Font Size

New York Local News

E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Closing Arguments In Gotti Trial

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

Recipient E-mail:*
- Your Name:*
- Your E-mail:*
Add a Message:
Send me a copy of this e-mail.

Type the characters in this picture:*

Click here to refresh with new letters

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

Print Share + Comments

Sep 6, 2005 2:53 pm US/Eastern

Closing Arguments In Gotti Trial

Prosecutors Tell Jury Gotti Ordered Sliwa Attack

NEW YORK (AP) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1

Close

numSlides of totalImages

Prosecutors today told the jury in the "Junior" Gotti trial that the younger Gotti, angry that radio host Curtis Sliwa had called his father, John Gotti, "America's Number One drug dealer" responded with violence.

In closing arguments at the younger Gotti's racketeering trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said "Junior" Gotti sent thugs to beat Sliwa with baseball bats. But Sliwa didn't shut up, so two mobsters picked him up in a stolen cab.

As Sliwa struggled to escape, hitman Michael "Mikey Y" Yannotti opened fire, leaving the Guardian Angels founder weak and bleeding in the back seat. Defense attorneys claim the younger Gotti had nothing to do with Sliwa's shooting and other attacks and quit the mob after a 1999 racketeering conviction.

But Kim claimed that "Junior" Gotti continued to meet with gangsters, take their tribute money and plot crimes in the years after his alleged renunciation of the mob life.

Gotti's alleged role in the Sliwa attack is part of racketeering charges that could keep him in prison for up to 30 years.