According to the feds Peter Gotti has been the official boss of the Gambino crime family since back in 2002.
He took control of the Cosa Nostra family from his infamous brother John Gotti who was dying in prison. His time on the streets as the official boss of the family was short lived as he was indicted that same year and later convicted of federal racketeering charges that included a plot to kill mafia turncoat Sammy Gravano and was sentenced to 25 years behind bars. While Peter may still hold the official ranking within the family its seemingly in name only having no real influence over the families current day to day operations. But now it seems the 79-year-old former sanitation worker turned mobster has decided to turn his back on the mafia in hopes of being granted an early release from prison. He isn’t scheduled to be released until May of 2032 but it seems like the 17 years he has been behind bars to date have taken a heavy toll on him.
“Peter Gotti”
Gotti’s attorney James Craven has filed a motion in Manhattan Federal Court requesting a compassionate release from prison under the First Step Act of 2018 according to a Ganglandnews report. He has reportedly renounced the criminal lifestyle which put him behind bars and would like to help others not make the same mistakes he made according to court documents. Craven said, “No longer does Gotti try to justify his actions or defend the choices he made that brought him to prison.” While there is no direct mention of the Mafia or the Gambino’s in the documents it seems clear as to what he is referring to.
Craven went on to say that Gotti “wants now to tell anyone who will listen that there is truly zero benefits to unlawful activity. He has hurt other people, including family members, and he wants to spend the balance of his life making amends as best he can.” They maintain that Gotti is in very poor health and in the motion included 22 different medical ailments he is allegedly suffering from. Craven wrote that “His vital organs have been compromised by disease, and the continual use of high-risk medications to treat the various illnesses has dramatically diminished any chance that he may have had to recover.”
This course of action is in contrast to the way his brother John and recently released brother Gene Gotti dealt with their lengthy prison terms. Gene even refused to ask for an early release to a halfway house at the end of his decade’s long prison sentence. It also seems unlikely that it will be looked upon favorably by the current Gambino family leadership. The families Sicilian faction is now in control and veteran leaders Lorenzo Mannino and Domenico Cefalu certainly won’t be in agreement with the denouncing of the mob. With Peter choosing to break that long-held mafia code it could lead to him being stripped of whatever standing he still maintains in the New York Mafia family even though he isn’t actually ratting on anyone.
Many including those inside his own organized crime family believed that Peter Gotti never should have been made boss to begin with as he lacked the leadership skills and charisma needed for the position. His rise through the ranks of the NY Mafia family was greatly aided by the fact that John had taken control. The beginning of the end of the Gotti era left Peter in a kind of the last man standing situation as they tried to maintain control thrusting him into the top spot. If his health is currently as bad as the court documents indicate it seems unlikely that he would be in shape to return to his life of crime.
The Gotti name is certainly a hurdle that will be hard to overcome in addition to his criminal record could make getting an early release a real long shot.
