John Favara

John Favara (1929-July 28, 1980) was the backyard neighbor of Gambino crime family godfather John Gotti, in Howard Beach, New York.

On March 18, 1980, 12-year-old Frank Gotti, youngest son of John Gotti, darted into the street on his bicycle from behind a dumpster where he was struck by Favara's car and killed. Favara, 51, who lived a block behind the Gotti family, worked as a service department manager for a furniture store. He had been on his way home from work. His adopted son, Scott, was a friend of the Gotti children and had been their guest for sleepovers.

Police found Favara was not to blame in the accident, which was officially ruled "accidental" and no charges were ever filed against him. However, in the months after the accident, the word "Murderer" was spray painted onto Favara's car. On May 28, Victoria DiGiorgio Gotti, Frank's mother, attacked Favara with a metal baseball bat, sending him to the hospital. Favara decided not to press charges and planned to move out of Howard Beach.

According to the FBI, On July 28, 1980, before Favara and his family were able to move, he was shoved into a van by several men near his work. There were several witnesses to the abduction, and accounts ranged from him being beaten with a baseball bat, shot with a silenced .22 caliber pistol, or both. Accounts differ on what happened to Favara's body. Informants led the FBI to excavate a mafia graveyard in 2004. Another account says that while alive he was dismembered with a chainsaw and stuffed into a barrel filled with concrete and dumped in the ocean or buried on the chop shop lot somewhere. [Goldberg, Jeffrey. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E5DB1239F932A05752C0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=6 The Don Is Done] , "The New York Times", January 31, 1999. Accessed August 29, 2008.] Favara's wife and two sons moved out of Howard Beach, having John declared legally dead in 1983. [ [http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/gotti/gotti_8.html The Tragedy of Frank Gotti] Accessed May 23, 2006] [ [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,134529,00.html Feds Search 'Mafia Graveyard' in New York] Accessed May 23, 2006] In November 2004, authorities excavated a parking lot in New York City believed to be a mob graveyard, and the suspected site of Favara's body. While two bodies were found, Favara's was not.

When questioned by two detectives on Favara's dissappearance, John Gotti said: "I'm not sorry the guy's missing. I wouldn't be sorry if the guy turned up dead." His wife Victoria, when questioned said: "I don't know what happened to him, but I'm not disappointed he's missing. He killed my boy."

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