Nov 4, 2009 7:30 pm US/Eastern
Gotti's Mother Goes On Explosive Tirade In Court
F-Bomb Dropping Victoria Gotta Dragged Out Of Courtroom After Judge Motions For Removal Of 2 Jurors In Son's Trial
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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There was unprecedented turmoil in the John A. Gotti trial on Wednesday afternoon caused by his mother, Victoria Gotti.
AP
There was unprecedented turmoil in the John A. Gotti trial on Wednesday afternoon (he is the son of the former boss of the Gambino crime family; sometimes called "Junior" in the press. Though he is not a "junior" in the usual family sense).
As Judge Kevin Castel was explaining what he was going to do about two jurors who had become a problem (the jury was not in the courtroom), it was clear he was about to conclude that two women were going to be taken off the jury.
But just as he was going to make that point, Gotti's mother, Victoria Gotti, jumped up from her front-row seat and screamed, "This is a f****** railroad! There's no justice!"
Daughters Victoria and Angel and another woman, a family friend, grabbed the mother, and put their hands over her mouth, but she struggled free as court officers rushed in. "There's no f****** justice! They're the real gangsters! They're f****** liars! F*** you!"
From the defense table, her son John turned around and pleaded "Ma, don't!" Judge Castel looked on cooly while Victoria was both led and dragged out cursing and yelling.
Outside the courthouse, as they ran to their car, daughter Victoria was crying.
Peter Gotti, John's brother, came out of the courthouse ran up to me showing me a tattoo on his arm of a cross with some words.
"Martin Luther King said it, Pablo! What happens to justice denied, Pablo?" Peter said.
Peter said he couldn't say anything more so he could check on his mother.
Upstairs, the judge continued. He removed Jurors #11 and #7.
Bad blood had been building between the two for weeks: Juror #11 had written the judge a letter about #7's allegedly antagonistic behavior. The judge had tried to defuse things yesterday by giving the jury a large jar of strawberry Twizzlers, telling them to take out their frustrations by chewing or biting the Twizzlers. But after re-interviewing each of the two jurors today, the judge reluctantly admitted it wasn't working. He said he found #11 more believable, and that #7 was probably lying about wanting to get along.
But Castel said he was worried about how their presence might affect deliberations, and so he was excusing them both. He also chided the government for wanting him to press each juror with tougher questions that he said would cross the line, calling the government's request "to be charitable...naïve."
The reason why Victoria Gotti went off is that the consensus in the courtroom had been that Juror #7 may have been leaning towards the Gotti side. And, that if both were kept, there may have been a mistrial. Which could have meant the new Attorney General might have told his attorney in New York, "Can you really justify a fifth trial?" That maybe, the mother hoped, the whole thing would be dropped.
She has had two strokes and her children are worried about her. Now she has to see if she'll even be allowed in court. For what she did today, one court officer said she's lucky the judge didn't hit her with contempt, and a cooling off period in jail.
So for now, John A. Gotti's trial continues. With the last two alternates now sitting as jurors on the case. And everyone asking: what's going to happen next?
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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