John Gotti | Beaten Down, Moving Up | 2

In 1995, the world's most successful actor strapped himself to the mast of a catamaran in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

A helicopter nearly decapitated him, and he almost drowned.

He did it for his art.

He did it for what he loved.

He did it for Waterworld.

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It's December 16th, 1985, Twilight.

Sammy Gravano sits quietly in the passenger seat of a Black Lincoln town car.

Next to him is boss John Gotti grips the wheel tight.

Muted stripes of New York City light fall through the tinted windows, illuminating John's cold brown eyes.

Sammy turns toward the window and stares off into the distance, as barely paying attention to the crowds of shoppers and tourists filling the sidewalk.

They aren't far now.

Midtown shines around them, especially bright because of the Christmas season.

Sammy isn't in the mood to celebrate just yet, but after tonight, he hopes his worries will be over.

Until then, he's on edge.

He taps his fingers nervously on the armrest.

He still has reservations about what they're doing tonight.

Who wouldn't?

Murdering Paul Castellano, the dawn of the Gambino crime family is a big risk.

The kind of scheme you'd have to be crazy to go along with if you valued your own life.

Sammy glances at John, careful not to stare.

John doesn't notice.

His eyes are on the road, but his mind seems somewhere else.

Whatever he's thinking, he doesn't let it show.

Sammy's never gotten much from John aside from wisecracking braggadocio.

That or explosive rage.

Yet underneath it all, Sammy still believes John could be a capable boss.

He's a tough guy, but that's what it takes.

At least he's a straight shooter and a hard worker, unlike Paul Castellano.

And while John likes to gamble, he's nowhere near as greedy and domineering as Paul.

Either way, Sammy knows he's in too deep to turn back now.

John parks the car at the intersection of 3rd Avenue and East 46th.

Across the street, they can see the entrance to Spark Steakhouse, the site of the hit.

A valet in a thick coat stands on the busy sidewalk with his arms crossed.

Sammy can see a backup shooter, one of ten men recruited for the murder, waiting outside an office supply store next door to the restaurant.

Sammy draws his walkie-talkie and mutters into the mouthpiece.

He and John are in position.

The second he lets go of the button, his heart stops.

Another black Lincoln pulls up right beside them.

Inside is their target, Paul Castellano, with his right-hand man Tommy Bellotti at the wheel.

Sammy starts to hiss at John to get down.

Then thinks better of it.

Neither of them move a muscle as the other Lincoln stops at a red light.

Through the tinted glass, Sammy can just make out Paul popping open the glove compartment.

Sammy slowly closes his hand around the gun in his waistband.

This is it, he thinks.

This is where it all goes wrong.

Then the light flicks to green and Paul's car cruises past.

They weren't spotted after all.

Sammy lets out a sigh of relief.

He buzzes the walkie to let the men know Paul's coming.

It's do or die.

Sure enough, Paul's Lincoln stops right in front of Sparks.

The four designated shooters, dressed identically in tan trench coats, weave through the crowds on the sidewalk, getting into position.

By the time Paul Castellano opens the passenger door, they've already surrounded him.

Sammy watches John Gotti grand as the bullets start flying.

From Airship, I'm Jeremy Schwartz, and this is American Criminal.

During his early years on the streets of East New York, John Gotti clawed his way from the bottom of the Gambino crime family to become one of its most feared, respected and capable members.

But it was far from a smooth rise to power.

John's gruff, tough guy attitude and his relentless self-interest made him almost as many enemies as it did friends in the 1980s.

And some of the guys he rubbed the wrong way were the very people he was supposed to be answering to.

But John Gotti wasn't someone to go with the flow just to avoid ruffling feathers.

From a young age, he'd been determined to elevate himself as high as he possibly could, and he didn't care what he had to do to get there.

And while he was smarter than the average mafioso, he also had his vices.

When personal tragedy turned John's world upside down, his gambling addiction spiraled out of control.

The sudden pull to make bigger and bigger bets led him to compromise his principles and break a sacred mafia rule.

It was a chain of events that would eventually unravel the entire Gambino family.

This is episode two in our four-part series on John Gotti.

Beaten Down, Moving Up.

It's March 18, 1980, five years before John Gotti orchestrates Paul Castellano's murder.

Warm afternoon, sunlight glints on the Atlantic Ocean, just as stones throw away from the Gotti family home in Howard Beach, Queens.

Howard Beach is a quiet upper middle class neighborhood, a far cry from the East New York streets John grew up on.

Well-trimmed hedges line the front yards alongside wide sidewalks.

A community group funded in part by John's wife Victoria patrols the streets at night.

This is a place to settle down, away from the grime and noise of the city, a haven for John and Victoria to raise their five children.

Today, their middle child, 12-year-old Frank, has borrowed a friend's minibike and is riding it around the neighborhood.

He cruises down a trail near the expressway headed in the direction of the ocean.

At the same time that Frank is out riding, the sun is dipping closer to the horizon, level with the windshield of John Favara's station wagon.

Favara is a neighbor of the Gottis.

His house is right behind theirs.

The 51-year-old furniture salesman is on his way home from work and fiddles with the sunshade.

He passes a house under construction on 157th Avenue.

There's a dumpster out front, which means that Favara doesn't notice Frank until it's too late.

The 12-year-old's motorbike speeds into the street from the other side of the dumpster, surprising Favara, who slams on the brakes.

But there's no time to stop.

His car slams into Frank and the motorbike, caving in the front bumper.

Frank crashes to the ground and is dead before emergency services can make it to the scene.

In the aftermath of the crash, the entire Gotti family is devastated, but no one more so than Victoria.

The police ruled the death an accident, but Victoria refuses to believe it.

She tells people that Favara had to be drunk or speeding.

Every time she sees his dented car pull into the house behind theirs, she erupts in fury.

Two days after Frank's death, a woman places an anonymous call to the NYPD and tells them the driver of the car that killed Frank Gotti will be eliminated.

That same morning, John Favara gets a death threat in his mailbox.

The next day, a woman phones Favara's home and makes another similar threat.

Detectives stop by his house, but Favara doesn't take any of it seriously.

He knows his neighbors are grieving.

He can only imagine how he'd feel if he were in their shoes, what he'd be saying.

He has a son of his own, and besides, Favara can't shake the guilt he feels.

The death was an accident, but it still haunts him.

Things soon escalate beyond just threats though.

Two weeks after the accident, Favara's car is stolen.

It turns up a mile away a couple of weeks later.

Not long after that, someone places Frank's funeral card along with a photo of the boy in the Favara's mailbox.

The same person spray paints the word murderer on the now returned car.

Inside the Gotti household, Victoria has started to behave erratically.

Drowning in grief, she walks the empty streets at night, searching in vain for her little boy.

She visits the baseball fields where Frank used to play, crying out his name.

Eventually, she's prescribed medication to help deal with the loss.

Meanwhile, John Favara becomes uncomfortable.

John Gotti's mafia connections are an open secret in the neighborhood, and Favara starts to worry he might be in real danger.

Luckily, he knows another Gambino soldier.

Anthony Zappi's lowered down the ranks than John Gotti, but Favara still hopes he might be helpful.

Favara asks Anthony what he should do, but his friend tells him that the threats are probably just neighborhood kids playing pranks.

Any reasonable person can understand that Frank's death was a tragic accident.

Still, he advises Favara to move out and sell his station wagon.

Word is that Victoria can't stand the sight of it.

So Favara does just that.

He puts his home on the market and works out the details over the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, the simmering tension intensifies.

On May 28th, a little over two months after Frank's death, Victoria comes at Favara with a baseball bat.

The attack puts him in the hospital, but he refuses to press charges.

He tells himself that it's almost over.

Soon enough, he'll have moved out and his family will leave Howard Beach forever.

A couple of months later, the Gottis are on a vacation in Florida and the Favaras are packing their final boxes before their move.

On July 28th, Favara leaves work for the day.

There's just two days until the big move, so he's eager to get home and help with the final preparations.

He heads out to the parking lot and is rummaging in his pocket for his keys when a large man clubs him on the back of the head.

He crumples to the ground and his attacker grabs him by the belt.

The parking lot this all goes down in is next to a restaurant called Capitol Diner, so multiple people witnessed the assault through the windows.

The owner of the diner even rushes to the back door and yells at Favara's assailant.

Supremely unbothered, the large man yells back that his friend, meaning Favara, is sick.

Then he turns and tosses Favara into the back of a blue van.

The van speeds off tailed by a green car.

Sometime later, another man arrives at the lot and drives Favara's station wagon away.

That's the last anyone sees of John Favara.

After he's reported missing and the cops hear about what went down outside Capitol Diner, police scour the scene, but they don't find anything useful.

A day later, three huge men enter Capitol Diner and sit at the counter.

They don't say a word, but keep their gazes trained on the owner, the same man who witnessed Favara's abduction and dared to talk about it.

They stare at him for 15 minutes in complete silence, then finally walk out.

After that, the owner stops talking to the police, sells his restaurant and skips town.

The story of John Favara pretty much ends there.

With no witnesses willing to speak about what they saw and no leads to chase up, the case goes cold.

But it's believed that John Gotti arranged the abduction.

According to testimony by people supposedly involved, Favara was killed and his body dissolved in a vat of acid.

But none of this comes out for years.

So when he's questioned about Favara's disappearance, John has nothing to say.

He and Victoria both tell detectives the same thing.

They were in Florida at the time.

They have no idea what happened to Favara, but they're not sorry if something did.

In the Gotti's minds, the score is settled, but that doesn't make the grief go away.

They continue wearing black for months.

Just like his wife, 40-year-old John carries his son's death with him.

But with Favara gone, there's no one to be mad at.

So he copes by falling deeper into his vices.

In particular, gambling.

In 1980, John escalates his already out of control betting habits, blowing around $30,000 every week on sports, rounds at the horse track and craps.

For reference, the average national household wage in 1980 is about $21,000.

His crew can't believe the kind of money John is losing, nor can they understand how he can afford it.

But they have bigger problems to deal with.

John started to shirk his duties as cap bow.

He is supposed to set up hijacking jobs and turn his goons onto money making opportunities.

Lately though, he has been so distracted, the crew has started to falter.

Once, they were consistent top earners for the family, and now they struggle to make ends meet.

Some of them grumble about the situation, claiming they want to set up their own scores because John isn't doing his job.

The gossip reaches the top of the Gambino family, and boss Paul Castellano starts to question John's fitness for leadership.

He shares his concerns with John's direct superior, Neil de la Croche.

But Neil is a gambler too, and waves Paul off.

This is just John's way of dealing with his grief, he says.

Paul lets the matter go, but like everyone else, he can't help wondering where John is getting the money to feed his habit, even the federal government notices.

As part of its never-ending war on organized crime, the FBI monitors criminals with known connections to the mafia.

And in 1981, they're tipped off to some shady goings on by an informant who's part of John's crew, Willie Boy Johnson.

While speaking with the FBI, Willie tells the agency can't figure out how John's getting his gambling money, especially since his crew are barely pulling any jobs.

Hearing this, the Bureau is intrigued.

And then Willie tells them something that gives them an idea of what's going on.

According to Willie, wherever he goes, John always seems to have a roll of quarters on him.

And the FBI agents know that someone else in John's circle does the same thing, Angelo Ruggiero.

Angelo carries quarters so he can stay in touch with his brother, Salvatore.

The two Ruggiero boys only communicate by payphone because Salvatore is a wanted heroin dealer.

But hearing Willie's story about John, the FBI starts to wonder if Angelo's not the only one talking to Salvatore about drugs.

Maybe they think John's financing his gambling addiction by getting a piece of Salvatore's action.

It would certainly explain the huge bets he's able to make, though it's a little hard to believe he'd get involved with any drug deals, let alone heroin.

Publicly, he's always been against the drug trade.

That's in keeping with the Mafia's official code.

But for John, it always seemed to go deeper.

The way he talks about drugs, it sounds like he has a moral opposition to it.

Still, there doesn't seem to be a better explanation for his behavior.

Especially not after his bookmaker spots John meeting with Angelo and another heroin dealer.

Later on, the same guy sees Salvatore himself slipping in for a private chat with John.

All of that is enough for the FBI to get a warrant to tap Angelo Rugiero's phone.

They don't hear anything definitive.

There's a reason Angelo is always using pay phones, after all.

But they do hear enough to learn that Angelo is a volatile guy with a nasty temper.

With that in mind, they ramp up their investigation, setting up more wiretaps and getting agents to pose as construction workers around Angelo's house.

They follow him closely in broad daylight, hound him around every street corner.

They want him to know he's being watched.

They're hoping to get under his skin, to provoke a reaction.

And that's exactly what happens.

They soon overhear him on one of their wires threatening to kill a federal agent.

That doesn't sit too well with the Bureau, who make a trip to John's house to lodge a threat of their own.

They tell John that if Angelo threatens to murder another cop, heads will roll.

John gets the message and cools Angelo off, but there's more trouble to come.

The FBI have been so open with their surveillance that even the Gambino boss, Paul Castellano, catches wind of their investigation.

And he knows they're looking at Angelo for drugs.

He also knows that a drug charge could get his guys sent away for a long time.

If enough men are implicated, it could cripple the entire family.

For Paul, though, things could get even worse.

The more Gambino men who get picked up, the more chances there are of someone taking a deal and talking to the cops, implicating a bigger fish to save their own skin.

And Paul's the biggest fish of them all.

So he has to do something to nip this thing in the bud.

And he figures the best way is to make an example out of someone.

He picks up the phone and calls John Gotti.

The punishment for breaking the family's rules is death, which means it's time for an execution.

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It's April 1972.

John pulls his Lincoln into the driveway of Paul Castellano's opulent Staten Island mansion.

The guys call it the White House, and for good reason, it shines even in the moonlight.

Not that John Gotti cares.

He grumbles to himself as he rolls past the lush front yard and up the Herringbone driveway.

A fenced-in garden fit for a king sprawls off to the side.

John gets out of the car, slamming his door and smoothing his double-breasted suit.

He hates being summoned to the White House by Paul.

He doesn't like being at anyone else's beck and call, even his bosses.

But what can he do?

He clears his throat and knocks on the stately dark wood door.

Paul answers and ushers John into the foyer.

White marble floors and Roman-style columns frame a grand staircase lined with wine-red carpet.

John's shoes squeak as Paul leads him to the second-floor balcony, drink in hand.

After some small talk, which neither Paul nor John seemed to enjoy, the boss gets to the point.

It's about the heroin.

John tenses up but keeps his expression carefully blank.

For his part, John knows that his capo is on edge and takes pleasure in winding him up.

He asks John what he thinks about drug dealers and John responds with the usual party line.

Dealing is against the rules.

No good can come of it.

Paul smiles, peering over his ruby glasses and sipping his drink.

He's glad John agrees, he says, because the family has a problem.

Somebody ratted on Peter Tambone.

Little Pete is accused of dealing heroin.

John already knows that Pete's been dealing.

He's been working with Salvatore for some time now.

But he doesn't give any of that away.

He keeps his face blank.

Paul reminds John that the family's penalty for dealing heroin is death.

John nods uneasily, then clears his throat to protest.

Little Pete is 62 years old.

He's a grandfather.

Surely they can cut him some slack.

But Paul shakes his head.

No exceptions.

Then he delivers the kicker.

He wants John to be the one to pull the trigger.

John knows better than to argue with the boss.

He nods, puts down his unfinished drink, and leaves the White House as quick as he can.

He keeps his cool until he's a few miles away, then screams at the top of his lungs, pounding on his steering wheel.

He knows what Paul is doing.

He's messing with John, trying to interfere with his people, with his income.

No matter how many years of faithful service John has given the Gambino's, it isn't enough.

Meanwhile, rats like Paul climb to the top through their connections, not hard work.

Men like Paul, who never had to struggle, look down their noses at everyone else.

Even loyal soldiers like little Pete.

The more he stews, the angrier John gets.

Paul constantly demands more money to pay for his garish mansion, then takes issue when his men earn a little extra on the side.

John could kill him.

By now it's late, but John doesn't head home.

He has to get Paul to change his mind.

But his concern for little Pete is more than just compassion for a likable old man.

John's worried about the precedent this murder could set for anyone else caught with drugs.

Given that he's heavily involved himself, he knows that the best way to save his own hide is to stop this hit before it ever happens.

He'll never be able to convince Paul to back down, though.

Not on his own.

So John has to get a higher up on his side.

After leaving the White House, he meets up with his underboss Neil de la Crochet to fill him in.

At first, Neil pushes back, attempting to defuse John's rage.

Rules are rules, and what the boss says goes.

Everyone in the family, including little Pete, knows the risks of getting involved with drugs.

That's just how it is.

But John, no, he doesn't want to hear any of that.

In his mind, Paul's not a true boss, worthy of respect.

He doesn't give respect, so he doesn't get respect back.

Especially not when he's asking John to do dirty work that's beneath him.

Eventually, John convinces Neil to have a chat with Paul.

To plead little Pete's case.

Like most people in the family, Neil finds Paul abrasive and greedy.

But at least he's got a better relationship with the boss than John.

So Neil sits down with Paul, and after a long talk, the boss eventually relents.

He agrees that before executing little Pete, he'll put the matter to the other family bosses.

The Gambinos are the largest mafia group in New York, but it's only one of the five families in the city.

The debate drags for weeks, with two families falling on either side.

One boss is excluded from the discussion because too many of his soldiers have already been caught dealing drugs.

In the end, it's a tie.

Paul and one other boss vote to execute, but the other two prefer a pardon.

It means that little Pete gets to live.

But there are conditions.

He's forced to apologize to Paul, is banned from the family for six months, and has to endure a public dressing down from John, though most people know it's all for show.

After that, the tension relaxes, but the point has been made.

Paul Castellano wants everyone in the Gambino family to toe the line on drugs, and he doesn't care how unpopular that policy makes him.

As for John, though, nothing's changed.

Rules are there for breaking, at least where he's concerned.

So he keeps the heroin operation going until the spring of 1982.

Then on May 6th, Salvatore Ruggiero's private plane crashes over Orlando, killing him and his wife.

When the news reaches New York, a couple of John's men make a mad dash to Salvatore's secret Manhattan hideout.

They turn the place upside down, searching for drugs and valuables to keep for themselves.

John's less concerned with money and trinkets just now, though.

He's had a fear of flying his whole life, and this only reaffirms that.

The 42-year-old swears off planes for good, claiming he'd rather die in the street like a man.

But Salvatore's death causes other headaches.

His final legacy, a final shipment of 6 kilos of heroin, needs to be dealt with.

Naturally, it falls to his brother Angelo to handle.

He teams up with a couple of other Gotti men to try and discreetly sell the product.

John pretends not to know anything about it, though he undoubtedly continues to take his cut under the table.

This puts all the responsibility on Angelo.

Who is now in a major bind.

For one thing, he is used to Salvatore doing all the work when it comes to the heroin.

But more importantly, he knows the FBI is still watching him, so he is going to have to be very careful.

The thing is, though, Angelo doesn't know how close the feds are actually getting, and he is not great at keeping his mouth shut.

Unbeknownst to him, the Bureau wiretaps pick him up complaining about his issues to his lawyer Michael Coyro.

Angelo tells Michael about the leftover heroin and even asks his attorney to hold on to the cash he'll earn from selling it.

Michael agrees, going beyond his duties as a lawyer and actually becoming complicit in illegal activity, not realizing that federal agents are listening to every word.

By now, the Bureau has plenty of evidence to build a case against Angelo, but they decide to sit on it for a little longer.

Angelo is a small fish.

They've got their sights set on his boss, John Gotti.

They know John is a major player in the mob, but they haven't been able to charge him with anything in years.

They're willing to wait it out and continue monitoring the wiretaps in hopes of catching John on tape discussing the drugs.

Then they can reel in the much bigger prize.

Over the next few months, the authorities amass a treasure trove of incriminating conversations.

It turns out that Salvatore's death didn't end the mafia drug trade.

The money's just too good.

Despite the danger, Angelo gets in touch with one of Salvatore's suppliers in Florida and says he's going to take over the business.

But although the feds know all of this, none of it points directly to John.

So, by the end of 1983, the FBI gives up on catching John Gotti and decides they've waited long enough.

On August 8th, they arrest Angelo and four other higher-ups in John's crew, along with a few lower-level Aaron boys.

Though John himself isn't booked, he's named as a suspected co-conspirator in the Bureau's report.

John's boys are in major hot water, but Paul Castellano is also in a difficult position.

In the past, getting arrested for dealing heroin would get a mobster whacked no questions asked.

But these arrests account for the majority of John Gotti's crew, who are solid money earners.

And Paul likes money.

Complicating the matter further is John's violent temper.

Paul knows that John won't sit by idly while the majority of his crew is taken out.

He'd rather fight to the death instead.

And since he's generally well liked in the family, there's no telling who might take his side over the Paul's.

It could turn into a full on civil war.

On the other hand, Paul feels he has to do something.

He's repeatedly held the line on drug dealing, so not following through will make him look weak.

He's between a rock and a hard place.

Angelo knows that he's in Paul's crosshairs and is desperate to save himself.

When he gets out on bail, he goes to the Don and tells Paul that the feds have got nothing on him.

The tape conversations they're bragging about are just Angelo wrapping up Salvatore's loose ends, he says.

Angelo begs the boss to wait until the trial to react, claiming he'll be exonerated once the jury hears the FBI's evidence.

But Angelo's lying.

And these lies have bigger consequences than even he knows.

While the FBI is reeling him in, they haven't given up on implicating the Gambino higher-ups in the drug trade.

They're using the drug charges to leverage more warrants, this time to wiretap the Don himself in 1983.

The real goal is to collect evidence to indict Paul using the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO laws.

First utilized in the 1970s, RICO allows law enforcement to punish crime bosses who act through their subordinates.

Typically, if a Don orders a man to be murdered and someone else commits the crime on his behalf, the Don could claim innocence.

After all, he never pulled the trigger himself.

But RICO laws enable the authorities to charge crime bosses when they commit crimes as part of doing business, including drug dealing.

So, Angelo's drug trade has made Paul more vulnerable than anyone realizes right now.

He just doesn't know that yet.

And so, because Paul would rather not further raise the tensions between himself and the Gotti crew, he agrees to put any punishment of Angelo on hold.

The rhetoric doesn't scare John.

Paul Castellano can talk big all he wants, but his power is waning, so all his bluster smacks of fear.

The FBI are targeting the whole Gambino family, but their sights are firmly set on Paul.

His time at the head of the family is coming to an end, and there's nothing he can do about it.

John Gotti, though, is eager to help things along.

It's February 25th, 1985, just before dinner at Paul Castellano's White House.

The 70-year-old Don hears a knock at the door.

His daughter goes to answer it, but Paul waves her off and opens it himself.

There on the doorstep are two FBI agents.

Before they even open their mouths, Paul knows why they've come.

He asked to take a minute so he can change into a suit.

Paul hobbles through a spacious home towards the kitchen, where his daughter Connie and her husband are chatting happily with Paul's wife.

He looks at them with misty eyes.

At the counter, his maid and mistress, Gloria, cuts roast beef for supper.

He tells them what's happening, and suddenly everyone's crying.

Paul keeps a brave face and makes his way to the bedroom, where he changes into a navy blue double-breasted suit.

He wants to look good for this.

If he's found guilty at trial, the racketeering charges against him are enough to put Paul away for life.

A shocking turn for someone who's supposed to be untouchable.

After posting the $2 million bail, he learns how federal agents got a warrant to bug his home.

Turns out, revelations from wiretapping Angelo Ruggiero on drug charges led them directly to Paul.

Once he's back home, Paul seethes.

Everything can be traced back to the drugs.

To Angelo and his buddy, John Gotti.

While Paul fumes about his upcoming legal battles, John's importance to the Gambino family grows.

His mentor, Neil de la Croix, has cancer and needs to take a step back.

And while John's sad to hear Neil's sick, he's more than happy to take over the underboss' duties.

After all, an underboss is only one step away from being a Don.

And if Paul gets sent away, people figure that John's a shoe-in to replace him.

In the small field of potential leaders, John's reputation outshines most of his competitors.

And he's generally respected for his lifelong commitment to the family.

As Paul's position gets more and more precarious, people start treating John like a big shot.

And he plays the part well, happily flaunting his wealth and power.

That's nothing new, though.

When one of his daughters gets married, John hosts a lavish reception with over a thousand guests.

Throughout the night, each and every one of the revelers visits his table to pay their respects, while pop singer Connie Francis croons on stage.

Sometime later, John attends the wedding of another mafioso's son.

Afterward, he brags about how many people pulled him aside to puff him up.

When one of his men estimates John had 75 admirers hanging around him, desperate to impress, John laughs and calls that a low ball.

Yet, while he's being lauded as a soon-to-be king, he's still the same vorish tough guy he's always been.

In the summer of 1984, John is doing bookmaking business at one of his crew's outposts when he hears a car horn blaring outside.

The noise continues for several minutes, which annoys the hell out of John.

He lumbers outside to find a mechanic honking repeatedly at a car that's double parked, which is blocking the mechanic from continuing down the road.

John doesn't care.

He walks right up to the car and punches the man square in the face right through the open window.

The mechanic actually ends up calling the cops, and John gets arrested for the first time in a decade.

It's a relatively minor charge and he's quickly released on bail, which only seems to encourage his hotheaded behavior.

Around this time, he also makes the daily news in an article about a US attorney's perspective case against the Mafia.

The piece erroneously names John as acting boss of the Gambino family since Paul's arrest.

John loves it and considers the article prophetic.

He brags to his boys that everyone's on his side, even the press.

He's got a thousand guys who love him in the streets and he can't be touched.

Even if Paul dislikes him, the rest of the family has John's back.

He's feeling himself and every setback for Paul Castellanos seems to raise John's stock higher.

A fact that isn't lost on the big boss.

Even facing such a major case, Paul hasn't given up yet.

Out on bail, he orders a major remodel of the White House to find the bugs planted in his home.

He doesn't want the feds overhearing any more of his conversations.

But it's a little late for that.

He knows that his odds of beating the charges are tenuous at best.

But he's in his seventies and not feeling all that healthy.

So, he starts to think about who could take over the Gambino family after him.

Though their relationship is fractious, his first choice would probably be Neil de la Croix.

But with Neil battling cancer, he's out of the question.

Paul can't stomach John Gotti, but he can't ignore him either.

He's too popular and influential in the family.

Eventually, Paul decides to compromise.

He pitches a three-way split of his power if he's sent to prison, divided between John and two other high-ranking members of the family.

To Paul's face, John signs off on the arrangement, but in private, he tells his friend that the plans bunk.

One of the other two men is Thomas Bellotti, Paul's favorite capo and right-hand man.

John thinks Tommy's a scumbag and an idiot.

He's got no intention of ever working with him, nor does he want to put up with any structure where more than one boss has to vie for power.

That's a recipe for disaster.

Instead, John comes up with a plan of his own.

If Paul won't give him the respect he deserves and the position he feels he's earned, then 44-year-old John will grab it for himself.

Since he's taken over Neil's duties, he has more influence than ever.

As an underboss, John oversees multiple crews, not just his own.

So he hears a lot of gossip from across the family.

Everything he hears confirms his suspicions.

Paul is at a low point.

He's never been a well-liked boss, and now that he's under indictment, plenty of Gambino's are eager for a shakeup at the top.

John knows that now is the time to work the connections he's built over a lifetime in the family.

He has allies, he's owed favors, and he's gonna call in his chits.

He's going to kill Paul Castellano and seize power.

He just might have to manipulate a few of his guys to get them on board.

First John sends Angelo to talk to Sammy the Bull Gravano.

Like Angelo, Sammy's facing drug charges, so he's not on Paul's good side.

Up to this point, Neil Delacroche has been stopping Paul from taking them out.

John tells Angelo, who tells Sammy, that the boss is gonna have them killed once Neil passes away from cancer.

In reality, John doesn't think Paul has the guts to rub the guys out, but he needs Sammy to believe his life is in danger to bring him on board.

And the ploy definitely gets Sammy considering the idea, but he won't sign on to the coup right away.

Still, it's a start.

Next, Angelo speaks to a couple of other confidants who have reason to dislike Paul.

Frank DiCicco and Robert DB.

DiBernardo.

DB actually works directly under Paul and apparently has a bone to pick with the boss because he's particularly enthusiastic about the hit.

Having someone close to Paul in their corner makes the others more confident in the plan.

And soon enough, Sammy Bull says he's in too.

That makes five.

John Gotti, Sammy Bull, Frank, DB and Angelo Ruggiero.

The men call themselves the fist.

And in clandestine meetings, they greet each other with clenched hands.

The pageantry may be a little juvenile, but they mean serious business.

John is gunning for the top spot in the Gambino family, and they're all risking their necks to back him up.

Things are about to get very violent in New York City.

From Airship, this is Episode 2 in our series on John Gotti.

On the next episode, John makes the ultimate power grab, gathering his troops to lead a coup against Paul Castellano.

If you'd like to learn more about John Gotti, we recommend Mob Star, The Story of John Gotti, by Jean Mustaine and Jerry Cappecci, Gotti's Boys, The Mafia Crew That Killed for John Gotti, by Anthony M.

Dostofno, as well as Reporting in the New York Times.

This episode contains reenactments and dramatized details.

And while in most cases, we can't know exactly what was said, all of our dramatizations are based on historical research.

American Criminal is hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Jeremy Schwartz.

Audio editing by Mohammed Shazi.

Sound design by Matthew Filler.

Music by Thrum.

This episode is written and researched by Tara Wells.

Managing producer, Emily Burke.

Executive producers are Joel Callen, William Simpson and Lindsey Graham.