"Riveting...an electrifying true crime story of the Mafia-smitten
eighties and nineties. Suspenseful and multifaceted, The Gotti Wars
can't be missed." --Esquire, The Best Nonfiction Books of the Year
A "meticulous chronicle of good triumphing over evil" (The Washington
Post) from the determined young prosecutor who, in two of America's
most celebrated trials, managed to convict famed mob boss John
Gotti--and ultimately took down the Mafia altogether.
John Gotti was without a doubt the flashiest and most feared Mafioso in
American history. He became the boss of the Gambino Crime Family in
spectacular fashion--with the brazen and very public murder of Paul
Castellano in front of Sparks Steakhouse in midtown Manhattan in 1985.
Not one to stay below law enforcement's radar, Gotti instead became the
first celebrity crime boss. His penchant for eye-catching apparel earned
him the nickname "The Dapper Don;" his ability to beat criminal charges
led to another: "The Teflon Don."
This is the captivating story of Gotti's meteoric rise to power and his
equally dramatic downfall. Every step of the way, Gotti's legal
adversary--John Gleeson, an Assistant US Attorney in Brooklyn--was
watching. When Gotti finally faced two federal racketeering
prosecutions, Gleeson prosecuted both. As the junior lawyer in the first
case--a bitter seven-month battle that ended in Gotti's
acquittal--Gleeson found himself in Gotti's crosshairs, falsely accused
of serious crimes by a defense witness Gotti intimidated into committing
perjury.
Five years later, Gleeson was in charge of the second racketeering
investigation and trial. Armed with the FBI's secret recordings of
Gotti's conversations with his underboss and consigliere in the
apartment above Gotti's Little Italy hangout, Gleeson indicted all
three. He "flipped" underboss Sammy the Bull Gravano, killer of nineteen
men, who became history's highest-ranking mob turncoat--resulting in
Gotti's murder conviction. Gleeson ended not just Gotti's reign, but
eventually that of the entire mob.
A spellbinding, page-turning courtroom drama, The Gotti Wars "tells us
in electrifying detail how the good guys finally won, how justice
triumphed over evil, and how Gleeson himself was transformed by his long
war" (Nelson DeMille).
