Most organized crime figures choose, for obvious reasons, to operate in the shadows. John Gotti was different.

Gotti seemed to enjoy the publicity that surrounded his string of appearances in courtrooms, as well as the "Teflon Don" nickname he was given by the press -- a reference to all the charges against him that failed to stick.

Of course, what was often obscured by Gotti's dapper dress and one-liners was the fact that he killed people. Or, in other cases, ordered them killed.

Gotti's career was right out of "The Sopranos," or vice-versa. Born Oct. 27, 1940 in New York City to Italian immigrant parents, he joined a street gang with brothers Peter, Gene, Richard and Vincent when he was 12. After a decade of petty theft (he had been arrested five times by the age of 21) Gotti graduated to fencing goods stolen from Idlewild Airport. He was arrested by the FBI for one of those heists, then arrested again for hijacking a truck full of cigarettes while he was still out on bail. That netted Gotti a short stretch in the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary.

By his own admission, Gotti's first murder was in 1973. The victim was Jimmy McBratney, an Irish-American gangster who had killed a member of the Gambino family. He was arrested for that hit, but convicted only of attempted manslaughter after a plea deal.

While still a relatively young man, Gotti was put in charge of his own crew. That led to a conflict with Paul Castellano,the head of the New York Mafia, when Gotti was found to be selling heroin. But Gotti struck first, and Castellano and his bodyguard were shot six times outside Sparks Steak House in 1985. In classic Mafia fashion, Gotti then moved into Castellano's spot as king of the mountain.

Gotti had married 17-year-old Victoria DiGiorgio in 1962, a marriage that lasted throughout his lifetime and produced five children. One of those children, Frank, was killed at the age of 12 when his mini-bike was hit by a car driven by the Gottis' neighbor, John Favara, on March 18, 1980. Four months later, Favara disappeared and was never seen again.

Gotti was acquitted of federal racketeering charges in 1986, but federal authorities finally used wiretaps and the testimony of former Gotti associate Sammy "The Bull" Gravano to sentence him to life in prison in 1992. Gotti appointed his son, Junior, to replace him, but Junior joined his father in prison a few years later.

On June 10, 2002, Gotti died of cancer in the federal penitentiary in Marion, IL.