Gotti: Godfather and Son

Really careful brilliant work whatever you think of the truth of the argument being advanced by the production; first half better than the second because there is more supporting publications evidence on john sr than jr; but this was everything a project should be and particularly remarkable because they had hardly any money to work with and it was still brilliant

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.

Amazon/Freevee cut out 2 episodes of the 4 Godfather and Son documentary. I was wondering why so many years passed between "part 1" & "part 2". I had to watch the full version on YouTube. A 0 rating for Amazon/Freevee.

I wish A&E would go back to what they do best instead of broadcasting dumb reality TV shows. This Biography documentary is outstanding. Personal accounts from the families, lawyers, and government officials involved help to tell the Gotti's story. Writers and journalists explain the background history and culture of the mafia. Home photos, videos, and even interior images of the Gotti house are included for reference. A&E should make similar documentaries on the other 4 families.

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.

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.