Sep 15, 2006 8:07 pm US/Eastern
Gotti Jurors Hear Closing Arguments
NEW YORK (AP) ―
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John A. "Junior" Gotti (File)
AP
John A. Gotti listened intently as his lawyer told a Manhattan jury during closing arguments Friday that the mob scion quit the Gambino crime family because he was disillusioned with the lifestyle and faced jail while watching his father dying behind bars.
The second generation mobster, at his third trial in the last year on racketeering charges, has heard it all before. The government's two previous attempts to jail the one-time Gambino family boss on these charges ended with deadlocked juries.
Defense lawyer Charles Carnesi asserted that a star-struck Gotti followed his father into the mob, but soon discovered that organized crime was "a business where people worship money ... full of treachery and deceit." In February 1999, after pleading guilty to racketeering in a separate case, Gotti told his father that he planned to quit the family business, Carnesi said.
"He found the strength to say, 'I went to the top of this life, and it's no good,'" Carnesi said. "'It destroys you and your family. It's not worth the toll.'"
Earlier Friday, prosecutor Miriam Rocah insisted that Gotti's claim of quitting the mob was a calculated move to dodge criminal charges â€" including his alleged order for a botched 1992 kidnapping that nearly killed Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, who was supposedly targeted for badmouthing John Gotti Sr.
"You have mountains of evidence," Rocah said in her closing. "John A. Gotti did not and would not fully leave behind this life with its money and its power."
Rocah, addressing the jury for a second day, focused on a 7 1/2-hour meeting in April 2001 where Gotti's uncle, Richie, is alleged to have delivered word that the younger Gotti was demoted from his position atop the Gambino crime family.
The date was critical, since the statute of limitations in the case would guarantee Gotti an acquittal if the admitted mobster can prove he quit organized crime before July 21, 1999.
The prosecution and Carnesi will each have one final chance to address the jury Monday before deliberations begin.
If convicted this time, Gotti â€" who's out on $7 million bail â€" could face up to 30 years in prison.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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