Gotti: Godfather and Son

As the 1975 TV Baretta series theme song goes, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time", well John Gotti seemed to have no problem doing his convicted time in prison on more than one occasion. What this (4) four hour documentary provides is a high level factual account of the early days and the eventual rise (and fall) to the head of the New York city Gambino crime family by a young, good looking, charismatic, tough as nails John Gotti.

As narrated by John Gotti Jr. he tells us the audience about his own life growing up as one of (5) five children of the head of the Gambino crime family, the boss of bosses, John Gotti. We get to witness the "in prison video recording" between father and son the disagreement between their view of a life of crime. John Gotti who was at the time dying of irreversible throat cancer while serving a life sentence in prison would not admit to his son that he was wrong in even a remote way, and he pleaded with his son John Gotti Jr. to not admit to any wrongdoing, as John Gotti Jr. continued to plead with his father to allow him to take a plea of guilty and get out of prison earlier to watch his own children grow up.

Some of the personal Gotti family pictures seemed to display a functional and prosperous New York Italian family but nothing was farther from the truth. I would have appreciated if the producers would have attempted to show a real life balance between the father and family man John Gotti (which they did) and at some point also show a chronological history of all the criminal charges John Gotti as well as John Gotti Jr. were accused of committing, then summarizing with the crimes that father and son were eventually found guilty of and served time in prison for.

The documentary touches on how John Gotti and his wife Victoria DiGiorgio tragically lost one of their sons, 12-year-old Frank Gotti, the youngest son of John Gotti, as he darted into the street on a motorized minibike from behind a dumpster where he was struck by their neighbor John Favara's car and accidentally killed. A few months later the Gotti's neighbor John Favara was witnessed being pulled from inside a restaurant by three men and he was never to be seen again. No witnesses ever came forward.

I dropped my rating from a perfect 10 to a lower 8 out of 10 rating as it is a bias account of New York crime mob boss John Gotti and his two sons describing their relationship with their father, but there is an evil side to father and son that was not reflected in this documentary which is really who John Gotti (father and mob boss) and John Gotti Jr, (son and convicted criminal) really were.

This is a very interesting series. Gotti was beloved by many people and did what appeared to be a lot of good for his community. Whether a front for his other life or in general how he lived is yet to be known many may have opinions either way. My take from this series is that Gotti had a way he viewed society should be led and that government had no business in his business and as a result made him an outlaw for living how he wanted. While living rather modestly despite his riches he never over exemplified his lifestyle with his family but he did glorify the mob boss lifestyle and the fact for many he was untouchable until his fateful mistake and trust in what would be the Judas betrayal. Had Gotti lived by his decree to absolute he may have had many more years outside of prison and many more body bags would've been filled. He was not the man to go head to head with and being the boss was his ultimate travesty. His son so desperately wanting to fill his fathers shoes had quickly been frightened away from the lifestyle once his toes were wet. The reality of cement shoes and deep lake waters many of Gotti's fellow men had simply disappeared. John Jr. tells his story growing up the son, the Jr., the eventual temporary boss himself realizing his time must end he headed clean to a new life where his family was more important than the power and money he could obtain living the lifestyle of America's most ruthless mob family. A must see if you want to learn some history and find this sort of thing fascinating.

Gotti: Godfather and Son is an excellent series. In 4 episodes of about 45 mins each one gets to follow the story of New York Mafia boss John Gotti and his son John jr, told by the Gotti family. The insights to mafia life in New York around year 1990 are unique, informative and entertaining.

While enjoying this series one should however not for a second forget that these are all bad guys painting a picture of themselves that is as glorious and positive as can be done. They caused tragedy, suffering and harm to thousands of people, and this is real life, not some story based on a fairy tale.

I agree with the other positive reviews here after I just finished watching this short series. We get a behind the scenes look at the father, the son, the blood and crime families, and how the son came to the realization he needed to support the family that was the most important to him. He needed to drop the other family in the process, and it was much like the famous line in Godfather 3, "Every time I think I'm free of the life...They keep pulling me back in." Only in this case the "They" was the federal prosecutor's who gkeot trying to gin up charges to keep him locked up for life or executed. All because they couldn't believe he left the life and was not the head of the Gambino family.

This is one of the best documents about the real life inside and out of a mob. It's very interesting indeed. John Gotti Jr. does a really good job explaining all the history as the story moves on...He works very well in front of the camera.

Though many may consider the story of John Gotti one sided I believe it is a loving portrayal of a man's love for his Father. And it is very easy to understand the sympathy many had for Gotti The Godfather, to such an extend that so many of the "man in the street", "so to speak" demanded Gotti's release. Yes Gotti was responsible for a variety of crimes, but his charm and charisma, his over the top personality and his exceptional handsome looks added to his vibrant persona that he presented to almost everyone who knew Gotti the Godfather. A fascinating story yet also extremely sad that a man like Gotti chose the life he lived. With his exception charm and intelligence he could have succeeded in an honest career. The series evokes a lot of contrasting emotions. DEFINITELY WORTH WATCHING A SECOND TIME