John Joseph Gotti, Jr. was the boss of the Gambino crime family after the murder of the previous boss Paul Castellano. John Gotti was the most powerful crime boss during his era. After Carl Gambino's death in 1976, Paul Castellano, Gambino's brother-in-law, was elevated to the head of the crime family. Castellano was not respected by his underlings. When Gotti's crew was discovered to be selling heroin, against the rules of the family, Gotti and others, fearing reprisals, ordered the execution in late 1985 of Paul Castellano. Gotti then took control of the family. Gotti was arrested several times throughout his career, serving time in both state and federal prison (including a manslaughter conviction in connection with the 1973 shooting death of low-level Irish-American gangster James McBratney, who had kidnapped and killed Emmanuel Gambino, Carlo Gambino's nephew). By the 1980s, he was referred by the news media as the "Teflon Don", as he avoided conviction on racketeering and assault charges. March 18, 1980, Gotti's youngest son, 12-year-old Frank Gotti, was run over and killed on a family friend's mini-bike by John Favara, a neighbor. Favara dragged the boy's body about 200 feet, and was forced to stop by witnesses. He got out of his car screaming, blaming the kid for being in the street. When someone told him it was Gotti's son he quieted down. Police found Favara not to blame for the accident, and no charges were ever filed against him. In the months after the accident, the word "Murderer" was spray-painted onto Favara's car and he was advised to move. On July 28, 1980, Favara disappeared after leaving work and has never been found. The Gotti family were in Florida at the time of his disappearance. In January 2009, prosecutors claimed Charles Carneglia, an alleged mob soldier awaiting trial on five murders, dissolved Favara's remains in a drum of acid after murdering him. In 1992, Gotti was convicted of racketeering, 13 murders, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to commit murder, illegal gambling, extortion, tax evasion, and loansharking, and was sentenced to life in prison. John Gotti died of throat cancer at 12:45 p.m. on June 10, 2002 at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, where he had been transferred once the cancer was diagnosed. Gotti had the lower half of his jaw removed because of the cancer and was fed through a tube. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn announced that Gotti's family would not be permitted to have a Mass of Christian Burial but allowed it after the burial. [READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE]
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