Topics: Despair; Justice; Retribution; Sowing and Reaping
References: Psalm 62:12; Galatians 6:7–8
Mafia boss John Gotti thought he was immune to the law. Nicknamed “the Teflon Don” for escaping punishment by bribing jurors, Gotti had eaten at the best restaurants, worn the most expensive suits, and had his hair trimmed daily by his personal barber.
But the FBI kept compiling evidence against Gotti and eventually convinced Gotti’s underboss, Salvatore Gravano, to testify against Gotti in court. In June 1992, Gotti was sentenced and taken to Marion, Illinois, the most secure federal prison. For eight years he spent nearly twenty-four hours a day in a concrete seven-by-eight-foot cell with a radio, a small television, a cot, a basin, and a toilet. He was allowed two showers a week, and he got his meals through a slot in the cell door.
Gotti conceded, “I’m cursed. I’m stuck in this joint here, and that’s the end of it.”
In 1998 Gotti was diagnosed with throat cancer. He died in June 2002.
—Rick Hampson, “Curtains Descend on Gotti, Family,” USA Today (July 25, 2001)