John Gotti was a brash, personable yet cocky character, both in the streets and in prison. He was also alleged – by Sammy Gravano, at least – to be very racist; making various disparaging and denigrating comments about black people, even in Prison environments. Given my preamble, that is not particularly smart.
Although known as the Teflon Don, Gotti had gone to jail twice prior to his rise to Caporegime and ultimately Boss – three years for a hijacking, four for attempted manslaughter – and, to be fair, there is little evidence that other inmates despised him or treated him poorly. To all intents and purposes, he just did his time.
The reputation of being treated poorly emerged during his final stint in Prison, following his 1992 conviction for Racketeering.
When Gotti arrived in Prison – even leading up to the trial – he expected to be treated as the Gambino crime boss, with other inmates offering deference and respect. In any major prison, there will be a few made men and a decent handful of associates, but they are still a minority.
No Blood or Crip member, no Mexican Mafia leader, or Aryan Brotherhood shot caller is going to ‘bow down’ to you because of your Mafia title.
In Prison, Gotti and other Mafia leaders simply did not have the muscle to back up their position. All they had was their money.
The fact Gotti did not carry himself as other prisoners expected him too – arrogant, mouthy etc – meant a lot of resentment and ill treatment came his way.
This came to a head in 1996 when Gotti made a racial slur in front of fellow black inmate Walter Johnson. Johnson turned around and viciously beat up Gotti; leaving him bloody and bruised. With no significant muscle of his own, Gotti could not even respond to this attack.
Instead, he paid an undisclosed amount of money (so many different figures get quoted as to be unreliable) to the Aryan Brotherhood (AB) to have himself protected going forward, and to murder Johnson.
When prison authorities caught wind of this, they quickly whisked Johnson away to another prison before the ABs could carry out their mission.
– Andy Rumbles
