| John Gotti, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 14, 1964 Queens, New York City, |
| Spouse | Kimberly Albanese |
John Angelo Gotti III or "Junior" Gotti (born February 14, 1964) is a former New York City mobster who in the 1990s, according to law enforcement claims, led the Gambino crime family of Cosa Nostra for his imprisoned father John J. Gotti, who died in 2002. Between 2004 and 2009 Gotti has been a defendant in four racketeering trials which all ended in mistrials. In January 2010, Federal Prosecutors announced that they would no longer seek to prosecute Gotti for those charges. He is also referred to as "Teflon Jr." for evading conviction like his father.
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Gotti is one of five children born to John Joseph Gotti Jr and Victoria DiGiorgio Gotti, who is of Russian ancestry on her mother's side.[1], grew up in the Italian-American neighborhood of Howard Beach, a section of Queens, New York and attended New York Military Academy. He has two sisters,Victoria and Angel and two brothers Peter and Frank (deceased). After leaving the school, Gotti's father helped him start a trucking business, Samson Trucking Company and after the business failed, helped him get a position in the Carpenters Union.[2] In 1990 he married Kimberly Albanese, daughter of alleged Gambino crime family associate Phillip Albanese. They have six children and live in Oyster Bay Cove on Long Island's North Shore.[3][4] [5]
According to federal prosecutors, Gotti was inducted into the Gambino crime family in 1988[6] and became a captain in 1990.[7] In April 1992, his father, John J. Gotti, received a life sentence for racketeering and related offenses while associate Frank J. Antetomaso was brought up on 3 counts of racketeering and extortion charges but was let off due to a hung jury. Prosecutors say he made his son the head of family operations with a committee of captains to assist him. As a family member, he was one of the few people allowed to visit his father and Gotti is believed to have relayed his father's orders to the organization from prison.
In a 1997 search of the basement of a property owned by Gotti, the FBI found a typed list of the names of the "made" members of his organization, $348,700 in cash, a list of the guests who attended his wedding, along with the dollar amount of their wedding gifts (totaling more than $350,000), and two handguns. The discovery enraged Gotti's father[8] and earned him the nickname 'dumbfella' in the New York media.[9][10]
In 1999, Gotti pleaded guilty to racketeering crimes including bribery, extortion, gambling and fraud. Many of the charges related to attempts to extort money from the owners and employees of Scores, an upscale strip club in Manhattan. He was sentenced to 77 months in prison and was released in 2005. Federal prosecutors say his uncle, Peter Gotti, became head of the Gambino organization after his nephew was sent to prison.[11][12]
In 2004, months before he was released from prison, Gotti was charged in an 11-count racketeering indictment which included an alleged plot to kidnap Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, as well as securities fraud, extortion and loansharking.[13] A radio talk show host for WABC, Sliwa had allegedly angered the family by denouncing the elder Gotti as "Public Enemy #1" on his show. During the trial, two former associates, Michael DiLeonardo and Joseph D'Angelo testified against Gotti. Through his attorney, Gotti admitted that he had been involved in the Gambino crime family in the 1990s, and had even been slated to lead the organization after his father was sent to jail in 1992, but claimed he had left criminal life behind after his conviction in 1999.[14][15] Three juries eventually deadlocked on the charges, the last in 2006, and federal prosecutors decided not to pursue a fourth trial.[16]
In August 2008, Gotti was arrested and indicted on racketeering and murder conspiracy charges brought in Florida.[17] The charges stemmed from an alleged drug trafficking ring Gotti operated along with former associate-turned informant John Alite and others, and with the murders of two men associated with the ring. Prosecutors charge that the ring distributed at least five kilograms of cocaine in the late 1980s and early 1990s.[18][19] Gotti's trial was later moved to New York, where he pleaded not guilty, and began in September 2009.[20][21]
In January 2008, Alite pleaded guilty to two murders, four murder conspiracies, at least eight shootings, and two attempted shootings as well as armed home invasions and armed robberies in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida, stemming from his alleged involvement in a Gambino crew in Tampa, Florida.[22] Alite agreed to testify in the trial of Gambino family enforcer Charles Carneglia, who was found guilty of four murders and is now serving a life sentence. He then served as a key prosecution witness against Gotti.[23]
During the trial, Gotti allegedly threatened Alite by mouthing the words "I'll kill you", and engaged in a shouting match with his former associate. After the incident, Victoria Gotti told The New York Daily News that Alite was "a pathological liar - a rat caught in a proverbial trap, caught in his own lies..."[24] Alite testified that Gotti was responsible for at least eight murders, among other crimes.[25]
On December 1, 2009, the 12 jurors announced that they had failed to reach a unanimous verdict on all the charges and the judge declared a mistrial.[26] Federal prosecutors have indicated that they will not seek another trial against Gotti.[27] After the trial, jurors said that they did not find witnesses, particularly Alite, to be credible.[25] Gotti, Federal Bureau of Prisons Register # 00632-748, was released on December 1, 2009.[28]
In September 2010 Fiore Films announced that it had secured the rights from Gotti to produce a movie about his life,[29] in particular his relationship with his father. According to Variety, several producers had expressed interest, but Gotti chose Fiore, a small, newly-created production company. The movie, tentatively titled Gotti: in the Shadow of My Father, will be directed by Barry Levinson. John Travolta is expected to star as Gotti's father,[30] and Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston will play his on-screen wife, Victoria Gotti. [31] Al Pacino is expected to play Neil Dellacroce, an underboss in the Gambino crime family and a mentor to the senior Gotti [32].
| Business positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Gotti as boss |
Gambino crime family Acting boss 1994-1996 |
Succeeded by Nicholas "Little Nick" Corozzo |
| Preceded by Nicholas "Little Nick" Corozzo |
Gambino crime family Acting boss 1997-1999 |
Succeeded by Peter "Petey Boy" Gotti |
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