Gotti Family Livid Over Rick Ross “Teflon Don” Tag

The Gotti Family has a bone to pick with “Super High” rapper Rick Ross.

Ross is no stranger to snatching the identities of famous criminals for lyrical purposes. After all, the former Miami corrections officer recently warded off a multimillion-dollar lawsuit from Los Angeles cocaine kingpin Freeway Ricky Ross, who accused hip-hop’s self-professed “Bawse” of turning his street moniker into a top-selling brand. Now the “Hustlin’” hitmaker’s “Teflon Don” tag has attracted the anger of one of the Mafia’s most legendary families: The Gottis.

Ross used “Teflon Don” as the name of his recently-released album, but the grandson of former Gambino Family boss John Gotti is determined to stop the imposter from cashing in on Johnny Boy’s nickname.

Gotti — who died of lung cancer in a Michigan prison in 2005 — was dubbed the “Teflon Don” by New York’s tabloid media after winning acquittal after acquittal in the 1980s before he was finally convicted of murder and racketeering in 1992. (Gotti’s penchant for tailored Italian suit also got him dubbed “Dapper Don,” FYI.)
Although the nickname wasn’t one John came up with himself, Rick should have gotten the okay from the late mobster’s family before using it, Carmine Agnello, 24, told The New York Daily News Tuesday.

Carmine — as you may recall — appeared on the A&E reality series Growing Up Gotti with his mother and two brothers in the mid-2000s. These days, Carmine’s working to get his own rap career off the ground, and he doesn’t appreciate hanger-ons like Rick, 34, lining his pockets courtesy of his grandfather’s criminal legacy.

(Hello! That’s his job)

“He should have asked for permission. A standup, respectable guy would come and ask ‘If I could use the nickname,’” Carmine fumes. “I think he’s a great artist, but you can’t just start calling yourself that to sell records …He wants to go for that whole image, but hey, be yourself…Only in America can you go from being a corrections officer to calling yourself Teflon Don.”

For those who don’t know, John Gotti was a reputed racist, who was known to spew the N-word and went out of his way to keep people of color from purchasing property in his upscale community in the Howard Beach section of Queens, NY. With a history like that, I’m not sure why any African-American man (or anyone with morals) would want to name himself “Gotti,” “Teflon,” “Dapper,” or anything else having to do with this convicted murderer. Just my two cents….