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Retired federal judge Dr. John Gleeson spent 22 years serving as United States District Judge in the Eastern District of New York, sitting in Brooklyn, but he was a young assistant U.S. attorney when one of the biggest cases he would work on found its way to him. A matter of weeks afer joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Gleeson was assigned to help with the first of two federal racketeering cases in Brooklyn against famous crime boss John Gotti.

Gotti 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.” Later, his ability to beat criminal charges led to another: “The Teflon Don.”

In his newly published memoir The Gotti Wars: Taking Down America's Most Notorious Mobster, Gleeson writes about Gotti's rise within the world of organized crime and how the prosecutor would eventually take him down. After an initial defeat in the first trial, Gleeson was put in charge of the second racketeering investigation and trial. As he shares with Watching America host Dr. Alan Campbell in this episode, he decided to use a new strategy for his second face off with Gotti. Armed with recorded conversations and a star witness — underboss Sammy the Bull Gravano, killer of 19 men, who Gleeson was able to “flip“ to the prosecutor's side — he secured a murder conviction. The case had far-reaching consequences for the American mafia.

Listen to the full conversation.

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