John “Dapper Don” Gotti’s chosen final resting place is a veritable Valhalla for mobsters: St. John’s Cemetery in Queens.
Straddling Metropolitan Avenue in Middle Village, the 125-year-old Roman Catholic burial ground holds the graves of people from all walks of life, from average citizens to gallant Vietnam heroes like Medal of Honor recipient Louis E. Willett (1945-1967) to bodybuilder Charles Atlas (1892-1972).
But its 243-acre greensward is best known as the eternal resting place for more than a dozen mob bosses, hit men and other criminal figures.
Here’s the company Gotti will be keeping:
Carlo Gambino. Prototype for the fictional “Godfather” films. Ran the crime ring that still bears his name from 1957 until he died of heart failure in 1976.
Neill (Aniello) “The Hat” Dellacroce. Gambino underboss whose death from natural causes in 1985 left a power vacuum that Gotti used to kill then-boss Paul Castellano and become the don.
Vito Genovese. Dubbed the “Boss of all Bosses” while at the helm of the crime family bearing his name. Died in prison in 1969 at the age of 71.
Joseph “Joe” Colombo. Headed Colombo crime family from 1963 to 1978. Fatally shot in the head at a rally for Italian-American civil rights in Manhattan on Gambino’s orders.
Charles “Lucky” Luciano. “Vice-lord” who ran prostitution and drug operations here before being deported to Italy, where he died of a heart attack in 1962.
Salvatore Maranzano. Founder of the city’s “five families” after murdering his main rival in a Coney Island restaurant in 1931. Executed in his Manhattan office on Luciano’s orders.
Carmine “Lilo” Galante. Bonanno crime family chief who organized the French Connection heroin-smuggling scheme and was shot to death in 1979 by rival gangsters at a Brooklyn restaurant.
Philip “Rusty” Rastelli. Became Bonanno boss after Galante’s murder. Sentenced to a 12-year term in federal prison for labor racketeering. Died of liver cancer in 1991, shortly after his release from federal prison.
Joseph Profaci. One of 60 gangsters at an ill-fated 1957 upstate Mafia convention. Also presided over the Profaci-Gallo mob war that left 12 dead. After he died in 1962, the Profaci crime family was renamed the Colombo family.
James “Jimmy Nap” Napoli. Genovese capo who ran one of the largest illegal gambling rings in the United States from 1950s to 1980s. Died of natural causes in 1992
Wilfred “Willie Boy” Johnson. Mob turncoat gave the FBI information on Gotti and other Gambinos from 1966 to 1985. Refused witness protection and was killed in a hail of 18 bullets in front of his Brooklyn home in 1988.
Frank “The Dasher” Abbundando, a hit man for Murder Inc., the Brooklyn gang led by Albert Anastasia and Lepke Buchalter in the 1930s. Electrocuted at Sing Sing prison in 1942.
Harry “Happy” Maione, another Murder Inc. killer, also executed in 1942.