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NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ― Gotti's new son is on his mind as he starts 3rd trial

John "Junior" Gotti returned to a Manhattan courtroom Monday, marking the start of his third trial in a year for allegedly ordering a beating of Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa that nearly ended in the radio talk show host's death.

Gotti sat in U.S. District Court as jury selection began in his latest legal foray, but his mind was on his fourth son.

Gotti said Joseph John Gotti, his fourth son, weighed nine pounds and was 22 inches long Saturday, and said he's "thrilled" at the birth of his sixth child, as jury selection started in his third racketeering trial in a year.

He said it was the first time he had witnessed a birth.

Gotti was introduced today to prospective jurors in Manhattan federal court, with opening statements expected to begin a week later.

Central to the case are the 1992 baseball beating of Sliwa and a second attack where Sliwa was shot three times and nearly killed, allegedly in retribution for his on-air rants against Gotti's father. The elder Gotti was convicted of racketeering that same year, and died in prison a decade later.

Defense lawyers have argued that Gotti quit the mob before pleading guilty in 1999 to other racketeering charges, and two juries have deadlocked on the latest charges against him.

The government has added new charges alleging Gotti has continued to benefit from money earned illegally by collecting rents on properties. A witness tampering charge also has been added.

Opening statements could occur as early as Thursday.

Trials last summer and this spring ended in deadlocks, with jurors unable to decide whether Gotti can be convicted of crimes such as extortion, loan sharking and witness tampering as well as the brief kidnapping of Sliwa in a stolen cab.

Since the last trial, prosecutors have added new racketeering charges and the witness tampering count, claiming they can prove Gotti continued to commit crimes after he allegedly quit the mob following a 1999 guilty plea to racketeering.

The charges are key to countering a largely successful defense strategy of telling jurors that Gotti left the mob in the 1990s and can no longer be held accountable for what he did then or what the Gambino family does now.

In the first two trials, the developments outside the courtroom often overshadowed the courtroom drama.

There were reports that Gotti had considered a plea agreement that would have called for a sentence much smaller than the 30 years he could otherwise face if convicted. There were reports that his father had a love child before he went to prison.

And there was the revelation that Gotti's wife was pregnant with their sixth child, with an imminent due date. A published report said a boy was born to the couple on Saturday, but a call to defense attorney Charles Carnesi from The Associated Press on Sunday seeking confirmation was not returned. In addition, witnesses at the last trial included Gotti's brother, Peter, who admitted that his father was the former head of the Gambino crime family.

The latest trial even produced an on-air rift briefly between Sliwa and his radio co-host, Ron Kuby, a civil rights lawyer who provides a counterweight to Sliwa's conservative views.

The defense called Kuby as a witness to testify; that Gotti told him in 1998 he wanted out of organized crime. Sliwa blamed Kuby's testimony for causing jurors to doubt the government's case, and said he was so angry that he threatened to end his radio show. But the show, like the trial and the case, has gone on.

(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)