Full or original name at birth: John Joseph Gotti, Jr.

Date and place of birth: October 27, 1940, South Bronx, New York City, New York, U.S.A.

Date, time, place and cause of death: June 10, 2002, at 12:45 p.m., U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, Springfield, Missouri, U.S.A. (Throat cancer)

Marriage
Wife: Victoria DiGiorgio (m. March 6, 1962 - June 10, 2002) (his death)

Children
Sons: John A. Gotti, Peter Gotti and Frank Gotti (b. October 18, 1967 - d. March 18, 1980)
Daughters: Angela "Angel" Gotti (b. April 1961) and Victoria Gotti

Parents
Father: John Joseph Gotti, Sr. (a construction worker/sanitation worker)
Mother: Fannie Gotti

Burial site: St. John's Cemetery, Queens, New York, U.S.A.

Gotti began his criminal career as a gang member in a New York street gang. Petty crimes quickly escalated to more serious offenses. Arrested numerous times throughout the 1960s, he was jailed several times, but never spent more than a few months at a time behind bars. Not until 1968, when he was sentenced to three years in prison for his part in multiple cargo thefts and truck hijackings, did he spend any serious time in jail. Gotti worked his way up through the Gambino crime organization during the 1970s and early '80s.

In 1980, at age 12, Gotti's son Frank was run over by neighbor John Favara while the boy was riding his minibike. Though his death was ruled accidental by police, the neighbor was abducted weeks later and never seen again. Before Favara vanished, he'd received death threats. Witnesses reported seeing Favara being clubbed over the head, then shoved into a vehicle that sped away. He is presumed by police to have been murdered. Gotti denied any knowledge or involvement in Mr. Favara's abduction and disappearance. The organized-crime gangster and his wife were in Florida at the time of the abduction. John Favara's body was never found and no charges were ever brought in the case.

In 1985, he organized the killing of Gambino crime family boss "Big Paulie" Castellano and promptly took control of the most powerful crime syndicate in New York. Gotti died in prison while serving a life sentence for racketeering, multiple murders, conspiracy, loan-sharking, extortion, obstruction of justice and tax evasion. He died at the same prison hospital where fellow Mafia boss and his archrival, Vincent "Chin" Gigante later died.

In 1999, his son, John A. "Junior" Gotti, acknowledged he carried on the family tradition of criminal activity when he pled guilty to racketeering, bribing a union official, extortion and other assorted charges, in exchange for a prison term of no more than seven years. The alleged successor of his father as head of one of the most feared New York mafia families, Junior was facing a potential sentence of up to 15 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines for his mob activities. In contrast to his flashy father who always had a quip ready for the press and basked in all the public attention lavished on him, Junior would rush past cameras and reporters saying little or nothing and sometimes appear in court in sneakers and jeans.

Whereas most mobsters go to great lengths to keep a low profile, Gotti actually courted the press and carefully cultivated his image as a celebrity gangster. To that end, he was successful, and became one of the best-known American gangster's since Al Capone.