Feb 17, 2006 8:49 pm US/Eastern
Jury Picked For Junior Gotti Retrial
Jr. Faces Up To 30 years In Prison
NEW YORK (AP) ―
An anonymous jury was chosen Friday to hear the racketeering retrial of John "Junior" Gotti, whose mob boss father died in prison.
The jury of seven men and five women will listen to opening statements Tuesday, when federal prosecutors will blame Gotti for the 1992 kidnapping of radio host Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the
Guardian Angels crime fighting group.
Sliwa was shot in the backseat of a cab but managed to escape through a window to recover from his wounds and resume his on-air rants against the late John Gotti.
The elder Gotti, who headed the Gambino crime family for several years, died in prison in 2002.
A jury last fall acquitted Gotti of securities fraud but deadlocked on more serious racketeering counts, leading to the retrial. Lawyers in the case said a lone juror stood between Gotti
and a conviction.
This time, Gotti will be judged by a jury that ranges in age from a woman in her 30s to a World War II veteran in his 80s.
U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin told the veteran that his age gave him the option whether to stay off the jury, but he remained.
"I do consider it an honor and an obligation to serve on a jury," he said.
The jury was chosen from among 250 people who filled out questionnaires.
Those excluded from the jury included a retired FBI special agent who supervised the bureau's organized crime unit in New York.
Gotti, who has been under house arrest on $7 million bond since September, has said he is innocent and that he quit the mob years ago.
If convicted, he could face up to 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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.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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