MovieChat Forums > Gotti (1996) Discussion > HUGE MISTAKE!!!!

HUGE MISTAKE!!!!

posted 20 years ago by Lez999
25 replies | jump to latest

I don't know if anyone else noticed some huge mistakes in the film but being an avid reader of organized crime I certainly did!! Off hand I can think of one.
At the beginning of the film John G goes to meet Carlo Gambino at some appartment. Opening and greating him at the door was Sammy Gravano. Now considering the fact that Sammy only met CG once in the street and it was only a 'Hello, goodbye' this was already false. But MUCH more than that, SAMMY WAS ONLY "MADE" WHEN PAUL C. WAS BOSS WAY AFTER GAMBINO DIED!!!!!!! There was no way in the WORLD that Sammy would be anywhere near Gambino!!! Infact when that meeting supposedly took place, if I am not mistken, Sammy was still a part of the Columbo family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Either way that was a huge mistake for a film to make!

[–] arthurclay 20 years ago

I happened to be checking this board when I saw your posting. Yeah you're right I knew all about that one and several other flaws which I won't bore you with unless you truly want me to and I will if you do. For some reason this didn't spoil my views towards this picture maybe b/c I love the subject material so damn much I dunno. I think that Jerry Capeci (writer of Gotti:The Rise and Fall) in typical news reporter fashion took some liberties with the "true" story of John Gotti and the writer for this screenplay took some more liberties adapting it for HBO. I say this with no disrespect towards Jerry Capeci I think he tells a wonderful if not COMPLETELY accurate account of the Gambino Family just read Murder Machine. Like I always say I am glad that people bring up errors in books, film, or tv so people aren't fooled simply because that was what they were told. It's a good thing and people should appreciate it.

A.C.

[–] Lez999 20 years ago

Thanx! I would love to hear about the other errors although I must warn you that my knowledge of Organized Crime(Which is pretty vast, if I may say so myself) is mainly the gangsters of NY during the 20-60's. I especially love the Jewish mob, my favorite criminal legend being Meyer Lansky. However, I have read Sammy Gravano's book and would love to hear what you have to say whether it be about the inaccuracies in the movie/book or just general chit-chat about organized crime.

[–] arthurclay 20 years ago

Ok you asked for it! (Just kidding) Here's some other inaccuracies in Gotti that I picked up on that nobody has mentioned yet:

1. Gotti NEVER would have slapped Fat Angie Ruggiero like he did in the Bergen social club or anywhere else for that matter. It was death to strike a fellow LCN member and Angie was a made man. John knew that and wouldn't have done it in real life. He would have reamed his ass out though and that he certainly did.

2. Johnny boy NEVER would have walked out on any meeting Castellano held, talked back to him or acted subversive to his face. The truth is John was scared sh!tless of Paul and was afraid he was gonna be killed every time Paul sent for him.

3. Castellano was getting out of the back seat of his Lincoln onto the curb when he was shot not the front passenger side.

4. Castellano and Bilotti were both killed with 9mm Luger handguns not a 9mm Beretta, two .38 S&W snubnose revolvers, and a .45 cal Colt revolver. There were five hitmen not four and Paul and Tommy were each hit five times. Castellano was given a coup de grace to the side of the head. There were no witnesses to the actual shooting of Castellano besides Gotti, his men and Gravano.

5. Sammy was not underboss after Paul was killed. Frankie DeCicco was made underboss after the Castellano hit and Sammy was made consigliere. When DeCicco was blown up then Sammy was made UB.

6. DeCicco was not killed by a bomb wired to the ignition of his car. He was killed by a remote controlled bomb disguised as trash in a brown paper bag under his car. Frankie and his man joked that it was a bomb before they were killed. It was put there by Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso and two "zips" hired to kill John Gotti by Vincent "The Chin" Gigante of the Genovese family who loved to get other mobsters and professional hitmen to do his dirty work. He used the bomb to deflect suspicion from himself (car bombings were not allowed in LCN) and hired the Silician hitmen so he could say he didn't order it.

7. John NEVER would have told Dellacroce that he was thinking of killing Paul. Neil was loyal to Paul and would have killed John for just saying it. Listen to his rebuking of John when he talked subversive on the Bergin social club tapes if there is any doubt.

8. Gravano did not want to kill DB at all. He tried several times to talk Gotti out of it but Gotti wouldn't hear it. Ruggiero told John DB was talking about John behind his back and DB wasn't. DB had no crew and wasn't a threat. Ruggiero was lying just to have DB killed.
DB was killed by Joe Peruta with a silenced .32 semi-auto not a Beretta and so was Nick Shebetta not by Sammy with a .45 auto.

Whew! That's everything I can think of right off the top of my head. I wanna say I really don't care whether Gotti was 100% true or not I still love it. I would also love to chit-chat with you about OC. I admit I probably don't know as much about the Jewish Mob as you but I'd like to discuss it or if you have any questions about LCN I will answer them if at all possible. And I'm not a cop either in case you were wondering. Feel free to send me a private message anytime.

A.C.

[–] alizohdi85 20 years ago

I saw a few days ago on my friends computer a picture of Frank Sinatra with Gambino Family.
So if you can give me any info about this relationship, I would really appreciate it.

[–] Lez999 20 years ago

Ok, Firstly to alizohdi85. About FS with the Gambino's specifically I can't shed much light. However, what i can say in general is that Sinatra was very well connected to the mob. They put him at the top. If you have ever seen the Godfather then the story at the begining about Johnny Fontane (Who is actually based on FS) is an abstracted version of a real event. FS godfather was a guy named Willie Moretti (Not sure about the spelling). WM was originally a top aide to Abner "Longy" Zwillman of New Jersey. Zwillman was an extremely powerful Jewish mobster in NJ and the whole country right up until his murder. He ran one of the most powerful families (or organazations seeing as the family thing was Italian) and was second only to Meyer Lansky. Anyway back to Moretti, after Zwillman was killed (supposedly by Vito Genovese) Moretti took over the organization. All this is irrelevant to your question but I thought you might like some background. Anyway Sinatra was performing in clubs in NY and signed a contract with a band leader for $125 a week, a rather pricely sum for a poor Frank. As his fame grew Sinatra wanting to be released from his contract found himself deadlocked and forced to continue his contract unwillingly. When Frank's old Godfather heard about this the mobster paid the band leader a visit. Pointing a loaded pistol in the poor guy's mouth, he suggested that maybe he sell the contract. The band leader readily agreed. I think the price agreed upon was one dollar.

The point is that FS was well connected. He would be introduced as "A friend of mine". While not being a "made" man he rubbed noses with the top guys in town. I am sure you can find out more by looking on a search engine.

Now Countmc2002, I was a nice film but my favorite gangster film of ALL time, is actually the first one I ever saw. Mobsters. Def not on the level of the Godfathers but I loved it. Mainly b\c as I said Meyer Lansky is my favorite. Mobsters brings to life ML Charlie Luciano Bugsy and Frank Costello. Not a historically accurate film but not too far off either. Those four guys are def my favorites. It tells the story of Charlie's wipeout of the old Mustache Petes. You should see it.

I know a bit about the LCN too; I have read Joe Bananno's bio which personaly I hated. I think he came off and probably was a real nasty man. Not that the others were nice but at least they didn't try and hide it. He makes out as if he was a good moral businessman whose was just continuing his old traditions. Common!! He implies that he was persecuted by the big bad wolf, America, trying to extingush the old flame of european customs. Gimmie a break. He also credits himself for what he called a Pax Bonanno - A peace treaty between Genovese and Anastasia I think but I might be wrong - now ingnoring the fact that there were huge factual errors with it he gives himself so much credit for something he probably had nothing to do with. Even if it was him he praises himself so much for it.

He claims that his didn't deal in drugs yet his family where the biggest drug family in the country.

His says his cousin Stefano Maggadino went crazy and wanted his death, convienently forgetting to mention that he had planned Maggadino's murder in the first place! I just thought he came across as a stuck up pompous piece of sh!t. Sorry about the appalling grammer and Spelling mistakes I haven't slept in a few days. Anyway write back and tell me what you think.

[–] alizohdi85 20 years ago

Thank you very much for these informations, we can also talk about the crime movies sometime, it will be a gr8 pleasure.
Thanx again!

[–] arthurclay 20 years ago

I have seen Mobsters many times and I own it. You're right its a good little film about the rise of the Young Turk new world gangsters like Lansky and Luciano. It takes some liberties true but not that many and certainly no more than any other Mafia movie. I absolutely recommend that one too.

In response to your second comment about Joe Bonnano here's what I have to say. Bonnano was not a nice guy. He double crossed alot of people he knew and tried to take out even more. If he was a moral businessman then I am the Secretary-General of the U.N. He claims he was persecuted yet he like Carlo Gambino and Tony Accardo he never spent a single day in jail. He was arrested once for possession of machine guns but that was all. I did not know he claimed he brokered a peace deal between Genovese and Anastasia but if he did that is the most absurd thing I have ever heard since it was Genovese who ordered Anastasia's death. Now as far as the drug thing I don't know whether he REALLY was against drugs (and prostitution) or not. Yeah he said he was but if it's true then it is very ironic that his family is the PRINCIPLE narcotics traffickers in LCN. And Stefano Maggadino actually prevented the Commission from killing Bonnano even though Bonnano tried to kill him, Lucchese, and Gambino so Bonnano was definitely lying about that as well. Paul Castellano read "Man of Honor" Joe's autobiography and said to his men that his memory was so good that he seemed to remember every thing that people said to him since like 1921. They thought he was a fool and a joke. And Funzi Tieri of the Genovese clan told Joe Valachi that Joe Bonnano was a "leper" in the Mafia community and told him to stay away from him. So your impression of Joseph Bonnano is in my opinion a correct one.

A.C.

[–] Lez999 20 years ago

Sorry it took me a while to respond, I am in the Israeli army so I am not home all the time. Anyway you asked about the Pax Bonanno, well, here is a general idea about it and why it was utter cr*p. I credit this to the MAFIA ENCYCLOPEDIA:
In Bonanno's account he is the self-proclaimed hero (You see? I told you he was cocky), author of what he termed "Pax Bonanno" - Which kept underworld peace for more than two years. The Pax began with the attempted assassination of Frank Costello in 1955 at the instigation of Vito Genovese. Enraged by this, Anastasia prepared to have his crime family make war on Genovese. Instead, Bonanno claimed, he himself rushed into the breach warning Anastasia, "If war breaks out, there'll be no winners. We're all going to lose." Bonanno assures his readers he thus brought about peace and "Albert and Vito kissed each other on the cheek"
In August 1956 Bonanno's son, Salvatore (Bill), married Rosalie Profaci, daughter of New York don Joe Profaci. Mob bosses from all around the country attended, including Genovese and Anastasia. Bonanno said he saw to it that they were seated at opposite sides of the hall. "But at least they came. They were making an effort to be nice." He complimented himself on the Pax Bonanno he had established after the attempt on Costello's life.
Pax Bonanno broke down in October 1957 when Anastasia was murdered. Bonanno at the time had been on what he described as a sentimental trip to Italy, and adds, "In fact, if I had not gone off to Italy I doubt whether anyone would have felt bold enough to make an attempt on Albert's life."
It was a sad ending for Pax Bonanno. But was there any Pax Bonanno at all?
The facts do not confirm Bonanno's statements. The two-year-old Pax Bonanno hangs on the attempt on Costellos's life, which is dated as 1955 in Bonanno's book. Actually, the attempt occurred in May 1957. The Anastasia assassination took place a little over five months later. Thus there could have been no Pax Bonanno, no Bonanno handwringing, at the time of the Bonanno-Profaci wedding in 1956.

So you see Countmc2002, he, and I shall say this as politely as I can, he converses out of his rectum. A pompous liar.
Anyway my favorite Italian LCN member is Charlie Luciano. Maybe because he was Meyer Lanksy's good friend, but I like him a lot. Coming in a close second is Costello. I think maybe it is due to the fact that they were in it for the money. Period. No talk of tradition and we are good men etc. They knew they were crooks, knew they were on the wrong side of the law, but yet seemed unbothered by it all. With their silk suits and brill-creamed hair they had everyone in their pocket. They were cool.
However, Charlie Luciano said in his later years "I realised too late in my life, that you need just as good a brain to make a crooked million, as you do to make a straight one."

[–] arthurclay 20 years ago

That's cool you're in the Israeli Army I didn't know that. Thanks for bringing this "Pax Bonnano" to my attention. I would say two things to this (1)Albert Anastasia should have killed Genovese immediately after he tried to kill Costello and (2)Albert was a fool to trust Bonnano b/c I believe as you do that he was not as honorable as he would have everyone believe in reality he was a fu@king disgrace. I personally think he was a conniver, schemer, backstabber, and betrayer who always wanted to be Capo di Tutti Capi.
I also like your choice of Luciano as your favorite boss. A wise choice as Luciano was the most powerful mobster of his time and very smart (Joe Bonnano screwed him over as well in case you didn't know that) and the only LCN boss who MAY have been smarter than him was Carlo Gambino. Forming an alliance with the Jewish Mafia was a good move both stragetically and financially and so was creating the Commission after the assassination of Don Maranzano to settle disputes between families. Luciano was the unifying force in LCN along with Lansky. Costello was a smart man too its just a shame he didn't have enough support to maintain control after Luciano was deported. As a matter of fact he didn't have any support other than Little Augie Carfano and he "disappeared". I think Genovese was a real a$$hole and a cold blooded bastard who killed more so-called friends than enemies. I can't say I'm sorry that he went to jail for life he deserved it. And wouldn't ya know it now HIS family is the biggest in the U.S. Hey did you hear that Big Joe Massino was convicted yesterday! The whole truckload, 9 murders, RICO, illegal gambling, bookmaking, extortion, loansharking the works. He will probably get life in prison. Now that is a shame. He only got convicted cuz his best friend turned on him just like Sammy did to John. I've known about Joe for many many years he was the only boss on the Commission NOT in jail that's not true anymore. Tell me if you heard about it and what you think about the Massino case and your thoughts on Genovese.

A.C.

[–] ryan_12177 20 years ago

Actually Moretti was killed before Longy Zwillman if my memory is correct, Lez. Morretti was Frank Costello's underboss and muscle and the Luciano family's official man in Jersey and liason with Longy. Moretti was killed in Jersey by hitmen on orders from Genovese and Anastasia(with those two both after you you're stuck)

I personallty hated Mobsters, but its mainly because It hink its a case of horrible casting and a complete lack of respect to historical fact. As a writer myself I realize you have to make chanegs to stories to help them flow better, but that movie just went too far.

Many mobsters have gone on record and stated that Bonanno was either senile when his book was produced or completely insane. Bonanno conviently forgot who Carmine Galante was because he went away for narcotics and forgot that his vacation in Italy was highlighted by his meeting with Luciano and Italian mafia figures to set up a narcotics ring.

Bonanno tries to downplay his being at Appalacian and that Vito Genovese was actively telling people that Charlie Lucky wanted the meeting to happen. It's been theorized theat the focus of the meeting wasn't Anastasia's death as much as it was the topic of narcotics.

I think people also don't realize that Luciano's friendships with Lansky and Cotello had both turned fairly cold towards the end of his life. Luciano had commented to an Italian newspaper when asked of Costello replacing him as boss of bosses that Costello had "Once shined his shoes and been happy to do it."

The power struggle of 1957 wasn't as clear cut as the autobiographies have led most to believe and Valachi even noted that Genovese took betrayals of Luciano even after his being sent away very personally.

My favorite Mob figure is actually Vito Genovese who I think gets a very bad rap. A good example would be many people pinning the Anastasia murder on Genovese, however it has been noted that the hit was much more likely at the behest of Meyer Lansky because of Anastasia trying to muscle his way into Cuba. People often forget that Anastasia had met with Santo Trafficante just a day before his murder. I think Lansky gets off too clean at all times, lets not forget that he had his best friend, Benny Siegel killed.

Despite what some say, I think that Genovese and Luchesse both stayed loyal to Luciano until the end, the rest were in business for themselves.

[–] wiseguy86 20 years ago

Some Mistakes:

1.the real paul castellano was tall and thin unlike the one in the movie who was short and fat.

2.joe armone was never consigliere to neither carlo gambino nor paul castellano.because the real consigliere was Joe N.Gallo

3.Sammy gravano was not a member of the gambino family in 1973 because he was still in the colombo family,so he did not meet john gotti in 1973,sammy gravano met john gotti sometime in the late 70's.

4.in the gotti crew, there was a man by the name of john dimiglia who whacked ralph galione(the one who killed mcbratney) and also participated in the castellano assasination.this guy's real name was john carneglia.

5.ralph galione was not a made member in the gambino family,and he was not part of the castellano crew.

6.Frank DeCicco was the underboss and not sammy gravano.

7.Carlo Gambino did not die directly after gotti was paroled from prison.because gambino died in 1976 while gotti was paroled in 1977.

8.neil dellacroce did not die in his house between the hands of john gotti.neil dellacoce died at hospital.

9.in the movie paul castellano was shot several times in his body.but in reality paul castellano was shot six times in the head which was not portrayed in the assasination in the movie.

10.sammy gravano killed nick scibetta before joining the gambino family,and not what was portrayed in the movie(order came from decicco)

11.when paul castellano was made boss,and he was sitting on the table with the crew boss.in reality none of these were made capos at that time except neil who was the underboss.

[–] arthurclay 20 years ago

My compliments you certainly know your Gambino Family history. I can't disagree with a single thing you said it's all true. There were many errors of fact in Gotti. I enjoyed and liked it simply because of the subject material as I'm a sucker for mob movies. What I find interesting is not only the film but the intriguing conversations this movie has started here on this board. It's kinda hard to talk about a movie that isn't controversial or stimulating mentally except to debate over how bad it is which I think isn't all that fun to do. That says something about this one. My only regret about Gotti besides the "artistic licenses" taken was that it left out what I consider relevant events (key assassinations mostly) and important characters in his story namely Tommy Agro, Roy DeMeo and his crew, Nino Gaggi, Tommy Gambino, and as you mentioned beforehand Joe N. Gallo. They should have at least been mentioned if not included. I know and fully understand that this film was basically a tribute to Johnny Boy but I felt viewers unfamiliar with the Gambino Family weren't getting the whole story and apparently I wasn't the only one with all the postings here. If you want let me know what you think about this or any other comments you would like to make.

A.C.

[–] wiseguy86 20 years ago

I agree with(countmc2002)on his opinion about the movie,because as he said the film didn't consider important characters in the gambino family such as anthony "Nino" Gaggi who was probably the most powerful capo in the gambino family at that time,and also joe N.gallo who is known as the legendary consigliere in the gambino family,and some other characters such roy demeo,tommy agro,and tommy gambino,Jimmy "Brown" Failla,Pasquale Conte...
but the one thing that i liked in this movie is that armand assante and anthony quinn are fit perfectly to the roles given to them (Gotti and Dellacroce).

[–] arthurclay 20 years ago

I agree Assante and Quinn had a real on-screen chemistry going. Gotti respected Dellacroce considering him his father and Neil treated John like his son. This created an emotional atmosphere that prevailed throughout the picture and gave it some feeling. I liked that too.

A.C.

[–] shadowman1115824 20 years ago

Additional differences.

The man who hit Gotti's son, I believe he disappeared and the authorities never found his body.

The FBI did not know who Sammy was, he was rarely seen with Gotti before the three trials.

[–] arthurclay 20 years ago

Correct on both counts. The story is that Mr. Favara was abducted and John personally cut him up with a chainsaw. To add something to the second point the reason why the FBI didn't know about Sammy was not because he wasn't important to the family or close to John it was because as he says he (1)made the cash without the flash and (2)never opened his mouth ever unless he was in a dentist's chair. That's called "keeping a low profile".

[–] monsta66 20 years ago

They also mentioned in the movie that Big Paul was taking drug money from Roy DeMeo but at the time that this was mentioned Roy had been dead for a year already

they need to make a movie after "Murder Machine", that book was awesome, i am going to try and write a screenplay for it

[–] sayedx 20 years ago

So FS was jonney fontain in the godfather, so Vito Corleone must be Carlo gambino if I am not mistaken. Well I think Marlon brando is a great actor but wasn't as skinny as Carlo Gambino was...
Doesn't realy matter but I wonder what Carlo gambino thought wen he saw the movie in 1972 before he died in 1976..

Does anyone have any idea?

"YOU can act like a man!! Whats wrong with you!

[–] joeynarty 19 years ago

any body know when or if this is coming out on dvd same wit boss of bosses

[–] alexander_joshua 19 years ago

Gotti has been out on DVD for a long time, you have to order it though... Best Buy or Media Play isn't going to carry something as obscure as this.

[–] battling88 19 years ago

Best Buy has it, got it last week. $9.99...I liked it, hard to deal with how fictionalized it became, but I thought the cast was pretty good. Asante's portrayal of Gotti was a little cheesy at times, but I guess that's the way it was written.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] battling88 19 years ago

touche TommyDeSivito

[–] flyingovercuba 19 years ago

i bought it at best buy

[–] millsey72 (10244) 2 years ago

Thats because when this movie was made at the time, many details about the people in the mob was unverified