've
probably had him whacked.
So he got word back to Carmine
Persico that Orena wants a vote
taken from the Capos that
who's gonna be the boss.
And immediately Persico said,
Whack the guy. Kill Orena.
In June of 1991, four members of
a Persico hit team went out to
Orena's house to try to get an
idea of what his movements were
So they could find an
opportune time to kill him.
And unfortunately for
them, Orena spotted them.
FAT SAL: Vic Orena had caught
Carmine Sessa and a couple
other guys laying on his house.
DEVECCHIO: Nothing happens.
They come back and report that
they think they've been spotted.
Orena tells his people, Persico
people are trying to kill me.
NARRATOR: NOW IN JUNE, 1991 THE
STAGE IS SET FOR A BLOODBATH.
DEVECCHIO: The Colombo wars
started between two internal
factions: the Persicos
and the Orena faction.
NARRATOR: VIC ORENA TARGETS ONE
OF THE MOST DANGEROUS MEN IN
THE COLOMBO FAMILY FOR MURDER,
CARMINE PERSICO'S CHIEF ENFORCER
GREG SCARPA, KNOWN ON THE
STREET AS THE GRIM REAPER.
FAT SAL: Greg Scarpa
Senior, Grim Reaper.
Nobody called him
that to his face.
You know what I mean?
He was called Greg.
But behind his back he
was the Grim Reaper.
That was his nickname
because he was so vicious.
MOUW: He was probably one
of the most violent members
of organized crime in
the history of New York.
He took a particular
delight in killing people.
FAT SAL: If he could kill
somebody he'd be happy.
if he could dig up a body
and kill him all over again,
yeah that's definitely him.
CALANDRA: He was a scary
character, Greg Scarpa.
A scary character.
That guy killed everything.
NARRATOR: SCARPA IS A
PART TIME FBI INFORMANT.
BUT HE'S STILL A GANGSTER AND
ABOUT TO BE CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE
OF A COLOMBO CIVIL WAR.
DEVECCHIO: November 18th, 1991,
Greg Scarpa's going out of
his house to get into
his car to go somewhere.
His daughter, Linda, and
his granddaughter get into
another car and they're
going up their street.
At the end of the street there's
a van blocking their cars.
And he drives around the
van and guys jump out.
And they miss him and they fire
at the car carrying Linda.
FAT SAL: They bullet-riddle
that whole car.
DEVECCHIO: They knew by that
time they'd missed Scarpa,
and they took off.
Now you attack an
organized crime member,
I don't know how anybody would
not expect them to retaliate.
Especially when their
family was involved.
NARRATOR: BUT THE FEDS DON'T
WANT TO LOSE THEIR INSIDE MAN
AND A LAW ENFORCEMENT GOLD MINE.
DEVECCHIO: And I told
him, I said Greg,
We've known each
other for a long time.
I know what you're
gonna do, and I said,
I've gotta tell you
that if you retaliate,
my guys are gonna be out
there, the police are gonna be
out there.
If you get arrested, ya know,
that's the end of the game.
You're arrested. Nothing
I can do about it, nor will I.
He said, It is what it is.
You do what you gotta
do, I do what I gotta do.
NARRATOR: SO THREE WEEKS LATER
GREG 'THE GRIM REAPER' SCARPA
LOOKS FOR REVENGE AGAINST
MEMBERS OF HIS OWN FAMILY.
DEVECCHIO: Scarpa is out with
two or three members of his
guys, and they're driving
around Brooklyn looking
for targets of opportunity.
It just happens to be in
December They drive past
Vinny Fusaro's house,
and he's outside hanging
Christmas lights.
Scarpa shoots Fusaro and the
other guys open up on him.
Fusaro's instantly killed in
front of his house hanging
the Christmas tree lights.
The next day after Fusaro
gets killed Black Sam Nastasi
is in his social club.
The Orena guys jump in there
and kill him in the club,
as a retaliatory move for the
killing of Fusaro the day before
They're shooting at each other,
maybe at a weekly basis.
NARRATOR: CIVIL WAR WITHIN THE
COLOMBO FAMILY TURNS THE STREETS
OF BROOKLYN INTO
A SLAUGHTERHOUSE.
FAT SAL: The other families have
never been through wars like
the Colombos.
I know quite a few
people that got killed.
The Colombos are known
as the most violent.
STAMBOULIDIS: It was a very
treacherous time in New York
City where they had to be on the
defensive and on the offensive,
and at the same time law
enforcement was trying
to prevent the killing and
bring them to justice.
DEVECCHIO: There's no question
there was a lot of tension
out there.
There was a lot of FBI agents,
a lot of NYPD out looking around
STAMBOULIDIS: None of the other
families were happy about it
because it was bad
for their business.
FAT SAL: we'd be driving in the
neighborhood and have nothing
to do with the Colombo war and
uh they would pull me and uh
and other guys outta my car and
strip search us in the middle of
the street.
They would tear the cars
apart looking for guns.
If I had to go rob a bank and I
had to have guns in the car so
we could go rob a bank or go
steal a car so we can go rob
a bank, we couldn't do that
because there was too many cops
in the neighborhood.
NARRATOR: IN THE COLOMBO
WARS, GREG SCARPA IS PLAYING
ON TWO TEAMS.
AS A COLOMBO FOOTMAN
AND AN FBI INFORMANT.
DEVECCHIO: In the meantime,
Greg Scarpa is telling me
what's going on.
Not that he's killing people.
He's not gonna tell me that.
But he's telling me other hit
teams on the other side who are
out there looking for people.
And as a result of his
information plus surveillances,
we stopped a number
of uh shootings.
We found several locations where
they had, uh, guns stored,
where hit teams hung out,
where they had lists of people
they wanted to kill.
STAMBOULIDIS: In other instances
we were accelerating cases
that we had been building
methodically to take them down
prematurely just to take these
people off the street and bring
them to justice.
NARRATOR: THE FEDS CLOSE IN ON
THE TWO WARRING COLOMBO FACTIONS
STAMBOULIDIS: There were about
60 plus members of the Orena
faction arrested, 60 plus
members of the Persico
faction arrested.
Victor Jay Orena was arrested as
was his underboss, Pat Amato.
And they were convicted and
each received life sentences.
GOLDSTOCK: Virtually the upper
echelons of all of the families
have been taken out
in New York City,
entire crews and families
have been taken out.
It's a very bad
time for the mob.
NARRATOR: EVENTUALLY
ARRESTED AS WELL IS GREG
THE GRIM REAPER SCARPA.
IN 1993 HE RECEIVES A LIFE
SENTENCE FOR COMMITTING
MULTIPLE MURDERS. HE
DIES IN PRISON A YEAR LATER.
DEVECCHIO: Carmine Persico still
maintains the position as boss,
and he will be until he dies,
the boss of the family.
For a year and a half or
more, closer to two years,
the war went on.
With a total of 12 members and
associates killed and 18 members
and associates and some
innocent bystanders wounded.
The Colombo war was
one of the most bloody,
if not the most bloody internal
wars in La Cosa Nostra,
in the United States,
in the 20th century.
PONZI: It always
comes back to control.
Um, ya know these uh,
internecine events like
the Colombo wars was really all
about an individual attempting
to wrestle control.
The end result is that
there really is no winner.
NARRATOR: THE COLOMBO CIVIL WARS
BRING DOWN THAT FAMILY FROM
WITHIN, BUT LAW ENFORCEMENT'S
GOT ANOTHER OF THE FIVE FAMILIES
IN ITS CROSSHAIRS: THE
LUCCHESES AND THEIR UNDERBOSS,
GASPIPE CASSO.
RAAB: Gaspipe Casso is tipped
off that a major indictment is
coming down against him.
And he's tipped off either by
his undercover mafia cops or he
later claims he was also tipped
off by somebody in the FBI,
and for almost 2
years he's on the lam.
NARRATOR: BUT IN
THE WINTER OF 1993,
FBI AGENTS FINALLY CATCH UP WITH
CASSO AT HIS GIRLFRIEND'S HOME
JUST ACROSS THE BRIDGE IN
MOUNT OLIVE, NEW JERSEY.
THEY ARREST HIM ON CHARGES OF
MURDER AND ATTEMPTED MURDER.
PONZI: Casso was arrested in
1993 and agrees to cooperate
with the government
sometime in 1994.
NARRATOR: NOW THAT HE'S STARTING
TO TALK HE SPILLS EVERYTHING,
INCLUDING AN UNBELIEVABLE STORY
ABOUT TWO NEW YORK CITY POLICE
DETECTIVES.
CASSO: I had law enforcement
on my payroll, for certain.
I had them lookin after me.
ED BRADLEY: Cops.
CASSO: Yeah. The cops.
ED BRADLEY: What
were their names?
CASSO: Uh, Lou Eppolito
and, uh, Steve...Steve...
I can't...he's got
a long last name.
Capas...Capas...
ED BRADLEY: Caracappa?
CASSO: Yeah. Caracappa.
Whatever it is.
I can't say it all the time.
Ya know?
NARRATOR: BUT CASSO'S PAST
DEEDS ARE SO HORRIFIC,
THE FEDS ARE HAVING SECOND
THOUGHTS ABOUT CUTTING HIM
A DEAL.
PONZI: It's my belief that the
prevailing sentiment amongst
federal prosecutors was that
36 or 37 murders was too much
and that maybe they
had gone too far.
NARRATOR: CASSO'S DEAL TO
COOPERATE WITH THE GOVERNMENT
UNRAVELS, LEAVING NYPD
DETECTIVES EPPOLITO AND
CARACAPPA UNTOUCHED.
THE MAFIA COPS SEEM LITERALLY
TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER.
HORMOZI: Eppolito and Caracappa
end up retiring from the police
department.
Uh, Louis Eppolito
moves to Las Vegas.
He writes a book
called Mafia Cop,
in which he sort of talks about
his history being a New York
City police officer but having
family members in the mafia.
He goes on television.
And Jimmy Hydell's mother
just happens to be watching.
She sees him and thinks
she recognizes this man.
This is the man who came looking
for her son years and years ago
the day he disappeared.
PONZI: She immediately went out
and bought a copy of Mafia Cop
and in it saw photographs of
both Eppolito and Caracappa and
then was absolutely certain that
these were the two people who
were outside her house the day
that her son Jimmy disappeared.
NARRATOR: THE MAFIA COPS
MAY HAVE RETIRED AS HITMEN,
BUT THEY'RE NOT HOME FREE.
HORMOZI: She ends up contacting
the New York City Police
Department.
And that restarts the
investigation into
Louie Eppolito
and Stephen Caracappa.
And ultimately it leads
to their indictment.
EPPOLITO:I was a very
highly decorated cop.
I worked very hard my whole
life and I just want the people
to know that I'm not the person
that they're portraying me.
CARACAPPA: I wouldn't do that.
Put my life in jeopardy,
disgrace the badge.
Take everything that I'd worked
for my whole life and throw
it away?
And kill somebody in the
street like a cowboy?
That's not my style.
That's not me.
HORMOZI: The verdict came
back guilty on all counts.
LAWYER:Louis Eppolito and
Stephen Caracappa directly
participated in and aided and
abetted 11 murders and attempted
murders.
HORMOZI: Judge Weinstein gave
them each a sentence of life
imprisonment, and I believe
that was the just sentence
for the crimes they'd committed.
NARRATOR: THE MAFIA COPS ARE THE
LAST ACT IN THE LUCCHESE FAMILY
SAGA, BUT OVER IN
THE GAMBINO EMPIRE,
THANKS TO SECRETLY PLACED
BUGS, THE FBI IS ON THE VERGE
OF TAKING DOWN THEIR BIGGEST
MOBSTER YET, JOHN GOTTI.
MOUW: On December 12, '89 We had
what we call our smoking gun.
Gotti was at a meeting earlier
that day where some of the guys
who were with him Were
complaining that they'd lost
a big construction job to
Sammy the Bull's company...
So John was steamin'.
When he's steamin he's...
doesn't care what he says.
ANASTASIA: Too often these
guys they're not smart enough
to realize they
shouldn't be talkin,
they shouldn't be sayin stuff.
They think they're in a secure
area and they're not...
The old-time guys wouldn't
even talk on the phone.
MOUW: So John goes on a long
tirade why they have to kill
Louie DeBono, why they
killed Robert Dibernardo,
why they killed Louie Malito.
He blames Sammy 'The Bull'
Gravano for all three.
Just that tape alone
we knew we had John.
On the night of
December 11th, 1990,
we arrested all these guys.
John Gotti, Frank LoCascio,
Sammy The Bull Gravano,
and Tommy Gambino, at
the Ravenite social club.
COFFEY: I was part of the
task force that took em down.
And we take em down on the
street and we throw him up
against the plate glass window
and I put my hand around him
to toss him and he's got a,
what I thought was a gun.
I said, Are you packin?
And it turns out it was a big
belt buckle that I thought was
a gun.
So I put him in the car and
he's going into the car,
and he turns to me and goes,
I give you 3 to 1 I beat this.
MOUW: After we made the
arrests we had what they called
a detention hearing to prove
these guys are a danger
to the community.
And so we played that 12/12/89
tape as one of the first ones.
ANASTASIA: The beauty of tapes
is you can use them not only
to make cases but to turn guys.
Or you can go to a guy and
say, Listen to what your boss
is saying about you.
MOUW: And I'm watching Gotti
sit next to Gravano and Lucascio
at the defense table Of course
Gravano's never heard this
before, and we start playin the
tape and ya hear Gotti callin'
Sammy a green-eyed
little monster.
BLAKEY: And Gotti
begins...musing over the fact
that he doesn't trust Gravano.
Maybe he should take him out.
MOUW: Sammy's ready to explode,
John's about to dive under
the table, he's so embarrassed,
and Sammy's, he just planted
the seed for that guy.
And that was the impetus later
for him to cooperate and become
a witness for us.
POLISI: When I flipped
in 84 they treated us like
we was movie stars, the FBI.
Guys didn't flip.
That was like, Oh my gosh.
You got a guy to come over.
That was like rare back then.
But around 85, 86, 87 guys
were flippin every other day.
NARRATOR: AMONG
THEM PHIL LEONETTI,
A LEADING FIGURE IN THE
PHILADELPHIA MOB AND THE FIRST
UNDERBOSS IN THE HISTORY OF
ORGANIZED CRIME TO COOPERATE
WITH THE UNITED
STATES GOVERNMENT.
HE'S THE FIRST OF
MANY DOMINOES TO FALL.
LEONETTI: I cooperated.
I ratted on everybody.
That's something that I grew up
not believing in and something
that I wasn't supposed to do.
But it was a decision
I wanted to make.
PICHINI: Leonetti was
really, at that point,
the highest-ranking mob
member ever to turn to become
a government witness.
ANASTASIA:A lotta people say
Gravano saw what happened
to Leonetti, the kind
of deal he got,
and he decided that's the route
he was gonna take as well.
In fact, Leonetti at one point
was going to be a witness
against Gotti, but once Gravano
flipped they didn't need him.
SAMMY: As part of my cooperation
I told the government about my
life of crimes, including
the fact that I participated
in 19 murders.
As a member of our
family's administration,
I helped John Gotti
run the family.
MOUW: The case went to a jury on
April 1 and April 2nd they came
back and he was convicted
on all but 1 count,
and that was a magnificent
day for law enforcement.
NEWS REPORTER: After four tries
the mighty mob boss has been
found guilty by a Brooklyn jury.
He now faces life in prison.
SPOKESPERSON: The
Teflon is gone,
the Don is covered with
Velcro, and every charge
in the indictment stuck.
CUTLER: He represented a
rebel figure for people.
He was a hoodlum's hoodlum,
but he chose that life.
Or the life, as he
said, chose him.
And, uh, he seemed to
be enjoying the show.
MCDONALD: The conviction of
John Gotti was very significant
because it disrupted the
Gambino crime family,
but even more important than
the conviction of Gotti,
the investigation of Gotti
really lead to the demise
of the Gambino crime family.
It enabled the FBI to gather
evidence against the whole
leadership of the family,
all the powerful people
in the family and
indeed other families.
NARRATOR: COOPERATING WITNESS
SAMMY THE BULL GRAVANO
IS THE LYNCHPIN OF THE CASE.
HIS TESTIMONY NOT ONLY
HELPS BRING DOWN GOTTI OF
THE GAMBINOS, BUT LATER GENOVESE
FAMILY BOSS VINCENT THE CHIN
GIGANTE IN 1997.
REPORTER: Gravano identified
him as the head of the Genovese
crime family.
He testified Gigante wore the
familiar pajamas and a bathrobe
at their first mob meeting,
but there was nothing unusual
about his behavior.
NARRATOR: FOR THE FIRST
TIME IN ITS 60-YEAR HISTORY,
THE AMERICAN MOB
IS ON THE ROPES.
AS HIGH-RANKING GANGSTERS
COOPERATE WITH THE GOVERNMENT,
AND WISE GUYS KILL EACH
OTHER IN THE STREETS.
BUT IN THE 1990'S, ONE BOSS WILL
BRING BACK THE GLORY DAYS OF THE
MAFIA, A LEGENDARY KILLER AND
HIJACKER NAMED JOE MASSINO WHO
WILL RESTORE THE CODE OF SILENCE
AND MAKE MILLIONS ON WALL STREET
MCDONALD: He is
like the last don.
All the other bosses
have been convicted.
NARRATOR: WHILE A NEW GENERATION
OF STREET GANGS EMERGES.
WALDEN: These kids
really did start as kids.
NARRATOR: BUT THEY
BECAME KILLERS,
WHO TURN THE STREETS OF
BROOKLYN RED WITH BLOOD.
CALANDRA: I never left my
house without a pistol.
You know, We were
ready to go to war.
DADES: When I think back how
much craziness was going
on up there It was like a
shooting gallery up there.
CALANDRA: Pop pop pop
pop pop pop pop, boom.
John Gotti was around the time
when his son Frankie got killed.
The first time I really
encountered him was at
the funeral.
NEWS REPORTER: On
March 12th, 1980,
12-year-old Frank Gotti
was riding his mini bike
on the street.
NEWS REPORTER 2: John Favaro,
a neighbour of Gotti's,
accidentally hit him with a car
pulling out of his driveway.
COFFEY: Gotti's wife,
she kept browbeating him.
you gotta do something about
the next door neighbor.
POLISI: John Gotti had hundreds
and hundreds of men under him.
So he could cause
somebody great harm.
you know, with the
raising of a finger.
COFFEY:He takes his wife to
Florida, gives the contract
to his underlings. They kidnap
this guy out of a diner
in Nassau County, New York
MOUW: Hit him with
some baseball bats,
put him in the back of a
van, shot and killed him.
COFFEY: And they cut him
in half with a chainsaw,
All while John and his wife were
in Florida so he had an alibi.
We never found the body.
POLISI: Gotti had
developed an army.
He started recruiting hit
men from all over the place.
He could kill somebody
in 30 seconds.
Unbelievable the
power that he had.
GIULIANI: We have now proven
in a court of law beyond a
reasonable doubt not only
that there's a mafia,
but that there's a commission,
that it runs the mafia.
NARRATOR: IT IS 1986 AND THE
FORTUNES OF THE FIVE FAMILIES
OF THE AMERICAN MOB
ARE CHANGING RAPIDLY.
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT HAS
SUCCESSFULLY PROSECUTED THE
BOSSES OF THE RULING CRIME
FAMILIES, USING STATE OF THE ART
ELECTRONIC WIRE-TAPPING AND A
GROUND BREAKING LAW CALLED RICO
TO SEND MOST OF THE LEADERSHIP
AWAY FOR LIFE.
FRANZESE: It was eye opening.
Here's all the bosses, they're
getting convicted, they're gone.
They're going away.
I mean this was a rumble
throughout all the families.
What happens now, you know?
DEVECCHIO: So it left a huge
vacuum in command and control
at the top levels
of organized crime.
And it threw the
families in disarray.
NARRATOR: WITH THE
BOSSES IN PRISON,
THE MOB IS A HEADLESS SNAKE
AND AN ERA OF CHAOS AND MURDER
ERUPTS.
ONE GANGSTER SEES THIS
AS AN OPPORTUNITY.
THIS MAN: JOHN GOTTI.
A CAPTAIN IN THE GAMBINO FAMILY
WITH A REPUTATION FOR UNBRIDLED
VIOLENCE AND A VAULTING AMBITION
POLISI: He was sort of
an unknown wise guy.
But Gotti would walk around
with his chest out saying,
one day I'm gonna be the boss.
Of course we thought
it was ridiculous.
NARRATOR: GOTTI WILL ATTEMPT
TO BRING BACK THE GLORY DAYS TO
THE FIVE FAMILIES OF COSA NOSTRA
THESE PEOPLE ARE WITNESSES
TO A SECRET HISTORY,
STEPPING OUT OF THE SHADOWS TO
TELL THEIR STORY FIRST HAND.
A FEW STAY HIDDEN
FOR PERSONAL SAFETY,
FEARFUL OF AN ORGANIZATION THAT
MOST AMERICANS ARE NOW BEGINNING
TO SEE IN THE 1980S AS A THREAT
TO THE HEALTH OF THE COUNTRY,
AND A VERY REAL TAX ON
THEIR EVERY DAY LIVES.
THE MOST SUCCESSFUL OF THOSE
FAMILIES IN THIS GROUP,
THE GAMBINO FAMILY.
A CRIMINAL POWERHOUSE
IN THE 80S.
CHERTOFF: The Gambino family
was the largest family and
historically probably had been
the most powerful family.
It gets its name
from Carlo Gambino,
who was a boss of the
family back in the 1950's.
And it was probably the family
that had the greatest wealth.
RAAB: They were all
always very successful.
And they didn't depend on
just one or two crimes.
They were into everything.
DEVECCHIO: Loan
sharking, gambling...
the Gambino's had a lot of
influence in the garment
industry, with the unions.
NARRATOR: IN 1982, THE GAMBINO
BOSS IS A GUY NAMED BIG
PAUL CASTELLANO.
MCDONALD: Paul Castellano ran
the family in a very different
way from the way other
bosses ran their families.
He was a very sophisticated,
almost business-like boss.
MOUW: Paul's mansion was
called the white house...
And he tried to run the
family from the house.
NARRATOR: CAPTAINS TREK
FROM BROOKLYN, QUEENS,
AND MANHATTAN TO THE WHITE HOUSE
IN STATEN ISLAND TO DISCUSS
BUSINESS, AND
BUSINESS IS BOOMING.
CASTELLANO CONTROLS MUCH OF
EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE CITY,
AND GETS A PIECE OF THE ACTION
WHENEVER A NEW YORKER BUYS
A CHICKEN OR RENTS AN APARTMENT.
HE HAS RULES.
ONE OF THEM: NO ONE IN THE
GAMBINO FAMILY IS ALLOWED
TO SELL DRUGS, AND THAT'S
A SERIOUS PROBLEM FOR ONE
OF THEIR CAPTAINS, JOHN GOTTI.
MOUW: 1985 Gotti had most of
his crew under indictment for
narcotics trafficking.
These guys were distributing
50 kilos of heroin in a 6-month
period.
KOSSLER: Under the rules
of the La Cosa Nostra,
you are not permitted to engage
in narcotics trafficking.
NARRATOR: BUT GOTTI IS
FLAGRANTLY BREAKING THAT RULE,
AND OTHER BOSSES WANT
CASTELLANO TO TAKE ACTION.
KOSSLER: At that time Chin
Gigante of the Genovese family
was putting pressure
on Castellano.
Gigante was telling Castellano
that you're gonna have
to kill these guys.
NARRATOR: THEN IN 1985, PAUL
CASTELLANO IS INDICTED ON
CHARGES OF CONSPIRACY AND
MURDER IN THE COMMISSION CASE.
GOTTI SEES A ONE OF A KIND
CHANCE TO GET RID OF BIG PAUL
AND TAKE OVER THE
GAMBINO FAMILY.
MOUW: Their break came when they
found out Castellano was having
dinner on December 16th at
Spark's Steakhouse in Manhattan.
So the hit team gets assembled
and Gotti's on the scene
with Gravano. Gravano's driving.
They have 4 shooters
on the street.
They have a couple crash cars,
they have a couple getaway cars.
There's probably 15
guys on the street.
Bilotti and Castellano drive by.
Gravano has a walkie talkie,
he radios, they're coming.
The car pulls in
front of Sparks,
the four shooters
converge on them.
They fire umpteen rounds, and
they assassinate Castellano
and Bilotti.
TOM BROKAW: The dead
godfather, Paul Castellano,
and his bodyguard, were
gunned down as they stepped
from their limousine outside
a popular New York steakhouse.
NEWS REPORTER: Not for 50 years
has New York seen a mob murder
of this great a magnitude.
FBI MAN: I think we're
witnessing at least a part
of the changing of the guard.
I think we're witnessing
a convolution within
La Cosa Nostra that hasn't
been seen since its beginnings.
MOUW: The mobsters call
this the holocaust,
the hit of the century.
NARRATOR: AT FIRST IT'S NOT
ENTIRELY CLEAR WHO PULLED OFF
THE MONSTER HIT.
REPORTER: Are there
any eyewitnesses?
COMMISSIONER: Well, we
haven't come up with anybody
that is volunteering
anything at this point.
MOUW: I think 3 or 4 saw
something substantive.
But everybody else knew it's a
mob hit, I didn't see nothing,
I don't want to get involved.
NARRATOR: BUT SOME WITHIN COSA
NOSTRA MAKE AN EDUCATED GUESS.
GOTTI.
FAT SAL: Gotti knew if he didn't
kill them that he would be
killed.
And he knew that after killing
them he would take over
the family.
MOUW: About a month later they
had what they called a captain's
meeting for the Gambino family.
At which time the captains elect
the new boss of the family.
And Frank DeCicco says,
I nominate John Gotti.
Everybody in favor raises
their hand, says ay,
he's elected boss of the family.
John says, I nominate Frank
DeCicco to be the underboss.
And we have a new
administration in the family.
NARRATOR: BY TAKING
OUT PAUL CASTELLANO,
GOTTI ESTABLISHES HIMSELF AS THE
BRASHEST, BOLDEST CAPTAIN EVER.
POLISI: He just went and did
it, openly and audaciously.
And went to all the other
captains and said hey
I'm the boss now
and that was it.
CUTLER: He had a- a particular
magnetic personality,
that I hadn't encountered
before in my life.
POLISI: He went from a wannabe
wise guy to a superstar within
the mob, a mob star.
GOTTI: tell me about it.
POLISI: Instantly he
became a media sensation.
GOTTI: You fellas must
have a lot of film.
MOUW: John was really the first
boss to actually court reporters
and court publicity.
FAT SAL: All of the sudden you
start seeing his pictures...
$3,000 suits...
And walking around smiling for
the cameras and y'know, we know,
we've been in this life
since we were kids,
we know we supposed to stay low.
Not smile for the cameras
and say, Hey, how you doin?
MCDONALD: He was
very fashionable.
He wore tailored suits
and tailored overcoats,
and you know, fancy
scarf, and y'know,
he walked with a swagger,
and so he took on the name
Dapper Don... And
I'm sure he relished in that.
GIULIANI: I always thought the
Dapper Don was a basic moron.
This guy who you know likes
to show up to watch murders.
Last thing in the world you
wanna do is show up to watch
a murder.
The last thing in the world you
want to do is bring attention
to yourself.
POLISI: I think a lot of people
resented Gotti of who he was,
he was just so out there.
He'll do the unexpected
and doesn't care.
CUTLER: He was always on.
He was bullet on.
NARRATOR: GOTTI
SWAGGERS IN PUBLIC,
BUT INSIDE THE AMERICAN
MOB HIS ENEMIES ARE MASSING
FOR A COUNTER ATTACK.
THE HIT ON CASTELLANO WAS NOT
SANCTIONED BY THE COMMISSION,
THE GOVERNING BOARD
OF THE FIVE FAMILIES,
AND THEREFOR MUST BE
PUNISHED BY DEATH.
PONZI: Two particular factions
of local organized crime were
particularly riled about the
fact that it was an unsanctioned
hit.
Particularly the Lucchese crime
family where Anthony Casso was
the underboss, and the Genovese
crime family where Vincent
The Chin Gigante was the boss.
RAAB: Vincent Chin Gigante
was a close pal of Big Paul.
They were involved in many
underworld deals together.
Million dollar deals.
Gigante decided that
Gotti had to be killed.
NARRATOR: GENOVESE BOSS VINCENT
THE CHIN GIGANTE IS THE POLAR
OPPOSITE OF GOTTI, A BOSS
WHO SHUNS THE LIMELIGHT.
ANASTASIA:The Genovese crime
family is the Ivy League
of the five families.
They're very intelligent, very
sophisticated, and they get it,
they know, and they understand
how it's supposed to operate.
You don't want to
tangle with these guys.
NARRATOR: GOTTI LOVES
HEADLINES, BUT THE GENOVESE KEEP
THEIR LEADERSHIP TOP SECRET.
ANASTASIA: The longest time the
Genovese's never made it clear
who the boss was.
It was like bait and switch.
They would prop somebody
up, say he's the boss,
but he wasn't really the boss.
They played that game of
chess with law enforcement,
and I think with
other crime families.
Their business was
their business,
nobody else needed to
know anything about it.
Gigante epitomized that.
MOUW: Chin Gigante was the boss
of the Genovese family
for a number of years.
And what his M.O. was
to play insane. He was crazy.
MALE: He ain't gonna answer you.
He don't understand.
REPORTER: His doctors say the
man in pajamas is mentally ill,
not a godfather but a man
with the mind of a child.
STAMBOULIDIS: He had a routine.
Law enforcement members
sometimes called it the Gigante
Shuffle, but he would dress
down in sometimes pajamas,
always a tattered bathrobe.
MOUW: His theory was
if he got arrested,
he'd get off by
insanity defense,
which he tried several
times, and it worked.
POLISI: You know everybody
has a little game.
And he played a game as
the 'odd father'. Fascinating.
Running around New York City
with a robe on like he's a half
a bubble off or
a crispy critter.
But in fact, he was a very
astute streetwise gangster.
FAT SAL: He was no pushover.
When he had to order his
guys to go out and kill,
he would order his guys
to go out and kill.
NARRATOR: BUT THE GENOVESE BOSS
DOESN'T TAKE DIRECT ACTION.
INSTEAD GIGANTE GIVES THE JOB
OF TAKING OUT GOTTI TO ANOTHER
OF NEW YORK'S FIVE MOB
FAMILIES, THE LUCCHESE FAMILY.
SPECIFICALLY THIS MAN,
ANTHONY GASPIPE CASSO.
PONZI: Anthony Gaspipe Casso was
the underboss of the Lucchese
crime family.
He was a particularly
ruthless individual,
feared by his own associates and
by competing members of other
crime families.
FAT SAL: Gaspipe's reputation
was Gaspipe would have a dream
that a guy was a
rat, an informant,
and he would send out
a crew to kill him.
NARRATOR: GASPIPE CASSO GOES
AFTER GOTTI IN AN UNEXPECTED WAY
FAT SAL: From what I understand
is uh...they were tryin to kill
John Gotti and Frankie
DeCicco that day.
So they wind up planting a bomb
under Frankie DeCicco's car
on 86th street when
he was at the club.
John Gotti never
showed up that day.
NARRATOR: BUT DECICCO DOES.
POLISI: They blew up
Decicco's car with him in it.
I guess there was like a remote
bomb that they pulled off,
so they went high-tech.
NARRATOR: GAMBINO UNDERBOSS
FRANK DECICCO DIES INSTANTLY,
AND NOW GOTTI VOWS REVENGE.
AN ALL OUT WAR IS ABOUT TO
ERUPT IN THE AMERICAN MOB.
SOME SAY GOTTI KNOWS
WHO TRIED TO KILL HIM,
AND NOW STRIKES BACK
WITH A VENGEANCE.
PONZI:It was clear that Casso
had his hand in the planning of
that event, possibly was present
for the detonation of the device
that actually went off
and blew up the vehicle.
And as a result, the Gambino's
were intent on getting even
with Casso.
NARRATOR: ANTHONY
'GASPIPE' CASSO,
THE FEROCIOUS UNDERBOSS OF
THE RIVAL LUCCHESE FAMILY.
THE GAMBINOS SET UP AN AMBUSH
USING CASSO'S RELATIVE.
PONZI: Casso receives a
telephone call from a nephew of
his and is told that the nephew
had set up a meeting where Casso
would be able to take advantage
of a scheme to cash stolen
checks and Casso is interested
in attending that meeting,
responds to a
predetermined location,
and is actually sitting in his
car having an ice cream when
two cars pull up alongside of
him and begin to fire at him
from multiple angles.
CASSO: Ah! Ah! Ah!
NARRATOR: THEY ONLY WOUND CASSO.
PONZI: He's able to slide out
the driver's side and crawl
into a restaurant...
He goes down into the basement
of the restaurant and locks
himself in a freezer waiting
for his assailants to vacate
the area.
NARRATOR: CASSO SURVIVES AND NOW
IT'S HIS TURN TO STRIKE BACK.
PONZI:Casso was convinced that
the attempt on his life had come
from within the Gambino crime
family, but he needed proof.
He also was hell bent on
identifying the individuals
involved and exacting
his own, uh, revenge.
NARRATOR: ENTER A SMALL TIME
CRIMINAL NAMED BURT KAPLAN,
A GUY WITH CONNECTIONS
IN UNLIKELY PLACES.
LIKE THE NEW YORK CITY
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
PONZI:That was when Burt Kaplan
approached Casso and told him
that he could reach out to
two detectives that he knew,
two detectives who had already
done some work for Kaplan that
Kaplan was very satisfied with,
and that he could not only
identify the individual ones
involved but provide specific
information as to
their whereabouts.
NARRATOR: KAPLAN INTRODUCES
CASSO TO TWO NEW YORK CITY
POLICE DETECTIVES, STEVE
CARACAPPA AND LOU EPPOLITO,
COPS WHO ARE WILLING TO DO
DIRTY WORK FOR EXTRA PAY.
PONZI:Steve Caracappa worked
with Lou Eppolito in the
Brooklyn Robbery Squad.
They were partners
together in the late 70s.
And the vast majority of people
who worked with Eppolito knew
that he was the son of a member
of the Gambino crime family and
were always curious about how he
ever wound up becoming a member
of the New York City
Police Department.
FAT SAL: He was a gangster
with a badge, basically.
That's what he was.
And he had a partner
named Caracappa.
HORMOZI: Stephen Caracappa was a
detective in the organized crime
homicide unit that was
part of major crimes.
A very prestigious unit of the
New York City Police Department.
NARRATOR: FOR A PRICE, CARACAPPA
AND EPPOLITO SUPPLY A LIST
TO GASPIPE CASSO.
ON IT, THE NAMES OF MEN RUMOURED
TO BE INVOLVED IN THE HIT
AGAINST HIM.
ONE OF THOSE NAMES
IS JIMMY HYDELL.
PONZI:Jimmy Hydell was a
low-level mob associate.
A street thug a
tough, tough kid.
FAT SAL: He was
kind of a maniac.
Did a lot of bad things,
killed a lot of people.
Somebody from the
Gambino family,
they offered Jimmy
Hydell the world.
They told him, Go kill Gaspipe.
He told everybody, They
told me to do this. I did this.
HORMOZI: Casso wants revenge.
He's searching desperately, high
and wide, to find Jimmy Hydell.
Hydell's now in hiding.
He knows this is trouble.
And so the message is sent
through Burt Kaplan to Eppolito
and Caracappa to find Hydell
and to bring him back alive.
PONZI: And an agreement is
made wherein the detectives
will abduct Hydell from
the street and deliver him
to Anthony Casso.
The amount agreed upon
was $30,000 dollars.
NARRATOR: THE COPS USE THEIR
RESOURCES AT THE NYPD TO TRACK
DOWN HYDELL.
BUT IT'S NOT LONG BEFORE
THEY RECEIVE THE PERFECT LEAD
FROM JIMMY HYDELL HIMSELF.
PONZI:Hydell was to meet a capo
in the Gambino crime family
at Dyker Park in Brooklyn
on this October day in 1986.
And Hydell was concerned that
something bad might come out of
the meeting, so he actually
contacted the 6-2 precinct.
He contacted them, I believe,
for his own protection.
What he could have never dreamed
or expected is that that
information found itself into
the hands of detectives Eppolito
and Caracappa, and they were
at Dyker Park that day looking
for him.
FAT SAL: I was standing on
the corner with Frank Hydell,
Jimmy Hydell's brother.
We were on 15th avenue
and 86th street.
He looked to the left and
there's Eppolito and Caracappa
driving by.
Frank Hydell says, I just seen
them two scumbags by our house.
They must be looking to
lock up my brother Jimmy.
HORMOZI: They see him walking
on the street, pull him over...
EPPOLITO-CARACAPPA:
Come on, come on! Move it!
FAT SAL: They kidnapped him and
they brought him to Gaspipe.
PONZI: Casso takes
Hydell to a home in Brooklyn
And he takes Hydell down to
the basement of that building.
and commences to torture
him while he extracts from him
the people that were behind the
murder attempt on his life.
HYDELL: Ah! Ah! Omph!
FAT SAL: He tortured
him for hours.
HYDELL: cough, Ah! Ah!
FAT SAL: So Jimmy eventually
broke down and told them
who sent him to kill him.
HORMOZI: He gives up
the name Eddie Lino,
a captain in the Gambino
organized crime family.
Casso then kills him by
shooting him numerous times.
The body's never been found.
NARRATOR: NO ONE DOUBTS
JIMMY HYDELL IS DEAD,
AND HIS BLOOD SEALS THE DEAL
BETWEEN CASSO AND THE NEW YORK
CITY POLICE DETECTIVES.
HORMOZI: From then, their
relationship is formed
and they're put on the payroll
effectively and given money
every month to collect
information and have services
provided by these two men.
NARRATOR: GASPIPE NOW KNOWS
WHO TRIED TO KILL HIM.
THE PATH TAKES HIM TO GOTTI.
GOTTI CONFIDANT AND GAMBINO
FAMILY CAPTAIN EDDIE LINO.
PONZI: Casso's motive for the
hit on Eddie Lino was two-fold.
Jimmy Hydell told Casso
that Eddie Lino was aware
of the contract on Casso's life.
Additionally, he was perceived
as someone very close
to John Gotti, And if Casso was
successful in exacting revenge
for the Castellano
murder on John Gotti,
Lino would be someone that he
would have to be worried about.
NARRATOR: GOTTI IS A MARKED MAN
FOR THE UNSANCTIONED MURDER OF
HIS BOSS, BIG PAUL CASTELLANO.
AND THOSE CONNECTED TO
GOTTI, LIKE EDDIE LINO,
ARE IN THE CROSS HAIRS AS WELL.
SO CASSO GIVES THE JOB TO KILL
LINO TO THE PAIR OF NEW YORK
CITY COPS IN HIS POCKET, STEVE
CARACAPPA AND LOU EPPOLITO.
THE PRICE TAG: SEVENTY-FIVE
THOUSAND DOLLARS.
FAT SAL: Eddie Lino left
the club on Avenue U.
When he left, everybody seen
Eppolito and Caracappa following
him, so they thought he was
just under surveillance.
HORMOZI: They use their
sirens to pull Eddie Lino
over on the Belt Parkway.
He stops the car.
He thinks it's just a police
stop, maybe he was speeding,
who knows.
PONZI:They ask him
if he's Frankie Lino,
who happens to be
a cousin of his,
which distracts him momentarily,
and then he is shot and killed.
HORMOZI: And they
leave him for dead,
get in their police
car and drive away.
The Eddie Lino hit is the first
time that these two cops have
actually executed
someone for Anthony Casso
and the Lucchese family.
Here you have people who are
entrusted with keeping law and
order in your city participating
in a gruesome, heinous crime.
It's the dissolution of
civilization at this point.
NARRATOR: WITH TWO OF JOHN
GOTTI'S CLOSE CONFIDANTS
NOW DEAD, THE BOSS TAKES AN
UNEXPECTED STEP HE MAKES PEACE.
POLISI: John Gotti was the
type of guy that was very,
very in tune, perceptive,
intuitive on the street.
RAAB: He decides it's time
that the families stop fighting
with each other,
that peace is needed.
And he and Gigante and
the Lucchese leaders,
including Gaspipe Casso,
arrange to have a meeting.
They forgive each other,
Gigante claims he never tried
to kill Gotti, Gotti accepts it.
And the truce is arranged.
NARRATOR: ON THE VERGE
OF ASSASSINATION,
GOTTI SAVES HIS OWN SKIN.
BUT LAW ENFORCEMENT IS
STILL GUNNING FOR HIM.
KALLSTROM: John Gotti was a
particularly slippery guy.
He beat a lot of raps, a lot
of state court indictments
and challenges.
Hung juries, things like that.
POLISI: He always found a
way to intimidate witnesses,
somebody disappeared, it was
reasonable doubt, you know,
this kinda thing.
NARRATOR: ONE SUCH CASE IS A
CONSPIRACY INDICTMENT INCLUDING
RACKETEERING AND MURDER, PULLED
TOGETHER WITH FLIMSY EVIDENCE
AND TESTIMONY FROM KNOWN MOB
ASSOCIATES, LIKE SAL POLISI.
JOHN MARKS: What was it like
to testify against Gotti?
POLISI: Oh my gosh!
I was a junky for excitement.
It was another rush.
He was sitting 20
feet away from me!
He took his hand, he put it
under the table and made like
a gun, said, I'm gonna get you.
And I waved at him and I
said, yeah, okay, right.
And after about 2 days then
I start to get cross-examined
by all these attorneys
like Bruce Cutler.
CUTLER: Sal Polisi was a
low-life, a miscreant criminal.
POLISI: And he was a
pugnacious type of a guy.
CULTER: This is not the KGB.
This is America!
POLISI: He was real
physical, energetic, loud.
He was an actor.
CUTLER: When you build cases on
rotten scoundrels you expose
these low-life witnesses
for who they are!
POLISI: And of course
he tore me up for days.
And he said, How do you
describe yourself, Mr. Polisi?
I says, I lived on
un-American life.
But I've decided to
completely change my life.
And he looked at me and said,
That's never gonna happen.
Once a criminal,
always a criminal.
CUTLER: You are the people, and
it's gonna be now your turn to
see through the poison and come
back with the right decision.
Something you can live with.
POLISI: Well when you put
mobsters and con artists
and crooks and thieves
on the stand, you know,
it doesn't take a
genius to discredit.
JURY: We find him not guilty.
MAN: AY! Johnny!
REPORTER: After the verdict,
Jon Gotti drove to his Mulberry
Street headquarters, The
Ravenite Social Club.
He was greeted with
cheers and hugs.
POLISI: Everybody loved him!
You know, all the people
in New York loved him.
They figured he was an underdog,
and he was this great gregarious
gangster. Teflon Don.
NARRATOR: WHEN GOTTI
ISN'T BEATING CASES,
HE'S HOLDING COURT VERY
PUBLICLY AT HIS SOCIAL CLUB,
THE RAVENITE.
CUTLER: The Ravenite,
when I used to go,
was chock full of activity.
POLISI: All the made guys would
walk up and down the street
there, And uh,
sort of hold court
CUTLER: It was a serious
place For serious minded men.
And John loved it.
NARRATOR: BUT THE FEDS
AREN'T JUST WATCHING,
THEY'RE LISTENING AS WELL.
THEY PLANT A BUG INSIDE THE
RAVENITE CLUB WHERE GOTTI DOES
ALL HIS WHEELING AND DEALING,
BUT THERE'S A HITCH.
KALLSTROM: It was much too
noisy, too many people,
a jukebox playing, and it was
really a bad environment.
MOUW: We just couldn't pick
up these conversations,
so based on that we had to shut
down our electronic surveillance
in um late 1988.
KALLSTROM: As you look back
over the surveillance records,
something jumped out at us and
that was that on a certain night
Like clockwork, over the
course of a couple of months,
a little old Italian lady would
come out the side door next
to the Ravenite social club and
she'd come back two hours later,
at the pretty much
the same time.
So we said you
know, what is this?
MOUW: We learned from a high
level informant that There's an
apartment up there, number
10, occupied by a widow.
And they'd go up there and use
her apartment for high-level
meetings.
NARRATOR: IT'S THE BREAK
THEY'VE BEEN WAITING FOR.
KALLSTROM: The case agents got a
new court order and uh we made
another entry And went upstairs,
and found this beautiful little
apartment with a living room
where they would have had to sit
'cause there was no other
place to sit in there.
We knew that this was gonna
be a quiet environment.
There was no radio in there.
There was a television
but, ya know,
I think they felt
extremely safe in there.
It wasn't long after that that I
got this call from Kossler and
then Bruce Mouw jumping up and
down in excitement because, uh,
it was a goldmine.
The first night
that they got them,
Gotti talked about pretty much
everything that he was doing.
He kinda reviewed all the
different criminal activity
going on in the family.
And who was good and who was bad
and who needed to be killed and
what he thought of his lawyer
and a whole host of things.
GOTTI: This is gonna be
La Cosa Nostra 'til I die.
Be it an hour from
now, or be it tonight,
or a hundred years from
now when I'm in jail.
It's gonna be La Cosa Nostra.
KALLSTROM: It was just some
of the best we ever had.
GOTTI: You tell this
punk, I, me, John Gotti,
will sever your xxxxx head off.
NARRATOR: IT'S A TREASURE TROVE
OF INFORMATION IN THE FBI'S
EFFORT TO TAKE DOWN GOTTI.
FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE DAPPER
DON MAY BE IN REAL TROUBLE.
IT'S 1990.
THE KEY MOB BOSSES ARE IN PRISON
AND CHAOS ERUPTS AMONG THE FIVE
FAMILIES.
GAMBINO BOSS JOHN GOTTI ENDS
ONE FEUD WITH THE GENOVESE AND
LUCCHESE FAMILIES, BUT NOW THE
COLOMBOS ARE ABOUT TO GO TO WAR
WITH EACH OTHER, WITH COLOMBO
BOSS CARMINE 'THE SNAKE' PERSICO
CALLING THE SHOTS
FROM BEHIND BARS.
DEVECCHIO: After being given
a sentence of a 139 years
Carmine Persico was virtually
in jail for life. He knew that.
NARRATOR: PERSICO'S FIRST CHOICE
TO RUN THE COLOMBO FAMILY WOULD
BE HIS SON, LITTLE ALLIE BOY
PERISCO, BUT LIKE HIS FATHER,
LITTLE ALLIE BOY'S
IN PRISON TOO.
SO PERSICO APPOINTS
ANOTHER FAMILY MEMBER.
FAT SAL: Vic Orena was
Junior Persico's cousin.
And that's why Junior gave
him the reins of the family,
coz I guess he trusted him.
NARRATOR: BUT THE HEAD OF THE
GAMBINO FAMILY, JOHN GOTTI,
DOESN'T LIKE THE MOVE
AND STIRS UP TROUBLE.
FAT SAL: John Gotti
wanted another puppet,
So he pumped Vic Orena up to
tell Junior that he was no
longer the boss of the family.
DEVECCHIO: Orena
inducted a lot of men,
and they owed their
loyalty to him.
And Orena said, It's
good being the king.
I don't want Little
Allie Boy to be the boss.
I wanna be the boss.
So he asked the consigliere,
who was Carmine Sessa, he said,
I want you to go poll
all the captains and find out
what they think.
And Sessa was smart enough not
to do that because he knew if
he'd done that, Persico would've
probably had him whacked.
So he got word back to Carmine
Persico that Orena wants a vote
taken from the Capos that
who's gonna be the boss.
And immediately Persico said,
Whack the guy. Kill Orena.
In June of 1991, four members of
a Persico hit team went out to
Orena's house to try to get an
idea of what his movements were
So they could find an
opportune time to kill him.
And unfortunately for
them, Orena spotted them.
FAT SAL: Vic Orena had caught
Carmine Sessa and a couple
other guys laying on his house.
DEVECCHIO: Nothing happens.
They come back and report that
they think they've been spotted.
Orena tells his people, Persico
people are trying to kill me.
NARRATOR: NOW IN JUNE, 1991 THE
STAGE IS SET FOR A BLOODBATH.
DEVECCHIO: The Colombo wars
started between two internal
factions: the Persicos
and the Orena faction.
NARRATOR: VIC ORENA TARGETS ONE
OF THE MOST DANGEROUS MEN IN
THE COLOMBO FAMILY FOR MURDER,
CARMINE PERSICO'S CHIEF ENFORCER
GREG SCARPA, KNOWN ON THE
STREET AS THE GRIM REAPER.
FAT SAL: Greg Scarpa
Senior, Grim Reaper.
Nobody called him
that to his face.
You know what I mean?
He was called Greg.
But behind his back he
was the Grim Reaper.
That was his nickname
because he was so vicious.
MOUW: He was probably one
of the most violent members
of organized crime in
the history of New York.
He took a particular
delight in killing people.
FAT SAL: If he could kill
somebody he'd be happy.
if he could dig up a body
and kill him all over again,
yeah that's definitely him.
CALANDRA: He was a scary
character, Greg Scarpa.
A scary character.
That guy killed everything.
NARRATOR: SCARPA IS A
PART TIME FBI INFORMANT.
BUT HE'S STILL A GANGSTER AND
ABOUT TO BE CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE
OF A COLOMBO CIVIL WAR.
DEVECCHIO: November 18th, 1991,
Greg Scarpa's going out of
his house to get into
his car to go somewhere.
His daughter, Linda, and
his granddaughter get into
another car and they're
going up their street.
At the end of the street there's
a van blocking their cars.
And he drives around the
van and guys jump out.
And they miss him and they fire
at the car carrying Linda.
FAT SAL: They bullet-riddle
that whole car.
DEVECCHIO: They knew by that
time they'd missed Scarpa,
and they took off.
Now you attack an
organized crime member,
I don't know how anybody would
not expect them to retaliate.
Especially when their
family was involved.
NARRATOR: BUT THE FEDS DON'T
WANT TO LOSE THEIR INSIDE MAN
AND A LAW ENFORCEMENT GOLD MINE.
DEVECCHIO: And I told
him, I said Greg,
We've known each
other for a long time.
I know what you're
gonna do, and I said,
I've gotta tell you
that if you retaliate,
my guys are gonna be out
there, the police are gonna be
out there.
If you get arrested, ya know,
that's the end of the game.
You're arrested. Nothing
I can do about it, nor will I.
He said, It is what it is.
You do what you gotta
do, I do what I gotta do.
NARRATOR: SO THREE WEEKS LATER
GREG 'THE GRIM REAPER' SCARPA
LOOKS FOR REVENGE AGAINST
MEMBERS OF HIS OWN FAMILY.
DEVECCHIO: Scarpa is out with
two or three members of his
guys, and they're driving
around Brooklyn looking
for targets of opportunity.
It just happens to be in
December They drive past
Vinny Fusaro's house,
and he's outside hanging
Christmas lights.
Scarpa shoots Fusaro and the
other guys open up on him.
Fusaro's instantly killed in
front of his house hanging
the Christmas tree lights.
The next day after Fusaro
gets killed Black Sam Nastasi
is in his social club.
The Orena guys jump in there
and kill him in the club,
as a retaliatory move for the
killing of Fusaro the day before
They're shooting at each other,
maybe at a weekly basis.
NARRATOR: CIVIL WAR WITHIN THE
COLOMBO FAMILY TURNS THE STREETS
OF BROOKLYN INTO
A SLAUGHTERHOUSE.
FAT SAL: The other families have
never been through wars like
the Colombos.
I know quite a few
people that got killed.
The Colombos are known
as the most violent.
STAMBOULIDIS: It was a very
treacherous time in New York
City where they had to be on the
defensive and on the offensive,
and at the same time law
enforcement was trying
to prevent the killing and
bring them to justice.
DEVECCHIO: There's no question
there was a lot of tension
out there.
There was a lot of FBI agents,
a lot of NYPD out looking around
STAMBOULIDIS: None of the other
families were happy about it
because it was bad
for their business.
FAT SAL: we'd be driving in the
neighborhood and have nothing
to do with the Colombo war and
uh they would pull me and uh
and other guys outta my car and
strip search us in the middle of
the street.
They would tear the cars
apart looking for guns.
If I had to go rob a bank and I
had to have guns in the car so
we could go rob a bank or go
steal a car so we can go rob
a bank, we couldn't do that
because there was too many cops
in the neighborhood.
NARRATOR: IN THE COLOMBO
WARS, GREG SCARPA IS PLAYING
ON TWO TEAMS.
AS A COLOMBO FOOTMAN
AND AN FBI INFORMANT.
DEVECCHIO: In the meantime,
Greg Scarpa is telling me
what's going on.
Not that he's killing people.
He's not gonna tell me that.
But he's telling me other hit
teams on the other side who are
out there looking for people.
And as a result of his
information plus surveillances,
we stopped a number
of uh shootings.
We found several locations where
they had, uh, guns stored,
where hit teams hung out,
where they had lists of people
they wanted to kill.
STAMBOULIDIS: In other instances
we were accelerating cases
that we had been building
methodically to take them down
prematurely just to take these
people off the street and bring
them to justice.
NARRATOR: THE FEDS CLOSE IN ON
THE TWO WARRING COLOMBO FACTIONS
STAMBOULIDIS: There were about
60 plus members of the Orena
faction arrested, 60 plus
members of the Persico
faction arrested.
Victor Jay Orena was arrested as
was his underboss, Pat Amato.
And they were convicted and
each received life sentences.
GOLDSTOCK: Virtually the upper
echelons of all of the families
have been taken out
in New York City,
entire crews and families
have been taken out.
It's a very bad
time for the mob.
NARRATOR: EVENTUALLY
ARRESTED AS WELL IS GREG
THE GRIM REAPER SCARPA.
IN 1993 HE RECEIVES A LIFE
SENTENCE FOR COMMITTING
MULTIPLE MURDERS. HE
DIES IN PRISON A YEAR LATER.
DEVECCHIO: Carmine Persico still
maintains the position as boss,
and he will be until he dies,
the boss of the family.
For a year and a half or
more, closer to two years,
the war went on.
With a total of 12 members and
associates killed and 18 members
and associates and some
innocent bystanders wounded.
The Colombo war was
one of the most bloody,
if not the most bloody internal
wars in La Cosa Nostra,
in the United States,
in the 20th century.
PONZI: It always
comes back to control.
Um, ya know these uh,
internecine events like
the Colombo wars was really all
about an individual attempting
to wrestle control.
The end result is that
there really is no winner.
NARRATOR: THE COLOMBO CIVIL WARS
BRING DOWN THAT FAMILY FROM
WITHIN, BUT LAW ENFORCEMENT'S
GOT ANOTHER OF THE FIVE FAMILIES
IN ITS CROSSHAIRS: THE
LUCCHESES AND THEIR UNDERBOSS,
GASPIPE CASSO.
RAAB: Gaspipe Casso is tipped
off that a major indictment is
coming down against him.
And he's tipped off either by
his undercover mafia cops or he
later claims he was also tipped
off by somebody in the FBI,
and for almost 2
years he's on the lam.
NARRATOR: BUT IN
THE WINTER OF 1993,
FBI AGENTS FINALLY CATCH UP WITH
CASSO AT HIS GIRLFRIEND'S HOME
JUST ACROSS THE BRIDGE IN
MOUNT OLIVE, NEW JERSEY.
THEY ARREST HIM ON CHARGES OF
MURDER AND ATTEMPTED MURDER.
PONZI: Casso was arrested in
1993 and agrees to cooperate
with the government
sometime in 1994.
NARRATOR: NOW THAT HE'S STARTING
TO TALK HE SPILLS EVERYTHING,
INCLUDING AN UNBELIEVABLE STORY
ABOUT TWO NEW YORK CITY POLICE
DETECTIVES.
CASSO: I had law enforcement
on my payroll, for certain.
I had them lookin after me.
ED BRADLEY: Cops.
CASSO: Yeah. The cops.
ED BRADLEY: What
were their names?
CASSO: Uh, Lou Eppolito
and, uh, Steve...Steve...
I can't...he's got
a long last name.
Capas...Capas...
ED BRADLEY: Caracappa?
CASSO: Yeah. Caracappa.
Whatever it is.
I can't say it all the time.
Ya know?
NARRATOR: BUT CASSO'S PAST
DEEDS ARE SO HORRIFIC,
THE FEDS ARE HAVING SECOND
THOUGHTS ABOUT CUTTING HIM
A DEAL.
PONZI: It's my belief that the
prevailing sentiment amongst
federal prosecutors was that
36 or 37 murders was too much
and that maybe they
had gone too far.
NARRATOR: CASSO'S DEAL TO
COOPERATE WITH THE GOVERNMENT
UNRAVELS, LEAVING NYPD
DETECTIVES EPPOLITO AND
CARACAPPA UNTOUCHED.
THE MAFIA COPS SEEM LITERALLY
TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER.
HORMOZI: Eppolito and Caracappa
end up retiring from the police
department.
Uh, Louis Eppolito
moves to Las Vegas.
He writes a book
called Mafia Cop,
in which he sort of talks about
his history being a New York
City police officer but having
family members in the mafia.
He goes on television.
And Jimmy Hydell's mother
just happens to be watching.
She sees him and thinks
she recognizes this man.
This is the man who came looking
for her son years and years ago
the day he disappeared.
PONZI: She immediately went out
and bought a copy of Mafia Cop
and in it saw photographs of
both Eppolito and Caracappa and
then was absolutely certain that
these were the two people who
were outside her house the day
that her son Jimmy disappeared.
NARRATOR: THE MAFIA COPS
MAY HAVE RETIRED AS HITMEN,
BUT THEY'RE NOT HOME FREE.
HORMOZI: She ends up contacting
the New York City Police
Department.
And that restarts the
investigation into
Louie Eppolito
and Stephen Caracappa.
And ultimately it leads
to their indictment.
EPPOLITO:I was a very
highly decorated cop.
I worked very hard my whole
life and I just want the people
to know that I'm not the person
that they're portraying me.
CARACAPPA: I wouldn't do that.
Put my life in jeopardy,
disgrace the badge.
Take everything that I'd worked
for my whole life and throw
it away?
And kill somebody in the
street like a cowboy?
That's not my style.
That's not me.
HORMOZI: The verdict came
back guilty on all counts.
LAWYER:Louis Eppolito and
Stephen Caracappa directly
participated in and aided and
abetted 11 murders and attempted
murders.
HORMOZI: Judge Weinstein gave
them each a sentence of life
imprisonment, and I believe
that was the just sentence
for the crimes they'd committed.
NARRATOR: THE MAFIA COPS ARE THE
LAST ACT IN THE LUCCHESE FAMILY
SAGA, BUT OVER IN
THE GAMBINO EMPIRE,
THANKS TO SECRETLY PLACED
BUGS, THE FBI IS ON THE VERGE
OF TAKING DOWN THEIR BIGGEST
MOBSTER YET, JOHN GOTTI.
MOUW: On December 12, '89 We had
what we call our smoking gun.
Gotti was at a meeting earlier
that day where some of the guys
who were with him Were
complaining that they'd lost
a big construction job to
Sammy the Bull's company...
So John was steamin'.
When he's steamin he's...
doesn't care what he says.
ANASTASIA: Too often these
guys they're not smart enough
to realize they
shouldn't be talkin,
they shouldn't be sayin stuff.
They think they're in a secure
area and they're not...
The old-time guys wouldn't
even talk on the phone.
MOUW: So John goes on a long
tirade why they have to kill
Louie DeBono, why they
killed Robert Dibernardo,
why they killed Louie Malito.
He blames Sammy 'The Bull'
Gravano for all three.
Just that tape alone
we knew we had John.
On the night of
December 11th, 1990,
we arrested all these guys.
John Gotti, Frank LoCascio,
Sammy The Bull Gravano,
and Tommy Gambino, at
the Ravenite social club.
COFFEY: I was part of the
task force that took em down.
And we take em down on the
street and we throw him up
against the plate glass window
and I put my hand around him
to toss him and he's got a,
what I thought was a gun.
I said, Are you packin?
And it turns out it was a big
belt buckle that I thought was
a gun.
So I put him in the car and
he's going into the car,
and he turns to me and goes,
I give you 3 to 1 I beat this.
MOUW: After we made the
arrests we had what they called
a detention hearing to prove
these guys are a danger
to the community.
And so we played that 12/12/89
tape as one of the first ones.
ANASTASIA: The beauty of tapes
is you can use them not only
to make cases but to turn guys.
Or you can go to a guy and
say, Listen to what your boss
is saying about you.
MOUW: And I'm watching Gotti
sit next to Gravano and Lucascio
at the defense table Of course
Gravano's never heard this
before, and we start playin the
tape and ya hear Gotti callin'
Sammy a green-eyed
little monster.
BLAKEY: And Gotti
begins...musing over the fact
that he doesn't trust Gravano.
Maybe he should take him out.
MOUW: Sammy's ready to explode,
John's about to dive under
the table, he's so embarrassed,
and Sammy's, he just planted
the seed for that guy.
And that was the impetus later
for him to cooperate and become
a witness for us.
POLISI: When I flipped
in 84 they treated us like
we was movie stars, the FBI.
Guys didn't flip.
That was like, Oh my gosh.
You got a guy to come over.
That was like rare back then.
But around 85, 86, 87 guys
were flippin every other day.
NARRATOR: AMONG
THEM PHIL LEONETTI,
A LEADING FIGURE IN THE
PHILADELPHIA MOB AND THE FIRST
UNDERBOSS IN THE HISTORY OF
ORGANIZED CRIME TO COOPERATE
WITH THE UNITED
STATES GOVERNMENT.
HE'S THE FIRST OF
MANY DOMINOES TO FALL.
LEONETTI: I cooperated.
I ratted on everybody.
That's something that I grew up
not believing in and something
that I wasn't supposed to do.
But it was a decision
I wanted to make.
PICHINI: Leonetti was
really, at that point,
the highest-ranking mob
member ever to turn to become
a government witness.
ANASTASIA:A lotta people say
Gravano saw what happened
to Leonetti, the kind
of deal he got,
and he decided that's the route
he was gonna take as well.
In fact, Leonetti at one point
was going to be a witness
against Gotti, but once Gravano
flipped they didn't need him.
SAMMY: As part of my cooperation
I told the government about my
life of crimes, including
the fact that I participated
in 19 murders.
As a member of our
family's administration,
I helped John Gotti
run the family.
MOUW: The case went to a jury on
April 1 and April 2nd they came
back and he was convicted
on all but 1 count,
and that was a magnificent
day for law enforcement.
NEWS REPORTER: After four tries
the mighty mob boss has been
found guilty by a Brooklyn jury.
He now faces life in prison.
SPOKESPERSON: The
Teflon is gone,
the Don is covered with
Velcro, and every charge
in the indictment stuck.
CUTLER: He represented a
rebel figure for people.
He was a hoodlum's hoodlum,
but he chose that life.
Or the life, as he
said, chose him.
And, uh, he seemed to
be enjoying the show.
MCDONALD: The conviction of
John Gotti was very significant
because it disrupted the
Gambino crime family,
but even more important than
the conviction of Gotti,
the investigation of Gotti
really lead to the demise
of the Gambino crime family.
It enabled the FBI to gather
evidence against the whole
leadership of the family,
all the powerful people
in the family and
indeed other families.
NARRATOR: COOPERATING WITNESS
SAMMY THE BULL GRAVANO
IS THE LYNCHPIN OF THE CASE.
HIS TESTIMONY NOT ONLY
HELPS BRING DOWN GOTTI OF
THE GAMBINOS, BUT LATER GENOVESE
FAMILY BOSS VINCENT THE CHIN
GIGANTE IN 1997.
REPORTER: Gravano identified
him as the head of the Genovese
crime family.
He testified Gigante wore the
familiar pajamas and a bathrobe
at their first mob meeting,
but there was nothing unusual
about his behavior.
NARRATOR: FOR THE FIRST
TIME IN ITS 60-YEAR HISTORY,
THE AMERICAN MOB
IS ON THE ROPES.
AS HIGH-RANKING GANGSTERS
COOPERATE WITH THE GOVERNMENT,
AND WISE GUYS KILL EACH
OTHER IN THE STREETS.
BUT IN THE 1990'S, ONE BOSS WILL
BRING BACK THE GLORY DAYS OF THE
MAFIA, A LEGENDARY KILLER AND
HIJACKER NAMED JOE MASSINO WHO
WILL RESTORE THE CODE OF SILENCE
AND MAKE MILLIONS ON WALL STREET
MCDONALD: He is
like the last don.
All the other bosses
have been convicted.
NARRATOR: WHILE A NEW GENERATION
OF STREET GANGS EMERGES.
WALDEN: These kids
really did start as kids.
NARRATOR: BUT THEY
BECAME KILLERS,
WHO TURN THE STREETS OF
BROOKLYN RED WITH BLOOD.
CALANDRA: I never left my
house without a pistol.
You know, We were
ready to go to war.
DADES: When I think back how
much craziness was going
on up there It was like a
shooting gallery up there.
CALANDRA: Pop pop pop
pop pop pop pop, boom.