Judge declares mistrial in ‘Junior’ Gotti case
Fourth time reputed mob boss accused of murder has seen a hung jury
NEW YORK - A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday at the racketeering trial of John "Junior" Gotti after a jury failed to reach a verdict against the son of the notorious Gambino crime family mob boss — the case's fourth hung jury in five years.
The anonymous jurors deliberated 11 days before notifying the judge they were hopelessly deadlocked over racketeering conspiracy and murder charges. Prosecutors accused Gotti of ordering gangland hits to settle scores and of secretly pocketing drug money despite insisting he'd gone straight.
Shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday, the jury sent U.S. District Judge Kevin P. Castel a note that read: "Judge Castel, we cannot reach a unanimous decision on any count. We are deadlocked. There is not one member of the jury who believes that we can reach a unanimous verdict on any count."
Castel notified the jury that he was declaring a mistrial, and applause erupted in the courtroom among Gotti supporters. Once the jury left the courtroom, Gotti hugged his attorney. Whether he would be granted bail was to be decided at a hearing later Tuesday.
'We're not broken'
Victoria Gotti, Gotti's sister, tearfully said outside court: "We're ravaged. We're beaten down, but we're not broken."
Carnesi also attacked the prosecution's turncoat witnesses. He argued they were willing to tell lies about Gotti to reduce their own prison sentences.
The government's star witness was John Alite, a Gambino enforcer who testified about the younger Gotti's rise through the family ranks — and about his violent temper. He claimed Gotti once shot a man for mocking the size of his handgun.
"Is this big enough?" Alite quoted Gotti as saying as he grabbed a nearby rifle and shot the man in the hip.
Alite told jurors that Gotti drafted him for a 1990 hit — the victim was an associate who had dared to ignore one of his father's orders — in the parking garage of the World Trade Center. He also said the defendant repeatedly urged him to earn his organized crime stripes by killing a childhood friend of Alite who was telling people that he was selling drugs for Gotti.
"John Gotti Jr. kept saying to me in '88: `You didn't kill this kid yet, you didn't shoot him, you didn't do this.' ... He wanted me to kill him," Alite said.
Outburst at trial
The trial was punctuated by hysterical outbursts. With the jury on a lunch break and Alite leaving the witness stand, Gotti lost it: A deputy U.S. marshal told a prosecutor that he saw him mouth the words: "I'll kill you" to Alite. When Alite responded, Gotti erupted, shouting: "You're a punk! You're a dog! You're a dog! You always were a dog your whole life, you punk dog."
Gotti's mother, also named Victoria, erupted another time with the jury absent, screaming out to her son, "They're railroading you! They're doing to you what they did to your father!"
Her husband, like their son, had a knack for evading convictions on a variety of mob indictments brought against him, earning him his other nickname, "Teflon Don." He finally was convicted in 1992 of murder and racketeering and died in prison in 2002.
Fourth time reputed mob boss accused of murder has seen a hung jury
NEW YORK - A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday at the racketeering trial of John "Junior" Gotti after a jury failed to reach a verdict against the son of the notorious Gambino crime family mob boss — the case's fourth hung jury in five years.
The anonymous jurors deliberated 11 days before notifying the judge they were hopelessly deadlocked over racketeering conspiracy and murder charges. Prosecutors accused Gotti of ordering gangland hits to settle scores and of secretly pocketing drug money despite insisting he'd gone straight.
Shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday, the jury sent U.S. District Judge Kevin P. Castel a note that read: "Judge Castel, we cannot reach a unanimous decision on any count. We are deadlocked. There is not one member of the jury who believes that we can reach a unanimous verdict on any count."
Castel notified the jury that he was declaring a mistrial, and applause erupted in the courtroom among Gotti supporters. Once the jury left the courtroom, Gotti hugged his attorney. Whether he would be granted bail was to be decided at a hearing later Tuesday.
'We're not broken'
Victoria Gotti, Gotti's sister, tearfully said outside court: "We're ravaged. We're beaten down, but we're not broken."
Carnesi also attacked the prosecution's turncoat witnesses. He argued they were willing to tell lies about Gotti to reduce their own prison sentences.
The government's star witness was John Alite, a Gambino enforcer who testified about the younger Gotti's rise through the family ranks — and about his violent temper. He claimed Gotti once shot a man for mocking the size of his handgun.
"Is this big enough?" Alite quoted Gotti as saying as he grabbed a nearby rifle and shot the man in the hip.
Alite told jurors that Gotti drafted him for a 1990 hit — the victim was an associate who had dared to ignore one of his father's orders — in the parking garage of the World Trade Center. He also said the defendant repeatedly urged him to earn his organized crime stripes by killing a childhood friend of Alite who was telling people that he was selling drugs for Gotti.
"John Gotti Jr. kept saying to me in '88: `You didn't kill this kid yet, you didn't shoot him, you didn't do this.' ... He wanted me to kill him," Alite said.
Outburst at trial
The trial was punctuated by hysterical outbursts. With the jury on a lunch break and Alite leaving the witness stand, Gotti lost it: A deputy U.S. marshal told a prosecutor that he saw him mouth the words: "I'll kill you" to Alite. When Alite responded, Gotti erupted, shouting: "You're a punk! You're a dog! You're a dog! You always were a dog your whole life, you punk dog."
Gotti's mother, also named Victoria, erupted another time with the jury absent, screaming out to her son, "They're railroading you! They're doing to you what they did to your father!"
Her husband, like their son, had a knack for evading convictions on a variety of mob indictments brought against him, earning him his other nickname, "Teflon Don." He finally was convicted in 1992 of murder and racketeering and died in prison in 2002.
