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that word sounds, "la cosa nostra"? how it flows on your tongue? >> kroft: no one is likely to be watching this story more closely than the fbi. >> you break rules, you end up in a dumpster. >> kroft: it's the first extended tv interview john gotti, jr., has ever done. he talks about his life as a made member of the gambino crime family, following in the footsteps of his famous father, the dapper don, john gotti, jr. obviously, he spent a lot of time in prison for murder. how do you justify that? >> i don't know if you can ever justify murder. i don't know if you can justify it. but i can make... i can make some type of an argument. you want to hear it? >> kroft: sure. >> okay. >> the fact that they allowed an fbi agent to infiltrate their organization, and add to that the fact that i'm a cuban-born playing an italian who was able to fool them-- it's an amazing insult to them. >> keteyian: jack garcia learned the language of la costa nostra, infiltrated the mob, and took down one of the most powerful mobsters in america. how did he do it and why is he now talking on "60 minutes?" >> you know what? somebody comes after me, they better come in numbers, because i'm ready for them. ♪ two million, four hundred thirty-four thousand, three hundred eleven people in this city. and only one me. i'll take those odds. be unstoppable. the 2016 ford edge. i use what's already inside me to reach my goals. so i liked when my doctor told me i may reach my blood sugar and a1c goals by activating what's within me. with once-weekly trulicity. trulicity is not insulin. it helps activate my body to do what it's supposed to do release its own insulin. trulicity responds when my blood sugar rises. i take it once a week, and it works 24/7. it comes in an easy-to-use pen and i may even lose a little weight. trulicity is a once-weekly injectable prescription medicine to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. it should be used along with diet and exercise. trulicity is not recommended as the first medicine to treat diabetes and should not be used by people with severe stomach or intestinal problems, or people with type i diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. trulicity is not insulin and has not been studied with long-acting insulin. do not take trulicity if you or anyone in your family has had medullary thyroid cancer or multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2 or if you are allergic to trulicity or its ingredients. stop using trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of an allergic reaction, such as itching, rash, or difficulty breathing; if you have signs of pancreatitis such as severe stomach pain that will not go away and may move to your back, with or without vomiting; or if you have symptoms of thyroid cancer, which may include a lump or swelling in your neck, hoarseness, trouble swallowing, or shortness of breath. medicines like trulicity may cause stomach problems, which could be severe. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and any medicines you take. taking trulicity with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase your risk for low blood sugar. common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite, and indigestion. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney failure. with trulicity, i click to activate what's within me. if you want help improving your a1c and blood sugar numbers with a non-insulin option, ask your doctor about once-weekly trulicity. and click to activate your within. don't drop your phone, drop your network. bring your phone to cricket wireless. we have more 4g lte coverage nationwide than t-mobile or sprint. cricket wireless. something to smile about. no matter what nasty cold symptoms you get, alka seltzer plus liquid gels rush liquid fast relief to your tough cold symptoms. and they outsell mucinex liquid gels 2 to 1. alka seltzer plus liquid gels. >> kroft: good evening. i'm steve kroft. tonight, tales of murder, mayhem, and the mafia-- "60 minutes presents: mob stories." we begin with charlie and carol gasko. they were an elderly couple who moved to santa monica, california, sometime in early 1997 to begin a new phase of their life. for the next 14 years, they did almost nothing that was memorable. and as we first reported back in 2013, they would be of absolutely no interest, if it weren't for the fact that "charlie gasko" turned out to be james "whitey" bulger, the notorious boston gangster and longtime fugitive, who is now in prison serving two lifetime sentences. "carol gasko" was actually catherine greig, whitey's longtime girlfriend and caregiver. the story of how they managed to elude an international manhunt for so long while hiding in plain sight is interesting. and tonight, you'll hear about it from the gaskos' neighbors, and from federal agents who finally unraveled the case, with the help of a boob job and an alley cat. if you're forced into retirement, with a comfortable nest egg and a desire to be left completely alone, there is no better place than santa monica, california. this low-key seaside suburb of l.a. is shared by transients and tourists, hippies and hedonists, celebrities and lots of senior citizens attracted to the climate and an abundance of inexpensive, rent-controlled apartments just a few blocks from the ocean. places like the princess eugenia on third street, which is where charlie and carol gasko, a childless couple from chicago, lived for 14 years without attracting much attention from longtime neighbors or landlords. josh bond is the building manager. what were they like? >> josh bond: they were, like, the nice retired old couple that lived in the apartment next to me. >> kroft: good tenants? >> bond: excellent tenants. never complained, always paid rent on time. >> kroft: in cash? >> bond: in cash. >> kroft: janus goodwin lived down the hall. >> janus goodwin: they had nothing. and they never went out. they never had food delivered. she never dressed nicely. >> kroft: you thought they were poor? >> goodwin: yes, without a doubt. >> kroft: the one thing everyone remembers about the gaskos is that they loved animals and always made a fuss over the ones in the neighborhood. barbara gluck remembers that carol gasko always fed a stray cat after its owner had died. >> barbara gluck: she would, you know, pet it and be sweet to it, and then she would put a plate of food, like, out here. >> kroft: and what about charlie gasko? >> gluck: you know, he always had a hat on and dark glasses. i have to say it was mysterious to me, why a lovely woman like that was hanging out with that guy, that old, grumpy man. i never could figure that one out. until i heard they had 800,000- something dollars in the wall. ( laughter ) and then i went, "oh, okay," you know? >> kroft: money wasn't the only thing found in the gaskos' apartment on june 22, 2011, when the fbi stopped by and ended what it called the most extensive manhunt in the bureau's history. >> scott garriola: weapons all over the apartment. i mean, weapons by his nightstand, weapons under the windowsill-- shotguns, mini- rugers, rifles. >> kroft: what had started out as a routine day for special agent scott garriola, who was in charge of hunting fugitives in l.a., would turn into one of the most interesting days of his career. after getting a call to stake out a building in santa monica, he notified his backup team with the l.a.p.d. >> garriola: i had four guys working that day, and i said, "we got a tip on whitey bulger, and i'll see you there in about an hour." and invariably the texts would return, "who's whitey bulger?" >> kroft: really? >> garriola: yeah, a few of them. so i had to remind them... gently remind them who whitey bulger was. >> kroft: that he was number one of the fbi's most wanted list. >> garriola: number... number one. number one, yeah. big east coast figure, but... so, on the west coast, not so much. imagine any cartel leader... >> kroft: the cops in l.a. were focused on gangbangers and cartel members, not some retired irish mobster who hadn't been spotted in 16 years. but then, few mobsters have ever been as infamous in a city as whitey bulger was in boston, and his reputation was for more than just being grumpy. besides extortion and flooding the city with cocaine, bulger routinely performed or ordered executions-- some at close range, some with a hail of bullets, and at least one by strangulation, after which, it's said, he took a nap. special agent rich teahan, who ran the fbi's whitey bulger fugitive task force, had heard it all. >> rich teahan: bulger was charged with 19 counts of murder. he was charged with other crimes. he was a scourge to the society in south boston, his own community. >> kroft: he was also a scourge to the fbi, and a great source of embarrassment to teahan, special agent phil torsney, and others on the fbi task force. years earlier, whitey bulger had infiltrated the boston office of the fbi and bought off agents, who protected him and plied him with information, including the tip that allowed bulger to flee just days before he was to be indicted. >> phil torsney: we really had to catch this guy to establish credibility after all the other issues. and it was just a matter of bringing this guy back to boston. >> kroft: torsney, who's now retired, and agent tommy macdonald joined the task force in 2009. the joke was bulger was on the fbi's "least wanted list." there hadn't been a credible lead in more than a decade. and their efforts in bulger's old neighborhood of south boston were met with mistrust and ridicule. >> torsney: some people, they told us right out front, "you guys aren't looking for that guy." people just made the assumption we had him stashed somewhere. i mean, people really thought that kind of thing. >> tommy macdonald: despite that mindset that "we're not going to help you," the fbi still got it done. >> kroft: took 16 years. >> macdonald: took 16 years. yeah, this was not a typical fugitive. >> kroft: the fbi says bulger had planned his getaway years in advance, with money set aside and a fake identity for a "thomas baxter." during his first two years on the lam, bulger was in touch with friends and family, shuttling between new york, chicago, and the resort town of grand isle, louisiana, where he rented a home until his identity was compromised. after that, it seemed as if bulger had disappeared from the face of the earth, except for the alleged sightings all over the world. how many of these tips do you think might have been true? >> torsney: boy, there was thousands and thousands of tips, and i think... i don't think any of them were true. >> kroft: one of the obstacles was, there were really no good photographs of bulger or his longtime live-in girlfriend catherine greig, a former dental hygienist. the fbi often noted that the couple shared a love of animals, especially dogs and cats, and asked veterinarians to be on the lookout. there were reports that greig once had breast implants and other plastic surgery in boston, so the task force reached out to physicians. eventually, they got a call from a dr. matthias donelan, who had located her files in storage. >> macdonald: i was trying to leave the office a little early to catch one of my kids' ballgames. and i said, "well, listen, i'm going to swing by in the morning and pick those up." and they said to me, "do you want the photos, too?" and i said, "you have photos?" and they said, "yeah, we have photos." i said, "we'll be there in 15 minutes." >> kroft: the breast implant lead produced a treasure trove of high-resolution catherine greig photographs that would help crack the case. the fbi decided to switch strategies, going after the girlfriend in order to catch the gangster. >> this is an announcement by the fbi... >> kroft: the fbi created this public service announcement. >> ...60-year-old greig is the girlfriend of 81-year-old bulger. >> kroft: it ran it in 14 markets on daytime talk shows aimed at women. >> call the tip line at 1-800- call-fbi. >> kroft: and it didn't take long. the very next morning, the bulger task force got three messages from someone that used to live in santa monica, and was 100% certain that charlie and carol gasko, apartment 303 at the princess eugenia apartments, were the people they were looking for. the descriptions and the age difference matched, and deputy u.s. marshall neil sullivan, who handled the lead, said there was another piece of tantalizing information. >> neil sullivan: the tipster specifically described that they were caring for this cat and their love for this cat. so that was just one piece of the puzzle on the tip that just added up to saying, "if this isn't them, it's something we better check out immediately because it sure sounds like them." >> kroft: a search of the fbi's computer database for the gaskos raised another red flag-- not for what it found, but for what it didn't. >> sullivan: basically, like, they were ghosts... >> kroft: no driver's license... >> sullivan: exactly. no driver's license, no california i.d., like they didn't exist. >> kroft: that's the apartment. >> garriola: that corner on the third floor. >> kroft: on the right-hand side? >> garriola: yep. >> kroft: by early afternoon, fbi agent scott garriola had set up a number of surveillance posts, and had already met with apartment manager josh bond to talk about his tenants. >> bond: he closed the door, threw down a folder and opened it up and said, "are these the people that live in apartment 303?" >> kroft: did you say anything when you saw the pictures? >> bond: my initial reaction was, "holy ( bleep )." >> kroft: you're living next door to a gangster. >> bond: well, i still didn't really know who he was. >> kroft: but it didn't take him long to figure it out. while the fbi was mulling its options, bond logged on to bulger's wikipedia page. >> bond: and i'm just kind of scrolling down. it's like, "oh, wow, this guy's serious." it's, like, murders and extortion. and then, i get to the bottom and there's this... this thing. it's like, from one of his old, you know, people saying, "well, the last time i saw him, he... he said, you know, when he goes out, he's... he's going to have guns and he's going to be ready to take people with him. i was like, "ooh, maybe i shouldn't be involved in this." ( laughs ) >> kroft: bond told the fbi he wasn't going to knock on the gaskos' door, because there was a note posted expressly asking people not to bother them. carol had told the neighbors that charlie was showing signs of dementia. >> garriola: so we were back there... >> kroft: so, garriola devised a ruse involving the gaskos' storage locker in the garage. >> garriola: it had the name "gasko" across it and "apartment 303." >> kroft: he had the manager call to tell them that their locker had been broken into, and that he needed someone to come down to see if anything was missing. carol gasko said her husband would be right down. >> garriola: we just rushed him. >> kroft: you mean guns out? "fbi, don't move!" >> garriola: gave the words, "hey, fbi." "get your hands up." hands went up right away. and then, at that moment, we told him get down on his knees and he gave us... ( laughs ) yeah, he gave us a "i ain't getting down on my "f"-ing knees." >> kroft: didn't want to get his pants dirty. >> garriola: didn't want to get his pants dirty. you know, wearing white and seeing the oil on the ground, i guess he didn't want to get down in oil. >> kroft: even at 81, this was a man used to being in control. >> garriola: i asked him to identify himself and that didn't go over well. he asked me to "f"-ing identify myself, which i did. and i asked him, i said, "are you whitey bulger?" he said, "yes." just about that moment, someone catches my attention from a few feet away by the elevator shaft. >> kroft: it was janus goodwin from the third floor, coming to do her laundry. >> goodwin: and i said, "excuse me. i think i can help you. this man has dementia, so if he's acting oddly, you know, that could be why." >> garriola: immediately, what flashed through my mind is, "oh, my god, i just arrested an 81- year-old man with alzheimer's who thinks he's whitey bulger. what is he going to tell me next, he's elvis?" so i said, "do me a favor. this woman over here says you have a touch of alzheimer's," and he said, "don't listen to her, she's "f"-ing nuts." he says, "i'm james bulger." >> kroft: a few minutes later, he confirmed it, signing a consent form allowing the fbi to search his apartment. >> garriola: i did ask him, i said, "hey, whitey," i said, "aren't you relieved that you don't have to look over your shoulder anymore and, you know, it's come to an end?" and he said, "are you ( bleep ) nuts?" >> kroft: but, in some ways, whitey bulger and catherine greig had already been prisoners in apartment 303, which appeared to be a mixture of the murderous and the mundane. alongside the weapons and all the money, they had stockpiled a lifetime supply of cleansers, creams, and detergents. the fbi took special interest in a collection of 64-ounce bottles with white socks stretched over the top. >> garriola: i said, "hey whitey, what are these? are these some kind of molotov cocktail you're making?" he goes, "no," he said, "i buy tube socks from the 99 cent store, and they're too tight on my calves and that's the way i stretch them out." i said, "why you shopping at the 99 cent store? you have half a million dollars under your bed." he goes, "i had to make the money last." >> kroft: its been said that one of the reasons it took so long to catch whitey bulger is that people were looking for a gangster, and bulger, whether he liked it or not, had ceased to be one. >> torsney: he said it was hard to keep up that mindset of a criminal. and that's part of the reason he came down to that garage. it was hard to stay on that edge, that criminal edge, after being on the lam as a regular citizen for 15 years. >> kroft: the master manipulator gave credit to catherine greig for keeping him crime-free, hoping it would mitigate her sentence. she is now serving eight years for harboring a fugitive. on the long plane ride back to boston, bulger told his captors that he became obsessed with not getting caught, and would do anything to avoid it, even if it meant obeying the law. whitey bulger's biggest fear, they said, was being discovered dead in his apartment and he had a plan to avoid it. >> torsney: if he became ill and knew he was on his deathbed, he'd go down to arizona, crawl down in the bottom of one of these mines, and die and decompose. and hope.. hope that we would never find him and still be looking... looking for him forever. >> kroft: as for all that money that was seized from whitey bulger's apartment, federal prosecutors are preparing to distribute nearly $822,000 to the families of his murder victims and three men who were extorted by the gangster. >> cbs money watch update sponsored by lincoln financial, calling all chief life officers. >> glor: good evening. china's new anti-terrorism law approved today requires tech companies the share information with the government. apple wants samsung to pay another $180 million for product infringement. and the new "star wars" movie hit $1 billion in ticket sales in 12 days, fastest in history. i'm jeff glor, cbs news. nobody told me to expect it... ...intercourse that's painful due to menopausal changes. it's not likely to go away on its own. so let's do something about it. premarin vaginal cream can help. it provides estrogens to help rebuild vaginal tissue and make intercourse more comfortable. premarin vaginal cream treats vaginal changes due to menopause and moderate-to-severe painful intercourse caused by these changes. don't use it if you've had unusual vaginal bleeding, breast or uterine cancer, blood clots, liver problems, stroke or heart attack, are allergic to any of its ingredients or think you're pregnant. side effects may include headache, pelvic pain, breast pain, vaginal bleeding and vaginitis. estrogens may increase your chances of getting cancer of the uterus, strokes, blood clots, or dementia, so use it for the shortest time based on goals and risks. estrogens should not be used to prevent heart disease, heart attack, stroke or dementia. ask your doctor about premarin vaginal cream. a box. what's this? 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i don't like this anymore. i'm going to be a butcher," i would tell him, "i hope you have a smock for me." that's the way i feel. that's the way i felt. >> kroft: you can tell he still worships his father. >> gotti, jr.: handsome as ever. handsome as ever. >> kroft: not just with the love of a son, but with some of the same misguided romanticism that has long drawn the news media and the public to the mob culture. and john gotti, sr., was the most famous mobster of his generation. he ascended to the top of the gambino crime family by organizing the assassination of his predecessor, paul castellano, outside a popular manhattan steak house. it was a stylistic statement that gotti, sr., would accentuate with $2,000 italian suits and hand-painted ties, earning him a certain brand of celebrity and a nickname, "the dapper don." in new york, a city that worships power of any kind, gotti's reached beyond gambling and loan-sharking into the garment center, the garbage business, and the construction industry. and he wanted everyone to know what he did, as long as they couldn't prove it. now, a friend of your father's told me there is nothing he loved better than being a gangster. >> gotti, jr.: nothing. nothing. >> kroft: what did he love about it? >> gotti, jr.: everything. there was nothing he didn't like about it. my father lived that life 24/7. 24/7. in fact, his wife and kids were second to the streets. he loved it. he loved the code. he loved the action. he loved the chase. >> kroft: was that more important than money? >> gotti, jr.: he hated money. he used to say, if a guy was saving money or putting money away, and he was a street guy, he would say, "what's on his mind? what has he got planned? you know, at the end of the day, we're all going to jail. what's he going to do with that money?" >> kroft: is that the way he looked at life? >> gotti, jr.: he felt that anybody who really truly lived in the streets-- not the fringe players, not the frauds, not the pretenders-- if you really, truly lived it like john did, at the end of the day, you got to die or go to jail. that's the rules. that's the way it was. >> kroft: did he talk about what he did for a living? >> gotti, jr.: no, he didn't sit at the table and say, "you know, by the way, my take from the numbers rackets are up this week," you know? it didn't go like that, nothing like that. >> kroft: and he didn't have conversations like that with the... with some of his friends. >> gotti, jr.: no. other than my father being away from home-- you know, being incarcerated-- and the hours that he kept, our house was a pretty normal house. >> kroft: gotti says it wasn't until he was 14, when he was shipped off to boarding school at the new york military academy, that he found out exactly who his father was and what he did. and he learned it while watching a news program with his fellow cadets. what was the reaction of your classmates? >> gotti, jr.: i guess maybe some of them were intimidated. but most of them thought it was pretty cool. "does your father..." they said, "your father kill people? does your father beat people up?" "not around the house." >> kroft: at some point, you must have come to the realization that he did, outside of the house. >> gotti, jr.: probably. but in front of me? no. >> kroft: how do you, as a young man, react to that? >> gotti, jr.: i'm howard beach. i'm from howard beach. pretty much, we're taught, from a young age, that you don't call the cops for nothing. we take care of our own problems. and pretty much all your uncles, cousins, friends, father, they're all bouncing around the street, in one shape or form. and this is the way it is. as 14-year-old kids, 15-year-old kids, we'd go up to the boulevard where we hung out, and we'd talk about, "hey, tough break, you know. tony just got ten years. he's going to jail. having a big party for him over there." "oh, yeah, good, good, good." and his sons are, you know, sitting next to you. it's just... it was normal conversation for us. >> kroft: you knew people were breaking the law. >> gotti, jr.: sure. sure. >> kroft: and what you're saying is that wasn't considered necessarily a bad thing? >> gotti, jr.: no. no, not at all. >> kroft: because? >> gotti, jr.: because everybody did it. you know what? the guy next to you was a car thief. the guy next to you on your left-hand side, he was a book maker. that's everybody. >> kroft: it was the summer after he graduated from military school that gotti discovered what he thought was his calling, hanging around his father's headquarters at the bergin hunt and fish club. >> gotti, jr.: i'd go to the bergin hunt and fish club all the time. i wanted to be around him. and he had that type of a personality. and i would just watch. so you're sitting around the social club, and they'd be playing cards and they're hanging out. and they're breaking balls, and cooking, and laughing, and commiserating. and everything's going on. and you're right there. and you're saying, "this is where i belong. >> kroft: when you became a made man, when you were formally inducted in... into la cosa nostra, was that a... was that a big deal for him? >> gotti, jr.: you like the way that word sounds, "la cosa nostra"? how it flows on your tongue? >> kroft: no, i... i'm trying to find another word. you... you don't like "mob." you don't like "mafia." >> gotti, jr.: i was a "street" guy. i was in the streets. >> kroft: okay. >> gotti, jr.: and you know, when my father embraced me, put his arm around me, and looked at me as a street guy, as a knock- around guy, a bounce-around guy like himself, proudest moment of my life. was the proudest moment of my life because i was slowly becoming like him. >> kroft: obviously, he spent a lot of time in prison for murder. how do you justify that? >> gotti, jr.: i don't know if you can ever justify murder. i don't know if you can justify it. but i can make... i can make some type of an argument. you want to hear it? >> kroft: sure. >> gotti, jr.: okay. john was a part of the streets. he swore that that was his life. he swore, "i'm going to live and die by the rules of the streets, the code of the streets." and everybody that john's accused of killing or may have killed or wanted to kill or tried to kill, was a part of that same street. that was a part of the same world, the same code. and my father was always said, in his mind, "you break rules, you end up in a dumpster." "if i break rules," meaning himself, "they're going to put two in my hat and put me in a dumpster. that's the way it works." so, am i justifying it? no, i'm explaining it. >> kroft: and you were comfortable living in that world? >> gotti, jr.: when you don't know much else, yeah. yeah, i guess so. i guess so. when you don't know much else, i guess so. >> kroft: you thought you were capable of killing somebody? >> gotti, jr.: i don't think anybody... i don't know if anybody ever thinks of themselves as capable of killing anybody, until they're put into that position. >> kroft: you know, i want to ask you, "have you ever killed anybody?" but you're not going to answer that question, are you? >> gotti, jr.: first of all, it's a ridiculous question. second of... if you go by the government, who didn't i kill? >> kroft: by the late 1990s, he learned that the federal government was preparing to file charges against him for racketeering, and he began to wonder whether he had the stomach for the job. i mean, there was a lot of treachery. >> gotti, jr.: oh, absolutely. there's treachery in every... there's treachery in the corporate world-- equally... i have to say... i can't say more so. equally so in the streets. >> kroft: still, it was dealt with a little differently on the streets, though? >> gotti, jr.: careers are made and broken. guys are bankrupted. yeah, i can see where you're going with this. ( laughter ) >> kroft: did you ever worry about getting whacked? >> gotti, jr.: every day. every day. that's a possibility. it's a possibility that something could happen to you every day of your life. and you know something? when... when you hang out in the streets, you're hanging with a different type of a person. you know, you don't know what's going to happen. you know, you can be with... tony's here today, then tony's doing ten years tomorrow. billy's here today, and then you never see him again. who knows? anything's possible. it's a volatile existence. >> kroft: today, gotti is a free man and back living in his family's two-acre compound, with a swimming pool and stables, in the fashionable village of oyster bay long island. this is a very nice piece of property. >> gotti, jr.: thank you. >> kroft: he claims the property was purchased with income from legitimate businesses, and the government has been unable to prove otherwise. he says it is heavily mortgaged and he is deeply in debt after spending millions on his legal bills. he says the family is getting by on a modest income from commercial real estate properties. >> gotti, jr.: this little guy was born the first day of jury selection in my third trial. >> kroft: gotti is now 51, married, with six children ranging in age from eight to 24. he says he is still trying to acclimate himself to normal family life. >> gotti, jr.: i was in the life. i was active in the life. i embraced the life and everything that went with it. but a lot of what you've heard and seen about me is fiction. there's fact and there's fiction, and a lot of it is fiction. >> kroft: was there anything about the life other than your father that you liked and enjoyed? >> gotti, jr.: there's a lot to like about the streets. there's a lot of glamour there. you know, there's a lot of what you believe to be camaraderie. >> kroft: the glamour part. tell me about the glamour part? >> gotti, jr.: well, there's the suits, there's the cars. there's the restaurants. there's the attention. the deference you're given, no matter where you go, you know. it means a lot. you feel like you're a special kind of guy. >> kroft: gotti says he's explored the possibility of leaving the new york area for north carolina or florida, but some of his children are resisting. he says he's interested in writing a book about his life. >> gotti, jr.: i... i've been writing for several years, exploring a literary career. >> kroft: you wrote a children's book. >> gotti, jr.: i did. i did. while i was in ray brook. sure, it was fun. it was fun. it was fun, because it... the fact that i... i had written it, and my cellmate, who was doing 17 years for bank robbery, brian linderman-- sweetheart of a kid- - he was... he's somewhat of an artist, so he did all the illustrations. and i couldn't get it published. i couldn't get it published, because everywhere we went, they wanted my life. "no, we want to know about the juicy stuff, and then we'll do that." and i wasn't interested in doing it. so, basically, it went nowhere. >> kroft: in the years since we conducted that interview, john gotti did end up self-publishing an autobiography called "shadow of my father". he's been working on a movie version that he says will star john travolta playing his dad. it's scheduled to be shot in 2016. >> gotti, jr.: i'm blessed. blessed. >> kroft: why do you feel that way? you're alive... >> gotti, jr.: i'm alive. i'm free. my children are healthy, which is most important. i have the liberty to get up every morning and embrace my children, spend time with my family. i'm blessed. if tomorrow morning i walked in and saw an oncologist and he told me, "you have terminal cancer," i'm ahead of the game. i can't complain. and i won't complain. first-round buy. for more cbs news and information, go to cbssports.com and only one me. i'll take those odds. be unstoppable. the 2016 ford edge. you owned your car you named it brad.s, you loved brad. and then you totaled him. you two had been through everything together. two boyfriends, three jobs... you're like nothing can replace brad. then liberty mutual calls, and you break into your happy dance. if you sign up for better car replacement™, we'll pay for a car that's a model year newer with 15,000 fewer miles than your old one. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. in 1965 subway's founders fresh sandwiches.le mission. it seemed crazy in a time when gimmicks were all the rage... but the idea of freshly made sandwiches with quality ingredients would stand the test of ti.e the subway sandwich shop. founded on fresh. when i went on to ancestry, i just put in the name yes, we are twins. of my parents and my grandparents. i was getting all these leaves and i was going back generation after generation. you start to see documents and you see signatures of people that you've never met. i mean, you don't know these people, but you feel like you do. you get connected to them. i wish that i could get into a time machine and go back 100 years, 200 years and just meet these people. being on ancestry just made me feel like i belonged somewhere. discover your story. start searching for free now at ancestry.com. [ sneezing ] a cold can make you miserable. luckily, alka seltzer plus cold and cough liquid gels. rush liquid fast relief to your tough cold symptoms. fast, powerful liquid gels from alka seltzer plus >> kroft: few institutions protect their secrets as passionately, and more violently, than the mafia. being accepted into the inner sanctum of the mob demands from its members a blood oath of loyalty, known as "omerta". imagine then what it was like when a cuban-american fbi agent infiltrated the most feared crime family in america posing as an italian gangster. back in 2008, that agent, jack garcia, came out from undercover for the first time and told armen keteyian how he did it. how he was able to fool the wisest of the wise guys, delivering an acting performance that was more believable than anything hollywood could produce. >> joaquin "jack" garcia: i always played the big role. i mean, my mantra was, you know, "think big, be big." and i was able to be the type of guy that never in a million years would somebody suspect that i was an agent. >> keteyian: joaquin "jack" garcia may be the most unlikely law enforcement figure in history-- all 390 pounds of him- - whose performance was so convincing that he was offered the mafia's highest honor-- to become a "made man" in the mob. >> garcia: in the mob culture, that is the holy grail. for an associate to be proposed for membership into la cosa nostra is what these criminals aspire to do. >> keteyian: to become a made man. >> garcia: to become a made man. the fact that they allowed an fbi agent to infiltrate their organization, and add to that the fact that i'm a cuban-born playing an italian who was able to fool them-- it's an amazing insult to them. >> keteyian: for garcia, his invitation to enter the mob capped a career working a staggering 100 major undercover cases. but none compared with jack falcone, the character he created in 2002 to get inside the gambino crime family, playing the role of an investor in a strip club that the gambinos and one of their ruthless leaders, greg depalma, were muscling in on. >> garcia: jack falcone entered the scene in the bronx, new york. he was a guy who was a jewel thief, and he was a guy who was an extortionist and a hijacker. i drove a fancy car. i mean, i had the rolex presidents' watch. i had the obligatory three-carat diamond pinky. i had the cross. then of, course, suits-- all got to be italian silk. you got to get your brionis, you got to get your zegna. lucky got my size-- there aren't too many zegnas or brionis in my size. it's this package that you want to create. you don't play the role of this big money launderer and then you show up in a yugo. >> keteyian: garcia was the complete package-- 20 years experience as an fbi agent, combined with a style and charm that mobsters could not resist. >> garcia: i was this big guy with a lot of cash who everybody wanted to be around. so i would disarm the person by always being nice. "hey, you're looking great today. where did you get those nice threads, man? look at you, like a million dollars." "oh, yeah, i look good." "oh, yeah, yeah, look at this. i love those blue shoes." everybody loves a happy guy. >> keteyian: happy jack. >> garcia: happy jack. worked for me. >> keteyian: new york fbi agent nat parisi hand-picked garcia for the job, becoming his handler in the case, his sole lifeline to the outside world during the two-and-a-half-year investigation. >> nat parisi: when he enters a room full of wise guys, they're all going to want to know, who is that man? >> keteyian: how do you train a cuban-american to become an italian-american and pass the wise guy test? >> parisi: i'm an italian- american, and i shared with jack, you know, my experiences growing up. but he and i were convinced that he could pull it off. >> garcia: so nat decided to come up with this school that we called it "the mob school." >> keteyian: excuse me? >> garcia: yes, it was called the mob school. >> keteyian: a form of higher education that included, of all things, a trip to the grocery store, where garcia learned one of the mob's golden rules-- never carry your cash in a wallet. wrap it in a rubber band pulled from a head of broccoli. >> garcia: you would take this off, as you can see. and then you would just wrap it up. there you are. this is the way you operated with your money. everybody just simply carries a wad of cash. >> keteyian: with a broccoli band. >> garcia: with a broccoli band. that was one of those little things that could be big things down the line if you didn't... if you didn't prepare right for your role. because unlike, like i said, in "the sopranos," where there were multiple takes, there was only take, and that was it. and it had to be a good one. >> keteyian: the training also required garcia to spend countless hours in front of the television. do i have this right? you actually watched the food channel? >> garcia: yes. you pick up little phrases there, you know, tuto bene, you know, and all these little things. and i would watch the way the food was prepared, what are the ingredients that went in, the pronunciation of the ingredient because all... a lot of conversations all dealt with "eh, how's your food? how's your pasta fagiole?" "eh, it's good. you could add a little more of this, a little bit of that." and it was always like there were... everybody was a food critic in the mob. "oh, forget about this. let's go down the block, this guy makes it better than this guy." like being cuban, i get caught up sometimes... like i would say, "manicotti". it's not "manicotti," it's "manigot". >> keteyian: for you, a single mispronunciation, a single misstep, the wrong word at the wrong time, the alarm bells go off. >> garcia: exactly. and i couldn't afford having alarm bells going off. i wanted things to constantly be without any suspicion. >> keteyian: garcia left nothing to chance out of respect and fear for the man at the center of his investigation-- gambino capo greg depalma, head of the family's operations in new york's affluent westchester county. at 72, depalma had a reputation as an old-school mobster with a hair-trigger temper. >> garcia: greg depalma, i would best describe him as the devil incarnate, a very evil man, very evil man. >> keteyian: correct me if i'm wrong-- who once used a power tool... >> garcia: yes. >> keteyian: ...on someone's head... >> garcia: that is correct. >> keteyian: ...who he thought was stealing from him? >> garcia: yes. >> keteyian: a man not given to subtlety. >> garcia: he just didn't care. and he took his oath and he really lived by it, where the family came first-- that if your child was dying, laying in bed with few minutes to live, or seconds, and the boss calls you, you better leave that child and go see the boss because that's your real family. >> keteyian: before long, jack falcone won over depalma, first by giving him cartons of counterfeit cigarettes for his birthday, and then by offering him what became an endless stream of luxury goods, all supplied to jack by the fbi. there's a word for the kind of guy you were in the mafia. you're a... you're an "earner." >> garcia: i'm an earner. >> keteyian: what do you mean by that? >> garcia: being an earner is a very important thing. an earner is a kind of guy who makes money, not only for himself and his skipper, but also for the family. and greg depalma saw me as an earner. >> keteyian: for two years, falcone wore a wire taped to his chest, and for good measure, gave depalma this cell phone with a bugging device that allowed the fbi to track depalma's location and listen in on his conversations, even when the phone was turned off. falcone became like a son to depalma, at his side while he and other mobsters concocted schemes to extort businesses, sell fake sports memorabilia, and collect a tax on nearly every union construction site in new york. >> garcia: greg depalma told me that, in new york city, 2% of all construction goes to the mob. >> keteyian: you're talking what, tens... >> garcia: you want to do business... >> keteyian: ...of millions of dollars? >> garcia: that's the mob tax, it's called. >> keteyian: in building their case against the gambinos, garcia and his handler, nat parisi, would meet up to five times a day, often in public places like this home depot, exchanging evidence and information. >> garcia: i would come in with an envelope that would contain all the recording devices which i wore. >> parisi: i'd also brief him on what we knew, the intelligence that we were gathering. so that he could be safer and do his job out there better. >> keteyian: but for all of the information they exchanged, there was one extraordinary conversation captured on tape, an offer from depalma to make falcone a "made member" of the mob. >> greg depalma: so there is only one thing i'm pushing to do asap, is you. [no audio] everything else. >> falcone: well, i appreciate that, buddy. >> depalma: that would be the second guy. i mean, you want it, right? >> falcone: yeah, of course. i'm honored for that. i'm even honored that you know, you know... that i will never let you down, either. >> keteyian: what's going through your mind when you hear those words, "you're going to become a made man." >> falcone: i couldn't believe it. and i feel, i said, "wow, we're here, we've really come a long way." here i am, an fbi agent. he's trusted me so much that he would propose me, considering that this is a seasoned, hardcore mobster. >> keteyian: there had to be some sort of escape plan if things went wrong. if you were asked to kill somebody, what was the out? >> garcia: the scenario i set up if i was ever going to be involved, "let's take a ride, jack. we're going to go take care of this guy." i was going to have a heart attack. so picture this-- all of a sudden we got to do somebody, i'm going to start wailing, on the ground, they're going to stop what they're doing and they're going to try to take me to the doctor. and i would do it. so i had this all programmed in my mind. >> keteyian: but in february, 2005, garcia's life as jack falcone unraveled inside this bloomingdales department store, when he acted more like a cop than a criminal. it happened in the house wares section, when he watched a gambino capo named robert vaccaro attack another capo, known as "petey chops," with a heavy crystal candlestick. >> garcia: he takes it, cracks him on the head, and you hear like a melon breaking, just "pop," and then blood starts gushing. he drops straight down. and i'm sitting there going, "i don't believe what's going on. i just saw an assault going on here." >> keteyian: in the house wares section. >> garcia: in the house wares section, president's day at bloomingdales, white plains. >> keteyian: doesn't mafia law dictate that you get in on this beating? >> garcia: you're right. i'm saying, "okay, now, i think i messed up royally here." because, number one, i didn't take any licks at this guy, petey chops. i should have been, you know, kicking him, banging him, some way of something, slapping him around. i didn't do that. >> keteyian: a potential fatal mistake for you? >> garcia: i thought that that incident, they looked at me after that, a little... a little different. >> keteyian: the fbi was so concerned that garcia had blown his cover and was about to be killed that it pulled the plug on the investigation. but by now, the bureau had gathered enough evidence to take down the hierarchy of the gambino crime family, including greg depalma and 31 other associates. all pled guilty except depalma, who insisted on going to trial. in the courtroom, the man he trusted as jack falcone turned right before his eyes into fbi agent jack garcia. >> keteyian: describe the look on greg depalma's face when you're testifying against him in court. >> garcia: oh, it was classic. he's looking at me. you know, you could tell, like, if he could just come... get his hands around my neck, you know, he'd just take me out. and i'm walking out of the court room. i had to pass by his table, and he just looked at me and he said to me, you know, you're going to have to probably blot this out because "you [no audio]" you know, so... so i just walked away... and, you know... >> keteyian: from the bottom of his heart. >> garcia: from the bottom of his heart. >> keteyian: depalma was sentenced to 12 years in prison. and while garcia says he is proud of the outcome of the case, he's angry over the decision to end the investigation, a decision that kept him from being the first law enforcement agent in history to become a made member of the mob. but mark mershon, then the head of the fbi's new york office, says it was critical to protect one of their own. >> mark mershon: there is a risk/reward relationship that we're simply not willing to take on. but i will tell you that, by anybody's estimate, jack garcia was one of just a handful in the entire 100-year history of the fbi to be both so successful and so prolific. >> keteyian: he was that good. >> mershon: he was truly, truly outstanding. >> keteyian: retired from the fbi in 2008 after 26 years, garcia wrote a best-selling book, published by a cbs sister company. he came out of the shadows, defiant in the face of the risk to his life. why in the world do this interview on "60 minutes?" why put yourself out in the public this way? >> garcia: why should i be walking around hiding as to who i am? and i know there's these safety issues and all that. but you know what? it's just... i equate this to, like, bullies when you're growing up. bullies will pick on the weak. if i hide myself from the camera, walk around with the silly glasses and a hat and the blot-out face, you know what? i'm afraid of them? i'm not the bad guy here, i'm the good guy. >> keteyian: you had more than enough people that wanted you dead. >> garcia: that is true. could it happen? absolutely. but you know what? somebody comes after me, they better come in numbers, because i'm ready for them. >> for a look at how "60 minutes" reports its stories, as well as interviews with correspondents and producers, go to 60minutesovertime.com. sponsored by pfizer. and i quit smoking with chantix. i don't know that i can put into words how happy i was when i quit. it's like losing some baggage, i don't have to carry it around with me anymore. chantix made it possible for me to quit smoking. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix definitely helped reduce my urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. some had seizures while taking chantix. if you have any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental health problems, which could get worse or of seizures. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you have these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. tell your doctor if you have heart or blood vessel problems, or develop new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. use caution when driving or operating machinery. most common side effect is nausea. man, i love being a non-smoker. ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. at&t knows the best kind of holiday... is the kind where everyone gets what they wished for. make this holiday extra happy when you buy one get one free on our most popular smartphones... like the samsung galaxy s6. buy one get one free. so spread some cheer. and capture every minute of it. right now at at&t, buy one get one free on our most popular smartphones. >> kroft: i'm steve kroft. we'll be back next week with a brand new edition of "60 minutes." happy new year. or stop to find a bathroom? 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