Thoughts on Gravano

[Arnold06]

Gravano turned states evidence in 1990, sending John Gotti and scores of other mobsters to prison before releasing a book and movie then doing a prime time interview with Diane Sawyer. He was re-arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison for drugs shortly after and returned to Arizona to do YouTube interviews, podcasts and possibly a new book he’s been talking about recently.

Gravano’s credibility on the street is extinct in the parlance of the street and as a result his marketability isn’t as good as it would be if he’d served his time. His recent comments suggest he’s trying to rebrand himself to the public as a “true Cosa Nostra stalwart”, as opposed to Gotti whom broke tradition.

The comments don’t add up though, specifically his claim that Gotti told him in conversation he’d be taking the heat so Gotti could walk. Why would a life long criminal that knew the crucible of prison life entrust a guy who’d never done time to take a life sentence? He’d be pushing Gravano into the arms of the feds! On top of this Gravano makes no mention of this conversion in his book, testimony or debriefings, he only hints that he suspected Gotti was going to use that defense at trial. Gravano is insinuating Gotti was going to screw Gravano, going against Cosa Nostra, thus justifying Sammy’s betraying John and the Gambino’s. Thoughts?

(Sammy also attempted to help Frank LoCascio get out of prison by claiming Frank was against murdering Louie DiBono and was demoted by Gotti for not supporting the murder. This claim was rebuked when it was pointed out Gravano mentioned nothing about this in his debriefings or testimony, something he seems to be doing a lot of recently.)


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[JohnnyS]

Take everything he says outside of what he told the feds 30 years ago with a pinch of salt. He's twisting every story to make himself look better and there's nobody to dispute what he says. His fanboys eat up every word that comes out of his mouth.

[TallGuy19]

I read his book and watched his interview with Diane Sawyer—and beyond that I don't care what he has to say. Just like Michael Franzese, he is going to fabricate stories as he goes on. And while some of his stories might be true, trying to separate the bullshit from the grains of truth is a waste of time. You can get all the information he has to offer from reading his book.

[dack2001]

Take any guy in the life trying to make a living on his past with a gigantic grain of salt....it's the easiest hustle ever...who is going to contradict them? Internet fanboys? If they didn't testify to it, when they're life and livelihood depended on their honesty being somewhat verifiable, I wouldn't waste the time. There might be some details that give context to what was previously written but 99% of the audience isn't there for context, which is why the stories now get some added meat.

[Arnold06]

Take everything he says outside of what he told the feds 30 years ago with a pinch of salt. He's twisting every story to make himself look better and there's nobody to dispute what he says. His fanboys eat up every word that comes out of his mouth.

I even take issue with some of what he’s said 30 years ago, specifically his claims of being at the scene at Sparks. Cosa Nostra news has stated sources claim that may not be the case and I’ve always felt putting Gravano at the scene in a leather jacket with a gun as a backup shooter sounded off especially since the other shooters wore disguises. He’d be picked out by witnesses plus he’s getting out of a car driven by Gotti, the driving force behind the hit. Why have the guy you’re electing boss at the scene with a backup shooter that’s not disguised?


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[dack2001]

They would have been backups to the backups as some of the 8 man were already backing up the shooters. They would only be called upon to get out of that car if someone, somehow, gets away on foot. It was 1985. You wouldn't worry about someone iding you because you would be gone as soon as the dust cleared. Besides if the hit failed they were all dead anyway.

[Arnold06]

They would have been backups to the backups as some of the 8 man were already backing up the shooters. They would only be called upon to get out of that car if someone, somehow, gets away on foot. It was 1985. You wouldn't worry about someone iding you because you would be gone as soon as the dust cleared. Besides if the hit failed they were all dead anyway.

Then why not have Gravano in a Russian hat coat too? Especially if he’s carry a .358 magnum, which would be very loud and draw attention? I think it would have been very easy to ID him as he’d be the only one not dressed exactly like the other hitmen but still firing, but again that’s just an opinion.


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[NYNighthawk]

He knocked Joe the German Watts as an informer in a video recently. Would not be surprised if he or some young buck wanting to make a name for himself takes out the daughter or son. What could Gravano do about it?

[Browniety86]

This last video he did of the Mary Bari murder was a joke. He's just retelling common knowledge, nothing he knew first hand. He already had transferred to the Gambinos when she was killed.

[LAfarmer108]

They would have been backups to the backups as some of the 8 man were already backing up the shooters. They would only be called upon to get out of that car if someone, somehow, gets away on foot. It was 1985. You wouldn't worry about someone iding you because you would be gone as soon as the dust cleared. Besides if the hit failed they were all dead anyway.

Then why not have Gravano in a Russian hat coat too? Especially if he’s carry a .358 magnum, which would be very loud and draw attention? I think it would have been very easy to ID him as he’d be the only one not dressed exactly like the other hitmen but still firing, but again that’s just an opinion.


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In sammys book he says it was john gottis idea to have the hit team wear the Russian hats and trench coats. Sammy didnt know about the disguise according to his book until the day of the hit. He was armed and in the car with Gotti and would take action only if the shooters failed. Him and Gotti were not in disguise.

Im actually surprised they chose to directly supervise the hit. Extremely risky.

[Amershire_Ed]

He’s telling stories that people are asking for. I’m not defending his exaggerations but the guy’s got 250k YouTube subscribers. If a bunch of them are asking him to tell stories about Greg Scarpa and Roy Demeo, he’s probably gonna do it.

Say what you want about him but he has a legit talent for storytelling. I mean that sincerely. His retelling of his making ceremony was really well done. I don’t care if he wrote about it before, YouTube provides a much more powerful medium. Plus he’s got a better than average production team putting everything together. They make all the other crime shows on YouTube look like they were done by high school kids.

[NYNighthawk]

Fuck Gravano. He said he would have shot the two (2) NYPD cops if they did not move away from the Sparks scene before the shooting.

[Amershire_Ed]

Gravano is nowhere near the first guy to make that claim about Watts.

Like others have said, take anything that he didn’t testify about or talk to the Feds about with a huge grain of salt. I dunno, to me it seems really easy to tell when he’s trying to be honest and when he’s trying to make himself look good. In one episode he told a story about getting in a fight in the army cafeteria and getting hit upside the head with a lunch tray. In another he talked about Junior Persico scolding him and making him realize he was being a punk. There are some genuine moments of what appear to be attempts at candor.

You just gotta kinda tune out the other stuff. Like when Sammy talks about meeting other wiseguys for the first time, the story always involves the other wiseguy being excessively complimentary to Sammy. It’s always “he told me he heard a lot good things about me. That he heard I was a gentleman...” or some BS like that. To me the puffery is easy to spot. I find his fanboys 1000x more annoying than he is. The ones calling him a “stand up guy” and “true gentleman” in the comments lololol.

[Arnold06]

They would have been backups to the backups as some of the 8 man were already backing up the shooters. They would only be called upon to get out of that car if someone, somehow, gets away on foot. It was 1985. You wouldn't worry about someone iding you because you would be gone as soon as the dust cleared. Besides if the hit failed they were all dead anyway.

Then why not have Gravano in a Russian hat coat too? Especially if he’s carry a .358 magnum, which would be very loud and draw attention? I think it would have been very easy to ID him as he’d be the only one not dressed exactly like the other hitmen but still firing, but again that’s just an opinion.


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In sammys book he says it was john gottis idea to have the hit team wear the Russian hats and trench coats. Sammy didnt know about the disguise according to his book until the day of the hit. He was armed and in the car with Gotti and would take action only if the shooters failed. Him and Gotti were not in disguise.

Im actually surprised they chose to directly supervise the hit. Extremely risky.

I agree with you, it’s always seemed strange to me John would put himself at the scene considering what was at risk.


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[Arnold06]

He’s telling stories that people are asking for. I’m not defending his exaggerations but the guy’s got 250k YouTube subscribers. If a bunch of them are asking him to tell stories about Greg Scarpa and Roy Demeo, he’s probably gonna do it.

Say what you want about him but he has a legit talent for storytelling. I mean that sincerely. His retelling of his making ceremony was really well done. I don’t care if he wrote about it before, YouTube provides a much more powerful medium. Plus he’s got a better than average production team putting everything together. They make all the other crime shows on YouTube look like they were done by high school kids.

Has anyone else noticed the neon bull logo he used is the Merrill Lynch bull logo?


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