In the first half, investigative reporter Peter Lance along with John A. Gotti, the son of the infamous mob boss, discussed the true story behind the Gotti crime family and how Gotti’s attempts to leave the mob life and raise a normal family were repeatedly hindered by the Justice Department. Gotti was motivated to tell his own story and that of his father’s after numerous others, including journalists and government informants were publishing or about to publish accounts about the Gottis. According to law enforcement claims, Gotti served as the boss of the Gambino crime family from 1992 to 1999 after his father John J. Gotti was sent to prison. Gotti Jr. spent 77 months in a series of federal prisons after pleading guilty to racketeering charges and was released in 2005, and faced four additional racketeering trials, all which ended in mistrials.

Lance, who wrote the foreward to Gotti’s book, was given access to his files and became convinced that the Feds mistreated and hounded him after he’d already served time. He was impressed that Gotti Jr. steadfastly refused to testify against anyone “in the life” even though he himself had dropped out of the crime family. Gotti Jr. recounted tales of his father, who died in prison at age 61. Known as the “The Dapper Don,” he was said to have a genius IQ and never revealed the nature of his business to his family when they were growing up.

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