His second-in-command is known as an underboss.

Gambino Crime Family: How Control Has Changed Since the 1950s, Associated Press, EPA, via Shutterstock, Robin Graubard/Associated Press, John Marshall Mantel for The New York Times. The next time the family came to widespread media attention was 2008, when law enforcement arrested 62 people on federal racketeering charges.

Ms. Gotti later competed on “The Celebrity Apprentice” and made appearances on Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” and VH1’s “Mob Wives.”, She’s not the only Gambino-adjacent woman on reality shows.

But Mr. Gotti’s notoriety also came from his ruthlessness. But on Wednesday, the family was vaulted into the spotlight after its reputed boss, Francesco Cali, was fatally shot outside in his home on Staten Island. It was an informer who would prove his undoing. But the younger Mr. Gotti went to prison in 1999, after pleading guilty to extortion. With Peter Gotti in prison, the Gottis were seemingly no longer running the daily operations. He also has a consigliere, a counselor or adviser. American Mafia families generally have similar structures. Unlike the heads of families past, John J. Gotti courted publicity and flaunted his power from the time he took control of the Gambino family in 1985 to his imprisonment in 1992. Underneath all of them are capos, or captains, who run crews of soldiers. Salvatore Gravano, Mr. Gotti’s underboss, testified as a government witness at Mr. Gotti’s fourth trial on murder-racketeering charges. He was succeeded by Domenico Cefalù, according to a report from The New York Daily News in 2011. His other moniker, “Teflon Don,” came from how often he managed to avoid prosecution. convicted and sentenced to life in prison, show was met with outcry from city officials.

The infamous Mafia organization and its violence over the years. Mr. Gravano, also known as “Sammy the Bull,” testified about Mr. Gotti’s involvement in Mr. Castellano’s murder, as well as in other crimes. He ran the family until Mr. Cali took control. He went to federal prison in 2004, serving sentences for racketeering, money laundering, extortion and plotting to kill Mr. Gravano. Law enforcement officials at the time didn’t suspect foul play in his death. Investigators later said that they believed John J. Gotti was still controlling the Gambino family — acting through his older brother, Peter — until his death in prison in 2002.

Peter Gotti, who is now 79, was reputed to have become the official boss of the family after his brother’s death.

He was murdered outside a Manhattan steak house.

But it’s a fair question, considering the fates that met other mob bosses — including the man who took over for him, Paul Castellano. Ms. Gravano went on to become an executive producer on another reality show, MTV’s “Made in Staten Island,” which starred her daughter, Karina Seabrook.

At the top is a boss who runs the show. Ultimately, Mr. Gotti was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He was known for having a furious temper and for ordering the killings of people he suspected were informants. Karen Gravano, the daughter of the man who helped send Ms. Gotti’s father to prison, also appeared on “Mob Wives.”.

The show was met with outcry from city officials, and MTV pulled it from the air after three episodes. The killing was striking for how it seemed to connect Mr. Cali, a publicity-shy don, with the ill-fated ends of past Mafia bosses. The family has retained its fame.