Original subtitles

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.