TAMPA, Fla. — John A. “Junior” Gotti has been indicted on conspiracy charges at Florida, linking him to large-scale cocaine trafficking and the slayings of three New York men in the late 1980s and early 1990s, federal officials said today.

A federal prosecutor, Robert O’Neill, announced the indictment of the 44-year-old Gotti and five other men at a news conference. He said the indictment showed that the men were “trying to gain a foothold” in the area.

“What should be noted today is whether you violate the federal law today, tomorrow, or 20 years ago, the FBI and its law enforcement partners will pursue the matter to its logical conclusions,” the special agent-in-charge of the Tampa FBI office, Steven E. Ibison, said.

Gotti — the son of the late Gambino family crime boss John Gotti — was arrested at his Long Island home and is expected to appear later today in Manhattan federal court. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

The conspiracy indictment against Gotti accuses him of being a chief in an arm of the Gambino crime family that operated at Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania since about 1983. That enterprise was involved in everything from murder and kidnapping to witness tampering and money laundering, and had its fingers in legal and illegal businesses and union locals, federal authorities said.

It says he was involved in the slayings of George Grosso at Queens, NY, in 1988; Louis DiBono, who was killed in the parking garage of the World Trade Center at Manhattan in 1990; and Bruce John Gotterup, killed in 1991 at the Boardwalk at the Rockaways at Queens. It also accuses him of possession and trafficking of more than 5 kilograms of cocaine.

A second indictment charges Gotti associates John A. Burke, 47, who is in prison at New York; James V. Cadicamo, 33, of Tampa; David D’Arpino, 33, of Howard Beach, NY; Michael D. Finnerty, 43, of Oceanside, NY; and Guy T. Peden, 47, of Wantagh, NY.

Both indictments were handed up last month.

In 1999, Junior Gotti pleaded guilty to racketeering crimes including bribery, extortion, gambling, and fraud. He was sentenced to 77 months in prison and was released in 2005.

Gotti also was tried three times at Manhattan on racketeering charges for an alleged plot to kidnap the Guardian Angels’ founder, Curtis Sliwa. The trials in 2005 and 2006 ended in hung juries and mistrials.

Federal prosecutors announced at the time that they were giving up — and Gotti said he had long since retired from his life of crime.

“They tried very hard to convict him up here. They spared no resources and it didn’t work,” Gotti’s attorney, Charles Carnesi, said. “It’s tragic for him and his family to have to continually go through this. It’s almost laughable.”

Federal authorities at Florida successfully convicted other suspected members of the Tampa-area Gambino enterprise in 2006, including Michael Malone, Charles Carneglia, and Ronald “Ronnie One Arm” Trucchio. The former alleged boss of the Tampa enterprise, John E. Alite, is awaiting trial at Tampa after being captured and extradited from Brazil.

___

Associated Press Writer Tom Hays reported from New York.