Gotti Was King Of Gambino Empire, Prosecutors Say
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Federal prosecutors took John “Junior” Gotti on an unpleasant trip down memory lane yesterday, detailing a ruthless rise to power where he allegedly earned millions of illegal dollars from the construction business and ordered a brutal assault that nearly killed the founder of the Guardian Angels.
But a defense attorney countered that the mob scion was on trial for the second time in a year because of his high-profile name, charging a mob turncoat witness knew that giving up Gotti was the best way to get the government’s attention.
“The coin of the realm is Gotti, and that’s what [Michael] DiLeonardo intended to trade on,” Gotti’s lawyer, Charles Carnesi, said, during a day of closing arguments at Gotti’s retrial for racketeering and other counts. Gotti’s former best friend, DiLeonardo, became a key government witness.
Mr. Carnesi addressed the Manhattan jury after an assistant U.S. attorney, Victor Hou, told the panel that Gotti acted as “the head of his own government” – the Gambino crime family – where he collected money through a “mob tax” and dispensed justice with baseball bats and other weapons.
Gotti felt “entitled by his name, his rank, his post, and yes – his father – to exercise his unbridled authority,” Mr. Hou said. One of his victims was the Guardian Angels founder turned radio host, Curtis Sliwa, who was shot twice in 1992 during a botched kidnapping and beaten with bats in another attack, Mr. Hou charged.
“Was this some random act of violence against Curtis Sliwa … the unluckiest man in the world?” Mr. Hou asked. Authorities alleged that Gotti ordered Mr. Sliwa’s kidnapping and beating over on-air rants against his father, his predecessor atop the powerful Gambino crime family.
“Hold him responsible, but not because his name is Gotti,” the prosecutor said. If convicted, Gotti faces up to 30 years in prison.
The 42-year-old Gotti sat with his head down and hands clasped, occasionally looking up at surveillance shots of mob cohorts. The defense will wrap up its arguments today, with jury deliberations to follow – perhaps not until Thursday morning.
