Booknote: Gotti's Rules (audiobook edition)

George Anastasia, Joe Barrett (narrator), Gotti's Rules: the Story of John Alite, Junior Gotti, and the Demise of the American Mafia. Ashland, OR: Harper Audio, 2015.  ISBN: 9781481532662.

 

Genre: nonfiction, biography

Subgenre: True crime, U.S. Mafia, mobsters

Format: audiobook

Source: I found this one on YouTube

 

First, here is the book's description: 

 

"In Gotti's Rules, George Anastasia, a prize-winning reporter who spent over thirty years covering crime, offers a shocking and very rare glimpse into the Gotti family, witnessed up-close from former family insider John Alite, John Gotti Jr.'s longtime friend and protector. Until now, no one has given up the kind of personal details about the Gottis-including the legendary 'Gotti Rules' of leadership-that Anastasia exposes here."

 

That description sounds a lot more interesting than what we get with this book. John Alite is another former mobster that decided to save himself and collaborate with the authorities. Like other mafiosi, he thought of himself as a good mafioso. Like others who have followed that path, he mostly got off relatively easy. The book also looks at Gotti's son, John Gotti, Jr. who according to law enforcement memos was also a collaborator, though Junior denies that.  The author notes that no one in the Gotti camp was interviewed for the book. They would deny everything anyhow. Alite on the other hand denies very little according to the author. Overall, the book looks at the Gotti family and the demise of the American Mafia, thanks in large part to John Gotti.

 

Book seeks to deconstruct the myth of the Gotti family. Book came out before Gotti' Jr.'s book, Shadow of my father, which was also made into a movie; this book was the basis of the 2018 movie Gotti with John Travolta portraying John Gotti. I did watch and briefly reviewed that film a while back. The family honor, something that mafiosi constantly harp about, was lost in favor of selfishness and nepotism when it came to Gotti's family. We are talking the family where members eventually did a reality show: Growing Up Gotti. By the way that show last three seasons. Anyhow, in the book the author describes the family as a soap opera long before the reality show. 

Throughout the text, there are leadership rules from Gotti. We are not talking deep rules here. More things like do not wear sunglasses in presence of the boss. Here are couple of other rules: 

• Gotti Rule: Wives and girlfriends to remain low key, not call attention to themselves. 
• Gotti Rule: Whenever possible, use demeaning nicknames to subordinates. This establishes who is dominant and who is subservient. 

I think at times the rules could have been emphasized a bit more, and the stories presented in the book to illustrate the rules better organized, making a sort of pseudo-leadership book. The rules throughout the book seem to appear randomly.So don't come expecting one of those lessons in leadership books. 

The book is very John Gotti centered, which granted he is a key figure but I had impression this would be a bit about the men around and close to him as they look at him. Thus a lot of the stories we hear may be repeats from other better accounts. It gets to the story of the son a bit over halfway through the book. On a humorous note, apparently John Gotti needed help getting dressed to be the Dapper Don, i.e. had help picking out clothes, etc. His taste was not as impeccable as he wanted people to believe. Overall, the author argues that the Gottis were the bottom of the gene pool as the Mafia was in decline even before they came along due to things like the RICO Act.

As for the audiobook experience, I was not much of a fan of that ominous semi-creepy music they used at the beginning. The narrators' voice is a bit scratchy as you listen to it. Guy sounds a bit tired as he reads. In addition, the narrator can go a bit fast at times, some of the events blur into each other a bit if you do not pay close attention as you listen. 

The book lists all the rules at the end of the book. 11 rules. 

Overall, I would say this was OK. If you enjoy reading books about the Mafia, and specifically about John Gotti and his times, this is definitely optional reading. I'd say there are better books out there on the topic.

2 out of 5 stars.  

Book qualifies for these 2020 Reading Challenges: