Cesare Borgia was a failure, but he was very close.  John Gotti started out brilliantly, but ultimately he was a failure as well.  In Machiavelli's work The Prince both men were highly unstable characters and led themselves into their own political graves.  Cesare Borgia, the murderous son of Pope Alexander tried to bring order to Romagna by using unabashed cruelty upon his people as a leader in Machiavelli's sixteenth century.  In the twentieth century, John Gotti proved the effectiveness of the tenets of Machiavelli by certain actions, part of the reason why he was called the Teflon Don.  However, the entrance of Fortune again would play a large part in the success of Gotti.  Niccolo Machiavelli's reputation and his writings in the Prince and the Discourses have validity in contemporary twentieth century organized crime in the United States and is actually dependent on them for success. 

            Generally, the ideals of the mafia do follow the doctrines of the prince according to sociologist Robert T. Anderson.  The main regulations include:

1.                    help one another and avenge every injury of a fellow member;

2.                    work with all means for the defense and freeing of any fellow member who had fallen into the hands of the judiciary;

3.                    to divide the proceeds of thievery, robbery, and extortion with certain considerations for the needy as determined by the capo (head)

4.                  to keep the oath and maintain secrecy on pain of death within twenty-four hours.

Even the hierarchical set up is like that of a principality.  Cosa Nostras exist all over the United States and there is a bureaucracy within each city.  In New York City there are different district managers and at the lowest levels are soldiers.  The epitome of the organized crime in the late twentieth century is John Gotti.  It is important to take into consideration the metaphor for state here will be Cosa Nostra*, or the Americanized version of the mafia.  (Cosa Nostra and the mafia are virtually the same thing, but there are very strict stipulations when using these terms.  Cosa Nostra is the very modern term for mafia.)

Specifically, the reason why Gotti takes on the actions to become the head, come from   "An exhortation to liberate Italy from the barbarians" in The Prince.  In Gotti's case it was to liberate La Cosa Nostra from the disjointed factions of the Cosa Nostra.  La Cosa Nostra, an organization older than Machiavelli's time has been around since possibly the 9th century and immigrated to the United States at the turn of the twentieth century.  John Gotti's family, the Gambinos have been a prominent "family" in the United States.  Gotti used Machavelli's guidelines for leading the Gambino family and has succeeded when following them closely.  The fickleness of Fortune always prevails and he lost a lot of his power after being sent to jail by a trusted adviser betray him.* (footnote, according to La Cosa Nostra, he technically is the main leader.  His son John Gotti Jr. is leading the Gambino family as we speak today and is in charge of immediate transactions going on.) 

            The success of carrying out such Machiavellian ideals has lead to the media calling John Gotti the Teflon Don because of his tactics to keep from getting arrested.  Niccolo himself writes in his Prince that in order to keep the crowd at bay, one needs positive public relations in his entitled chapter "How a Prince should act to acquire esteem." However, Gotti uses these tactics earlier to gain power.  In order to get rid of the earlier "barbarian" running his Cosa Nostra, there was series of public relations campaign to rid them of Paul Castellano.  Initially, it was necessary to rid the Cosa Nostra of Paul Castellano for under his power the Cosa Nostras around him had become divided and weak.  The Cosa Nostra itself can be considered to be a sort of principality, for it is a body that acts independently of other powers and is run by one man. 

            However, it was not only the actions of John Gotti that allowed him to become the head of the Gambino crime syndicate.  The instability of the Cosa Nostra at the helm of Castellano led Gotti to the top.  Instability of the Cosa Nostra is synonymous with the instability of a nation as a chapter of the Discourses “the people are strong when united but weak as individuals”.  Castellano’s leadership led the mafia into a weak state that was hesitant in making decisions.  Gotti had broken two of the Cosa Nostra “laws” and had murdered two influential men in of neighboring organizations, but was “allowed” to live because he was supposedly very loyal member.  Castellano knew that Gotti could work the seedy side of the business, but was convinced that Gotti would remain in the shadows of the business.  Castellano’s first mistake was the allowance of two factions to occur in his Family.  Additionally, Gotti hated Castellano because of the lack of street smarts that he had and aroused the “universal hatred” that lead to private individuals to desire revenge (Bondanella 358).

            According to the Prince, there are three kinds of danger involved with a conspiracy and they occur at different stages of a plot: before, during and after.  In the dealings of Cosa Nostra, when someone wants to get rid of the leader it is imperative to be highly secretive.  One does not be obviously adversarial to anyone, and co-conspirators are not to be asked explicitly if they will aid in the murder of the boss because if the plot is carried out the ringleader will ultimately be killed.  The people that you ask to co-conspirators must love you more than they care for the present leader.  The three, Gotti, DeCicco and Gravano all participated in the public murder of Castellano involving a maelstrom of bullets.  Thus the fearlessness of the Fist, the faction run by Gotti  had overcome the second danger of hesitancy to murder Castellano.  Gotti made sure to kill all of Castellano’s “executive board” and made the members of the Fist all executive board members, eliminating the last of the dangers.  There was no one to pick up where Castellano left off.

Gotti's first order of business was to make sure that he did not cause a civil war within the Cosa Nostras surrounding him. Approaching this, he would use Frank DeCicco to make other families feel safe as their lives were not in danger and he began to form Gotti's image as a man who cared for the Cosa Nostra among the other family members.  DeCicco was from the “old school” of Cosa Nostra and his job was to alert the rest of the family that in no way was the death of Castellano going to mean more death.  This is directly related to the overtaking of a new principality.  By allowing the laws of the set up principality to exist the people would not suffer or rebel, as the Cosa Nostra would not rebel when Gotti was nominated for head of the Gambino syndicate.

And one should bear in mind that there is nothing more difficult to execute, nor more dubious of success, nor more dangerous to administer than to introduce a new system of things:  for he who introduces it has all those who profit from the

old system as his enemies, and he has only lukewarm

allies in all those who might profit from the new system (Bondanella 96) – The Prince

Gotti would represent all that was new in the Gambino family.  Despite their suspicion of Gotti killing Castellano, the Cosa Nostra agreed and he was elected.  The reason why DeCicco was so instrumental in the acceptance of Gotti was what Machiavelli called considering the subjects (Bondanella 381). 

Gotti “secretly” became the leader of the Cosa Nostra by murdering Paul Castellano for the sake of unity.  Disunity in the Carlo Gambino family occurred after the death of Gambino himself and his appointment of Paul Castellano.  Castellano was more of a businessman liked to work in union rackets instead of the dirty work later associated with Gotti.  Castellano’s own insecurity led to the factions that would later lead to his demise.  Two factions that caused the power of the  Gotti later went on to say to Gravano the reason why the FBI and Justice Office could not jail him:  "They got no f-ckin' cohesion.  They got no unity."  The necessary harmony that Gotti talks about lead to the Gambino Family becoming an organized juggernaut of crime and would continue to rule for several years after the 1985 Castellano Coup. Gotti is a mastermind when working with the two natures of man.  The two natures of man include those of the fox and lion. The fox represents the cunning while the lion represents the beastly side of nature.  The nature of the fox dealt with the business side of Cosa Nostra while the lion dealt with the murders and terrorist tactics.

            In almost every case brought up against Gotti in the mid-eighties resulted in an acquittal.  The Teflon Don as was media nickname, was always thankful to his community and made himself out to be a "nice" guy by his neighbors as he threw parties for them with free food an entertainment.  Again, more publicity in his favor and creating an image of himself, despite the terrible things he had done to his own Cosa Nostra.  To answer the Machiavelli’s question of “is it better to be feared than loved” Gotti’s answer was yes to both.  Again he is generous with the community by making sure the community knows of his presence and also known of his impunity with the law.  Generosity and positive public relations in light of jail time disillusion the public.  However, putting fear into your people was also necessary.  The ambiguity of Machiavelli’s argument of whether being loved or feared is the answer for a good prince is expertly enacted in Gotti’s reign of the Gambinos.  One case involved a friend of Gotti who insulted him while serving time.  Gotti ordered that man killed the next day, for any negative things tarnishing an image would ultimately lead to his downfall, remembering Machiavelli’s demand of rulers to “offend” those who speak lowly of you.  Gotti did remain in power, but not because he was solely loved or feared, but because he avoided hatred, he persisted.  Hatred, leads to murder by other people including under bosses.  

When Romual Piecyk had come forward and offended Gotti, it is truly then we see Niccolo's words spewing forth from the "godfather's" action.  Piecyk had Gotti jailed for assaulting him in public one night.  In jail Gotti sought out to avenge his self.  Gotti's army harassed Piecyk day and night even cutting his brakes in his car.  These scare tactics made Piecyk come down with "amnesia" and did not want to offend Gotti anymore because to do so would have meant sure death.  Here Gotti checks his power and makes his reputation well known to any would-be dissenters.  Fear of Gotti made the community silently obey his wishes to not cross him.  Even as Gotti was imprisoned for the last time in 1992, members of the community cried and lamented as the Teflon Don was sent to jail because of a betrayal by his trusted advisor Sammy Gravano.  This is how strong the bond of the community was and how important it is to the Cosa Nostra.  If Gotti ever returns to the outside world, there will be the same kind of reverence that existed before his incarceration.  “The masses are wiser and more constant than a prince”, according to the Discourses (Bondanella 281).  Without support or love, there is no leader. 

            The downfall of Gotti's leadership was brought upon by mistakes in Gotti's planning and the work of the Justice Department.  Samuel Gravano had been his underboss since Frank DeCicco was murdered as a response to Castellano supporters, and was now leading "hits" in order to gain and control balance in the Gambino family.  Of course, Gotti never worked alone, from day one with his conspirators group known as the "hand" included the men who played the role of the advisers.  The men who were the closest to him were gravano and DeCicco, yet they were not the exclusive advisers.  Men such as Lasciano were advisers as well.  Gotti put trust into several men, but not into one soul adviser.  Tapes on one of these men would illustrate the reason for having several advisors. The one that prompted Gravano to betray Gotti included diatribes against him to Lasciano. Pointing out his shortcomings and his nature as a "mad-dog killer."  Gotti checked each adviser he had and had there not been a wire on someone, he would have had a perfect amount of suspicion on all of his leaders.  A prince is respected when he is a true friend and a true enemy (151 Bondanella).  He proved that when he spoke almost fatally of Gravano.  The reason why that conversation from Gotti to Losciano was so important was because it lowered the dignity of Gravano.  Any unhappiness from Gotti would have ended Gravano’s life. 

            Initially, Gotti was doomed at the beginning according to the Discourses.  He alone was supposed to obtain the role of leader, instead he had DeCicco and Gravano alongside them who ultimately died as a result of his connection to them and in the latter case, betrayed by Gravano. Gotti gained power in a way that did upset the rest of the Cosa Nostra.  Subsequently, he was jailed and passed his power onto his own son John Gotti, Jr. In the Discourses, Machiavelli notes that a leader "should be so prudent and able-minded as not to bequeath the authority he has taken to his heir; for, since men are more apt to do evil than good, his successor might use for ambitious ends what the founder had employed virtuously (Bondanella 201)."  John Gotti, Jr. may be power-hungry, but in a loophole according to Machiavelli "a weak prince can maintain himself when he succeeds an excellent prince; but after a weak prince one cannot maintain any rule with another weak prince (Bondanella 228)."  Since Gotti's "rule" lasted for a good seven years and he was able to pass it down into his son, as long as Gotti, Jr. is just as strong as the senior Gotti he can maintain the lead of the Gambino family.  Yet, again if Gotti is released there may be a power struggle between father and son.  Gotti started out right, with his 140 IQ and his spin on the media, but that was not enough to save him from incriminating testimony of his adviser Gravano. 

This life of ours, this is a wonderful life.  If you can get through life like this and get away with it, hey, that’s great.  But it’s very, very unpredictable.  There’s  so many ways you can screw it up. –Paul Castellano on Fortune

Unfortunately, Castellano did “screw up”.  His unwillingness to be involved in terroristic threatening and the seedy side of Mafioso work led to his inability to be a truly successful leader.  Technically, Castellano could have kept his power because Carlo Gambino was so highly revered.  Even though the Castellano was mediocre, he could have held on to his position, but the successor had to be very strong and charismatic. 

Machiavelli writes of the evil shrew that is accountable for bringing down the greatness of men :  Fortune.  Fortune plays tricks on even the greatest of men.  Eventually wires lead to the downfall of the Teflon Don who is currently incarcerated.  Machiavelli notes that a prince can prosper today and come to ruin tomorrow without him changing his character (Bondanella 160).  As Gotti reached the pinnacle of his “business” career through a supposed plumbing parts business, Fortune took his Cosa Nostra notoriety away.  Machiavelli writes that a prince should be able to adapt to any sort of situation that occurs.  Gotti would agree “fortune is the arbiter of one half of our actions, but that she still leaves the control of the other half, or almost that, to us (Bondanella 159).”  Perhaps Gotti’s persona led him to disillusionment and his image made him a bit to arrogant with his career, the second part that he had to control, was lost because of his lack of virtue.  Virtue in the modern sense is the talent that one has in order to be an effective leader.

Up until his unfortunate betrayal the Teflon Don was the epitome of a good ruler.  Gotti’s willingness to challenge traditions is pretty questionable.  He would have had to follow the Cosa Nostra’s regulations to be an almost benign ruler. However, the contradictory nature of that last statement needs to be addressed.  If Gotti was such a good ruler, then how and why did he lose all power?  Fortune.  Why does Fortune have to ruin such a “great” man in his prime?  There is no real answer to that question because no one can second-guess Fortune.  The FBI’s fortune had changed and thus they had brought Gravano in to betray him. Conversations with Losciano at the time were probably common and he probably scolded several of his advisers behind their backs, but had it not been for the wires, he would not have been caught. The admonishments of Gravano were to serve the purpose of offending him again referring to the Prince.  To make sure that members of the government are to be ruled by you, you must at times offend them. However, Gravano saw this as a betrayal and could have thought that Gotti was on his way to expulsing him out of the Gambino Family. Gravano then turned around to offend his own boss turning states evidence against the former boss.  Corresponding to the ideas of Machiavelli, “insults and abuse arouse hatred against those who employ them, without producing any benefit.” 

-Though the Teflon Don vowed to run Cosa Nostra while incarcerated, the New York Family forced his retirement in 1996.  John Gotti Jr. met the same fate, as he was arrested in 1999.  The blood succession of Gotti to Gotti Jr. was very upsetting to the Teflon Don because the Cosa Nostra was not to be passed down to a relative. This was the initial reason why Gotti was mad at Castellano gaining power, but never spoke about it in public because Carlo Gambino was all-powerful.

*ironically-Gotti Jr.s lawyer is a woman-takes on the role as consigliere possibly leading to downfall – sexist arguement

            -Power of the Gambino Family stretches from NY to LA important to spread out power to important principalities – notably NY and California