On March 18, 1980, John Gotti's middle son, 12-year-old Frank Gotti, while riding a minibike, darted out into the street and was hit by a car driven by John Favara, Gotti's backyard neighbor. Due to Frank's failure to yield before entering the street at a blind spot, his death was ruled an accident and criminal charges were never filed against Favara. However, Favara subsequently received death threats and was attacked with a baseball bat by Victoria Gotti when Favara visited the Gottis to apologize. On July 28, 1980, Favara was abducted and disappeared and was was declared legally dead in 1983. When the Gotti children grew up and had children of their own, each of them named one of their sons Frank in honor of their brother.
On July 18, 1996, a fellow inmate named Walter Johnson punched Gotti in the prison recreation room, leaving him bruised and bleeding, because according to New York's Daily News, Gotti had disrespected him with a racial slur. Gotti, desiring revenge, offered Aryan Brotherhood chieftains David Sahakian and Michael McElhiney somewhere between $40,000 and $400,000 to have Johnson killed. In August, McElhiney told two Brotherhood underlings to kill Johnson "if given the opportunity," according to a federal indictment charging him and 39 other gang members with murder, attempted murder and racketeering. Johnson, however, was transferred to the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.