John Gotti Sr. might have called his son a "rat" if he knew he was speaking out about the family's life in the mob.
Gotti Jr., who says he left organized crime in 1999, is opening up about growing up as the son of the head of Gambino crime family.
In an upcoming interview with "60 Minutes," Gotti talks about everything from the moment he found out his father was the legendary "Dapper Don" to the time he himself was formally made a mobster.
"I was slowly becoming like [my father]. I think he was very happy. I think he was as proud as a father would be if his son just made All-American," he said in the interview at his Long Island home.
He speaks candidly about the everyday struggle to stay alive while the constant fear of being "whacked" is always looming.
Though he offers no excuse for murder, he does make an attempt to explain the reason why his father committed some of the crimes he did. It was the way you survived in the mob, he said.
"[My father] swore, 'I'm going to live and die by the rules of the street, the code of the streets' and everybody that John is accused of killing or may have killed or wanted to kill or tried to kill was a part of that same street," he says in an excerpt. "And my father...always said in his mind, 'You break the rules, you end up in a Dumpster.'"
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After his fourth case was dropped after being declared a mistrial in November, Gotti is attempting to test his luck in entertainment.
Gotti appears to making the rounds after announcing his hope to make a film, documentary and memoir chronicling his life in the mob. Reports say, in addition to using the money to pay numerous legal bills, he hopes to start a youth center for move kids away from the crime lifestyle.
The documentary is said to show, among other things, the last encounter between Gotti and his father before John Gotti Sr. died of cancer in prison.
