High-profile screenwriters are working on a new series on legendary New York mafia leader John Gotti. According to Deadline, Oscar winners Bobby Moresco (Crash) and Nick Vallelonga (Green Book) are engaged to direct Betrayal: John Gotti and the Fall of La Cosa Nostra, alongside George Gallo (Midnight Run) and the son of Teflon Don John Gotti Jr. The story of the infamous criminal boss’s downfall will be told in a limited television series. The Gambino crime family in New York City was headed by Gotti, who was in charge of the city’s greatest criminal syndicate. In the 1980s and 1990s, as the mob’s public face and voice, he rose to legendary status across the United States, rivalling Al Capone as a gangster lord. The Dapper Don and the Teflon Don were nicknames given to him by the public for his showy public presence and lavish clothing.
His former deputy Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano helped bring an end to La Cosa Nostra, called the American Mafia, when he was finally captured. Three films have been made on Gotti and the Gambino criminal family, so he’s no stranger to the big screen. In 2018, Gotti, starring John Travolta as the eponymous don, was highly lambasted upon its debut, making it among the rare films to receive a feared zero percent rating from reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes upon release.
The story of Gotti’s historic takedown will be covered, as in previous biographical films, but the focus will be on his final days in jail in Marion, Illinois, when he tried to run the Gambinos through communications with his son. It will demonstrate the strategic disagreements between Gotti Sr. and his son, as well as the resulting disputes and repercussions. The show will also look at how the New York gangs responded to Gotti’s downfall and the ensuing pandemonium, among other things. For the first time since his death, hundreds of previously unseen tapes and transcripts of Gotti’s conversations have been made public in Betrayal. Gotti Jr., one of its four co-creators, is the only person to have witnessed the Gambinos’ rule from jail. Gotti Jr., Moresco, Vallelonga, and Gallo are all executive producers of the series.
Crash and Green Book gave Moresco and Vallelonga their Oscars, although both have a long filmography. Both The Black Donnellys and the Swedish show 100 Code were developed by Moresco in 2007. 10th & Wolf, starring James Marsden, was also written by him. In addition to writing and directing Choker and The Corporate Ladder, Vallelonga has also appeared in other films, including recently in The Many Saints of Newark. Robert De Niro’s Midnight Run is Gallo’s most well-known screenplay credit, but he also helped kickstart the Will Smith & Martin Lawrence action comedy Bad Boys. Despite Smith’s “slap heard ’round the world,” the fourth episode of the franchise is still in the works. Streamers and cable networks will soon be able to see Betrayal in order to locate a buyer.