Feb 24, 2006 10:12 pm US/Eastern
Witness Says NY Mob Boss Gotti Sr. Had Love Child
NEW YORK (AP) ―
A longtime member of the Gambino organized crime family testified Friday that John Gotti Sr. had a love child with a
mistress before he was convicted of racketeering and sentenced to life in prison.
Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo made the revelation as he answered a prosecutor's questions at the racketeering retrial of Gotti's son, John "Junior" Gotti.
The elder Gotti died in prison in 2002, a decade after he was convicted of racketeering for his leadership of the nation's
largest organized crime family.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael McGovern questioned DiLeonardo about the love lives of both Gottis to refute an implication introduced by the defense that DiLeonardo had a falling out with John Gotti Jr. because Gotti was upset about DiLeonardo's womanizing.
McGovern asked, "Did John Gotti Jr. ever discuss with you the fact that his own father had a secret second family and a daughter that he had fathered out of wedlock?"
DiLeonardo answered "Yes."
The witness also said the younger Gotti brought a girlfriend, Mindy, along when he celebrated DiLeonardo's 40th birthday with a surprise yacht party in Battery Park City.
DiLeonardo said he asked John Gotti Jr. if his wife knew of the affair and Gotti told him she did not.
"It's ridiculous. It's absurd," Gotti said outside court of the allegations.
He said the witness was "pulling names from the '80s." Gotti said he had dated Mindy in the 1970s and rekindled the
relationship in the '80s. He said it was long over by the '90s, when DiLeonardo celebrated his 40th birthday.
Gotti's mother, Victoria, called the line of questioning "dirty government politics as usual."
DiLeonardo was inducted into the Gambino family in the same secret ceremony as Gotti on Christmas Eve 1988.
Gotti is accused of arranging for Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa to be kidnapped and beaten in 1992 in retaliation for remarks he made about Gotti's father on his radio show. Sliwa was shot twice and has recovered to resume his on-air attacks against the Gotti family.
Sliwa is scheduled to testify in the case on Monday. Besides the Sliwa attack, Gotti is also accused of extorting
millions of dollars from construction companies.
Gotti contends through his lawyer that he had nothing to do with the Sliwa attack and quit the mob following an unrelated racketeering conviction in 1999.
Last fall, a jury acquitted Gotti of securities fraud but deadlocked on racketeering counts, leading to the retrial. If convicted, Gotti could face 30 years in prison.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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