Dark cars, great suits, brilliantine, guns, and a "voice like this." The death of John Gotti this week brought us all a flash back in time, and not too far back, time when the mob was news, when smiling dons in overcoats stood on the courthouse steps and waved their innocence like a freshly-minted dollar bill. The violence and the crime seemed almost secondary to the glamour and glitz of families like the Genovese, Gambino, and Luchese. In curious ways their arrogance, their confidence in the face of authority, was as attractive as it was repulsive. As Gotti is buried, much of the myth of the mob goes with him. The mafia as it was, is no more, replaced by a polyphony of minor players fighting for turf. Some original gansta rap.
Jerry Capeci, director of communications, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and author of The Complete Idiots Guide to the Mafia and Mob Star: The Story of John Gotti
Lewis Schiliro, former assistant director in charge of NY FBI office.
