Blast from the Past: Sammy Bull's First Interview After the Gotti Trial
Since I am on a video kick, here is the first interview with Sammy Gravano on ABC's PrimeTime Live after he helped put John Gotti away. (Yeah, the quality isn't the greatest but it does smooth out a little ways into it.) Watching this 1990 discussion some 22 years later, it is indeed difficult not to admit Sammy did score a few points against Gotti, saying if not for the audiotapes of Gotti talking mob business, the Feds wouldn't have gotten him -- and Sammy and Frankie Lo as well.
And a few anecdotes we missed or have forgotten: When the agents burst into the Ravenite prior to Gotti's last arrest, the "Dapper-soon-to-be-Velcro Don" told them he and his guys weren't going anywhere until they had a cup of black coffee (which is what old Italians call espresso). The agents stood there waiting. Also, Sammy noted that one night at dinner Gotti had Joe Watts tell the restaurateur to jack up the price of a $50 bottle of wine to $200 -- because it was widely known to be Gotti's favorite wine (in Gotti's mind, anyway). And before turning, Sammy -- and supposedly Frankie Lo -- had decided if they ever beat the case and got out - they'd kill Gotti for the way he'd been treating them in lockup. Sammy says when he saw the "death list" with the names of people he'd also have to kill to avoid retaliation -- "When I thought about killing his son [John Jr.] I got sick" -- he flushed the list and asked for Uncle Sam. I don't say these are true; I say he says them during the video.
Did the Feds even need Sammy to make their case? I bet there was a lot of second guessing about that once it was learned that Sammy was using his "second chance" to become a major drug dealer -- making his blood family complicit in his crimes. And since his daughter is publishing a book about him, I thought now is a good time to take another look at The Bull(shitter). It is eerie how prescient one of Gotti's lawyers was towards the end, when he predicted how Gravano would turn out. He was 100% on the money. Also note how Sammy demeans the drug business as "not for him."
And a few anecdotes we missed or have forgotten: When the agents burst into the Ravenite prior to Gotti's last arrest, the "Dapper-soon-to-be-Velcro Don" told them he and his guys weren't going anywhere until they had a cup of black coffee (which is what old Italians call espresso). The agents stood there waiting. Also, Sammy noted that one night at dinner Gotti had Joe Watts tell the restaurateur to jack up the price of a $50 bottle of wine to $200 -- because it was widely known to be Gotti's favorite wine (in Gotti's mind, anyway). And before turning, Sammy -- and supposedly Frankie Lo -- had decided if they ever beat the case and got out - they'd kill Gotti for the way he'd been treating them in lockup. Sammy says when he saw the "death list" with the names of people he'd also have to kill to avoid retaliation -- "When I thought about killing his son [John Jr.] I got sick" -- he flushed the list and asked for Uncle Sam. I don't say these are true; I say he says them during the video.
Did the Feds even need Sammy to make their case? I bet there was a lot of second guessing about that once it was learned that Sammy was using his "second chance" to become a major drug dealer -- making his blood family complicit in his crimes. And since his daughter is publishing a book about him, I thought now is a good time to take another look at The Bull(shitter). It is eerie how prescient one of Gotti's lawyers was towards the end, when he predicted how Gravano would turn out. He was 100% on the money. Also note how Sammy demeans the drug business as "not for him."
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