On March 18, 1980, Gotti's youngest son, 12-year-old Frank Gotti, was run over and killed on a family friend's minibike by John Favara, a neighbor.

John Gotti's body was interred in a crypt next to his son Frank Gotti.

Gotti's son, John " Junior " Gotti, took over as head of the family, but in 1999 he too plead guilty to racketeering and was sentenced to 77 months in jail.

They also hoped to find the body of John Favara, who accidentally killed Gotti's son, and the body of Tommy DeSimone.

The DeCavalcantes remained in the Gambino's sphere of influence until John Gotti's imprisonment.

Peter Gotti subsequently became acting boss, and is believed to have formally succeeded his brother as boss shortly before John Gotti's death.

John Jr .' s indictment brought further stress to John Gotti's marriage.

Dellacroce, however, was rising star John Gotti's mentor, and when word got back to him that Dellacroce had supported Gravano, Gotti was impressed.

During this time, the FBI had intensified its efforts against the Gambino family, and in August 1983, three members of Gotti's crew – Angelo Ruggiero, John Carneglia, and Gene Gotti – were indicted for heroin trafficking.

Gravano's second choice to become boss after Castellano's murder was Frank DeCicco, but DeCicco felt John Gotti's ego was too big to take a subservient role.

In 1994, Anthony " Gaspipe " Casso, former underboss of the Lucchese family, implicated Gigante in a 1986 plan to have Casso kill new Gambino boss John Gotti, underboss Frank DeCicco and Gotti's brother Gene Gotti, due to the unsanctioned 1985 murder of John Gotti's former boss, Paul Castellano.

This group included John Gotti's brother, Gene, and his best friend, Angelo Ruggiero.

As former rivals of John Gotti took completely over the Gambino family, mostly because the rest of Gotti's loyalists were either jailed or under indictments, and because Gotti, Sr died in prison in 2002, then-current head of white collar crimes and caporegime, Michael " Mikey Scars " DiLeonardo turned state's evidence, due to increased law enforcement and credible evidence to be presented in his racketeering trial, and chose to testify against mobsters from all of the Five Families.

John Gotti's crew expected $ 250, 000 from the proceeds of the robbery and Paolo LiCastri, a soldier under John Gotti in the Gambino Family, became the sixth gunman to ensure the Gambinos ' interests were looked after.

It is believed that DeSimone was murdered as a reprisal for having killed two of John Gotti's close friends, specifically William " Billy Batts " DeVino and Foxy Jerothe.

The principal charge against Gotti in the trials was racketeering conspiracy stemming from Gotti's alleged management of the Gambino crime family following the incarceration and death of his father, John Gotti Sr. ( the " Dapper Don ").

John Travolta is expected to star as Gotti's father, and Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston, will play his on-screen wife, Victoria Gotti.

Polisi testified in John Gotti's 1986 trial.

The actor interpreted the testimony of Sammy (" The Bull ") Gravano, Gotti's underboss, against Gotti as " a friend who betrays a friend.

After the FBI indicted members of Gotti's crew for selling narcotics, Gotti took advantage of growing dissent over the leadership of the crime family.

Gotti's underboss Salvatore " Sammy the Bull " Gravano is credited with the FBI's success in finally convicting Gotti.

Gotti's newfound fame had at least one positive effect ; upon the revelation of his attacker's occupation, and amid reports of intimidation by the Gambinos, Romual Piecyk decided not to testify against Gotti, and when the trial commenced in March 1986 he testified he was unable to remember who attacked him.

From jail, Gotti ordered the murder of Robert DiBernardo by Sammy Gravano ; both DiBernardo and Ruggiero had been vying to succeed Frank DeCicco until Ruggiero accused DiBernardo of challenging Gotti's leadership.

The heroin trial of Gotti's former fellow Bergin crewmembers Ruggiero and Gene Gotti also commenced in June of that year.

Growing Up Gotti was a reality television program centered on life at Victoria Gotti's Old Westbury mansion

* Growing Up Gotti: A & E Network reality series about life in Victoria Gotti's Old Westbury home in 2004 and 2005.

With the tapes providing proof of Gotti's involvement in narcotics trafficking, Castellano would have enough proof to murder Gotti.

DeCicco argued that Gotti's boldness, intelligence, and charisma made him well-suited to be " a good boss " and he convinced Gravano to give Gotti a chance.

DeCicco and Gravano, however, also made a secret pact to kill Gotti and take over the family as boss and underboss, respectively, if they were unhappy with Gotti's leadership after one year.

Johnson had been a childhood friend of Gotti's and a longtime crew member while Gotti was captain of the Bergin crew.

Gravano had paid a juror in Gotti's second trial to vote in favor of an acquittal allowing Gotti to beat the RICO charges lodged against him.

Gravano claimed Gotti's defense to consist of Gotti's lawyers portraying Gotti as a peace-loving boss falling all over himself to restrain the kill-crazy Gravano, resulting in a conviction for Gravano and an acquittal for Gotti.

Gotti's criminal career began when he became an associate of Carmine Fatico, a capo in what became the Gambino family after the murder of Albert Anastasia.

The indictment also revealed that Gotti's friend " Willie Boy " Johnson, one of his co-defendants, had been an FBI informant.

After Dellacroce died of cancer on December 2, 1985, Castellano revised his succession plan: appointing Bilotti as underboss to Thomas Gambino as the sole acting boss, while making plans to break up Gotti's crew.

The evening of the meeting, when the boss and underboss arrived, they were ambushed and shot dead by assassins under Gotti's command.

At the time of Gotti's takeover the Gambino family was regarded as the most powerful American mafia family, with an annual income of $ 500 million.

Following the bombing Judge Eugene Nickerson, presiding over Gotti's racketeering trial, rescheduled to avoid a jury tainted by the resulting publicity while Giacalone had Gotti's bail revoked due to evidence of intimidation in the Piecyk case.

In the trial's opening statements on September 25, Gotti's defense attorney Bruce Cutler denied the existence of the Gambino Crime Family and framed the government's entire effort as a personal vendetta.

In Gotti's defense Cutler called bank robber Matthew Traynor, a would-be prosecution witness dropped for unreliability, who testified that Giacalone offered him drugs and her panties as a masturbation aid in exchange for his testimony ; Traynor's allegations would be dismissed by Judge Nickerson as " wholly unbelievable " after the trial, and he was subsequently convicted of perjury.

In the face of previous Mafia convictions, particularly the success of the Commission trial, Gotti's acquittal was a major upset that further added to his reputation.

Gotti's attempt at reconciliation failed, leaving Gravano disillusioned with the mob and doubtful on his chances of winning the newest case without Shargel, his former attorney.

Jury selection began in January 1992, with the empaneled jury being kept anonymous and, for the first time in a Brooklyn Federal case, fully sequestered during the trial due to Gotti's reputation for jury tampering.

On the stand Gravano confirmed Gotti's place in the structure of the Gambino family and described in detail the conspiracy to assassinate Castellano and gave a full description of the hit and its aftermath.

Five of Krieger and Cardinale's intended six witnesses were ruled irrelevant or extraneous, leaving only Gotti's tax attorney Murray Appleman to testify on his behalf.

The Aryan Brotherhood accepted Gotti's offer.