NEARLY 40 years ago, Gambino crime boss Paul Castellano was assassinated after fellow mobster John Gotti ordered the hit, allowing him to ascend to the coveted rank. 

Only five years later, Gotti was arrested by the FBI over the murder and several other crimes thanks to surveillance bugs planted on the mob boss. 

The 1985 hit came as Gotti and Castellano disagreed on how to lead the infamous Gambino family – particularly when it came to drugs. 

At the time, Castellano believed no one within the family should be dealing drugs. 

This stemmed from the fear of the government monitoring their dealings, and caught offenders giving evidence to the authorities in exchange for shorter sentences. 

Gotti, second-in-charge of the Gambino family, disagreed with this decision and reportedly sought out to oust Castellano. 

The mob boss reportedly heard of these plans and was set to put out a hit on Gotti following Christmas that year. 

However, Gotti struck first. 

The mobster ordered for Castellano to be gunned down on December 16 at around 5:25 p.m., as he exited a steakhouse in Manhattan. 

Gotti sat in a car with fellow mobster Salvatore Gravano as the assassination unfolded. 

In a 1992 testimony that aided in Gotti’s conviction in the murder, Gravano revealed the two of them drove by the scene of the crime immediately after to make sure Castellano was dead. 

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In his testimony, Gravano described himself as a “back-up shooter,” according to The New York Times at the time. 

Not long after, Gotti ascended to the head of the Gambino family. 

Over the next several years, the mob boss kept slipping away from authorities through public acquittals.

But that didn’t stop authorities from investigating him even further and using his own men to turn on him

Eventually, the FBI and New York Police Department received court approval for electronic surveillance. 

The law enforcement agencies then bugged Gotti’s Ravenite Social Club in Little Italy, New York. 

Among the reportedly hundreds of hours of surveillance recorded, authorities uncovered Gotti boasting about killing partners that disagreed with him. 

Upon playing the audio for Gravano, the mobster reportedly believed Gotti wanted him dead as well. 

It wasn’t long until Gravano agreed to become a witness in the FBI’s investigation. 

Following Gravano’s cooperation, Gotti was arrested in December 1990 and charged with several counts of racketeering, extortion, jury tampering, as well as the murder of Castellano. 

He was sentenced to life in prison in April 1992, where he died in 2002 at age 61. 

Gotti’s life and the investigation leading to his final arrest is detailed in a new Netflix documentary titled Get Gotti. 

The documentary is available for streaming on October 24.