By Daniel Massey
It was hard to tell whether the curious, the mourners or the flowers had the strongest presence at John Gotti’s wake last Thursday at the Papavero Funeral Home in Maspeth.
Hundreds of onlookers watched from behind police barricades as Gotti’s friends and family entered the funeral parlor from its entrance just off Grand Avenue. Tens of thousands of dollars of elaborate floral arrangements designed as a Cuban cigar, a horseshoe, a royal flush and boxing gloves were delivered throughout the day.
Gotti, former boss of the Gambino crime family, died June 10 after a long battle with throat cancer in a federal prison hospital in Missouri. He was 61.
“He was a regular fixture in the neighborhood. I’m here to pay my respects,” said Jim Buckley, of Maspeth, who stood among the group of onlookers. “I don’t overlook the crimes, but when you’re in the mob, there’s mob business to be done. He never bothered the man on the street. He was always nice.”
Margaret Rehm, of Sunnyside, had less sincere objectives in showing up for the wake.
“I’m just being nosy,” she said. “I want to see if I can see a little something.”
Two other inquisitive visitors sat in a blue Chevrolet Astrovan with tinted windows directly across the street from the funeral parlor. The two men, who appeared to be federal agents, drank from Pepsi cups and looked through binoculars. As mourners entered and exited, they snapped photos.
They saw a steady flow of men in dark, double-breasted suits walk through the front entrance of Papavero’s. A large, bald man in a black shirt and tan blazer stood watch at the door.
Inside the funeral parlor, a group of older men sat in a row at the back of the chapel. The floral displays lined the walls. Gotti’s wife and daughter, both named Victoria, sat in the front of the room, crying. Gotti lay in a closed bronze casket, a drawing of his smiling face perched on an easel behind his body. Family photos sat on a table to the left of the coffin.
Visitors were given prayer cards with religious images such as the Madonna and Child on front and the words “In loving memory of John Gotti, entered into eternal rest June 10, 2002” on the back.
Beneath that tribute was the prayer, “Do not stare at my grave and weep; I am not there, I do not sleep…Do not stand at my grave and cry, I am not there, I did not die.”
The Diocese of Brooklyn refused to grant Gotti a Mass of Christian Burial but permitted his entombment at St. John’s Cemetery in Middle Village, where he was buried Saturday.
Ron DiGilio, of Maspeth, who came to pay his respects, was angered by the denial.
“With the child sex scandal going on who are they to judge?” he said, adding that he was a Catholic. “They’ve managed to mess up more lives than he ever did. I’m sure worse a man than him has been given a proper burial.”
Several of Gotti’s immediate family members missed the wake, which was held last Thursday and Friday. Gotti’s son, John A. Gotti, and two of his brothers, Peter and Gene, were in jail. John A. Gotti is serving a six-year federal prison sentence for bribery and extortion; Gene is serving 50 years for heroin trafficking; and Peter was indicted earlier this month on federal racketeering charges and was being held without bail.
Among the mourners who did get to pay their respects were Chuck Zito, the former Hells Angel who plays a prison crew boss on the HBO series “Oz.”
Tony Ziminis, of Middle Village, brought a bouquet of roses picked from his own garden.
“I left the flowers on top of the casket and said a prayer,” he said. “He’s a person, too.”
Gotti’s longtime friend and attorney Bruce Cutler addressed the crowd when the wake was over Thursday night, telling them Gotti was there in spirit.
“If he could walk out with me and say hello, he would,” he said. “He is doing that through me … Hello.”
Reach reporter Daniel Massey by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
