Hubris.
“I bet ya three-to-one that I beat this.”
— John Gotti, speaking to the officers that arrested him in 1990 on charges including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, bribery, and tax evasion.
In 1988, Gotti began requiring his underbosses to meet with him in public at the Ravenite Social Club, a notorious Gambino headquarters, above which Gotti kept a personal residence. A number of his lieutenants advised him against this, considering it a needless risk borne of vanity.
Sure enough, the FBI would build much of its case against Gotti on electronic surveillance within the club and residence, as well as using the leverage of the tapes’ content to turn men like Sammy “The Bull” Gravano against the organization. Gotti was sentenced to life in prison in 1992, and died there ten years later.
Among the most common characteristics of powerful criminals is the belief that they are invincible, and too smart to be caught doing the incriminating thing that everybody else tells them is idiotic. It’s a trait that, for another example, led Nixon to obsessively archive evidence of his own malfeasance.
I do not believe Donald J. Trump has ever in his life been as smart as either John Gotti or Richard Nixon, and neither do you.
Creative Control 