Peter Gotti, former boss of the Gambino crime family in New York from 1999 to 2002 has died in prison, after spending 17 years for racketeering and other charges.
He was sentenced to 25 years in jail after being convicted in 2003.
According to the Associated Press, he died of natural causes at the Federal Medical Center in Butner.
Peter Gotti served as the acting boss of the Gambinos from 1999 to 2002 after his younger brother, John, was sent to prison for murder and racketeering.
John Gotti was the main boss of the Gambinos until Peter took over as acting boss when John was imprisoned
John died of cancer in 2002 at age 61.
Peter Gotti spent an estimated $70,000 on failed attempts to hunt down Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano after Gravano gave out information about his brother John to the feds, court papers say.
Gravano helped authorities bring John Gotti down in exchange for a 1991 plea deal so after Peter tried hunting him down he was arrested and sent to jail.
Gotti, from New York, had recently asked for an early release from prison because of his poor health.
He had been suffering from thyroid problems and was blind in one eye, Lewis Kasman, a former mobster and John Gotti confidant, told the AP.
“We are truly afraid he is dying now, he feels he is,” attorney James Craven wrote in court papers in December 2019.
“As his lawyer, I am afraid this will all become moot soon if nothing is done.”
Craven remarked that even “Stevie Wonder could see” the former crime boss was not dangerous.
According to Kasman, Gotti, a former sanitation worker, was a “regular knockaround guy who didn’t let his title go to his head but his kindness made him ill-suited to lead the Gambino crime family"
“He was trying to do his brother’s bidding, and he had a tough task,” Kasman said.
“A lot of the captains were very upset with him because he wasn’t a strong boss. The Lucchese family walked all over him.”
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