Gotti and Me
A Crime Reporter's
Close Encounters
With the New York Mafia
David J. Krajicek
Also by David J. Krajicek
True Crime: Missouri
The State’s Most Notorious Criminal Cases
Death by Rock ‘n’ Roll
Sex, Drugs and Violence Among America’s Idols
Murder, American Style
50 Unforgettable True Stories About Love Gone Wrong
Scooped!
Media Miss Real Story on Crime
While Chasing Sex, Sleaze, and Celebrities
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Copyright © 2011 by News Ink
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Cover photograph by James Steidl, jgroupstudios.com
ISBN 978-0-9849-0369-6
News Ink Inc.
What Omerta? The Mob’s Flapping Lips
Heads Will Roll: Gotti Family Values
‘Frankie Shots’ Starts a Mob War
The Mob Canary Who Couldn’t Fly
Doomed by Killing the Wrong Man
Introduction
What Omerta? The Mob’s Flapping Lips
The mugs of the American Mafia once had the quaint custom of keeping their mouths shut. They swore to secrecy, a fraternal code known as omerta in Italian. I think that translates to, You talk, you die.
Mobsters took pride in being tight-lipped, even when subjected to persuasive third-degree interrogation techniques involving brass knuckles, billy clubs, and gun butts.
"If you hung him up by the thumbs for eight weeks," a Bronx prosecutor once said of a famously taciturn mob hit man, "he might tell you his first name."
Over the past twenty-five years, it began to occur to modern mobsters--and their wives, kids, cousins, in-laws, therapists, and landscapers--that talking has its advantages. It can get you out of prison and into witness protection, for example. And it can get you a book deal or a reality television show.
So today, the Genus Mafioso won’t shut up.
They talk to the FBI. They talk to agents, editors, and ghost-writers. They talk to Oprah, Dr. Phil, politicians, and the Pope. They talk to screenwriters, TV producers, and script-doctors who can tweak their movie treatments. They talk on the radio, on television, and on YouTube.
They can’t wait to tell you everything about themselves and their crimes. They have Facebook pages, websites, and product endorsement deals. Infomercials will be next.
Not so long ago, mobsters considered wagging tongues and flapping lips a professional liability. The common-sense idea was that they were better off if the FBI, the press, and other busybodies didn’t know exactly what they were doing. It was a big deal when mobsters yapped.