Mob Wives: Victoria Gotti Sr. - A Mob Wife With Class, Part 1

Victoria Gotti, Sr. is the widow of the late John Gotti, Sr. aka the Teflon Don. She was interviewed by CBS in October, 2006. I thought it would be interesting to hear the perspective of another mob wife, the wife of the Gambino crime family Boss. I was quite surprised by the video to be honest. After watching several episodes of Mob Wives and recalling the show “Growing Up Gotti,” this mob wife is definitely a refreshing change. Soft spoken, and without the use of a single profanity, she answers questions about her family in a sincere and honest manner.

When she is referred to as a mob wife, she shakes her head no. She was not a mob wife, she was “a wife, a mother, an artist.” They discuss her son’s, John Gotti, Jr’s, mistrial. When she got the call she said she cried. Having him home again meant everything to the family. She says they are a normal family. She worries that her son is “hunted prey” and that every time he leaves might be the last time she sees him. She explains that her children were brought up in a very strict home and that she is old fashioned in many ways. Her kids were punished when they did something wrong.

She will be the first to admit that her son made a lot of mistakes and he paid the price, he went to jail for seven years. But he is finished with the mob and she knows in her heart he is done. She says that the lifestyle beat him up emotionally, physically, mentally and he is gray in his early forties. The mansions people talk about are heavily mortgaged. She admits he has an income from wise investments he made, but doesn’t reveal where the money came from. And, she says, her son is an amazing father.

Victoria Gotti says she was a street kid. She had it hard, her parents separated, but it help to toughen her up for the future. She wishes she had the kind of father her son is to his kids. Her husband loved her, protected her and respected her. He would go out all day and take care of his business, but when he came home at night he left all that behind him and he never discussed it at home.

She raised her children a certain way, her daughters were raised to be ladies. Then she starts to choke back tears of anger. She says a “liar” in court said her daughter was discussing mob business with her son -- it never happened, says Mrs. Gotti. Her daughter is willing to take a lie detector test and let the person who lied do the same. It’s just an insult to her daughter to accuse her of talking mob business with her brother. She is very protective of her children.

She talks about how her husband, John, would come home for dinner and while he was eating she would look at the newspaper and then look at him and ask, “Johnny, should I be afraid of you?” and he would just laugh. He didn’t talk about the mob and she wasn’t interested in hearing anything. But some time later they would be at odds because she never wanted her son to be in the mob. She thought her husband felt the same way.

John Jr. would get into trouble over the years, she says, but she would discipline him and if her husband was around she would get between the two of them because her husband would go crazy. She insisted on doing all the discipline herself because her husband was out most of the time. She told him this was her job and if she needed his help she would ask him. And she recalls that many times her husband John would tell her that he could see that his son wanted to be in the mob and “it wasn’t gonna happen.” So, later on, when she picked up a newspaper and saw that her son was a marked man, that there was a contract out on him, she was totally blindsided. Her whole world shattered, she was stunned, she couldn’t concentrate, she was in a constant state of disbelief. She went to see her husband, who really didn’t answer her questions, but adamantly denied that any harm would come to their son.  Part 1 is about 9 minutes long.



What's your take on the widow of the Teflon Don?  Does she remind you of the Mob Wives we watch every Sunday on VH-1 8pm/ 7pm Central?

Video Credit: CBS Broadcasting Co.