John Gotti, reputed head of the nation`s most powerful mob syndicate, was convicted Thursday of murder and other racketeering charges in a case prosecutors said made a serious dent in organized crime.
Gotti was found guilty of all charges: murdering or conspiring to murder six people, obstruction of justice, bribery, loan-sharking, illegal gambling and tax fraud.
His co-defendant, Frank Locascio, also a member of the powerful Gambino crime family, was convicted of the same charges except for one count of gambling.
Sentencing has been set for June 23. At that time, Gotti, 51, could receive three life sentences plus 105 years in prison. Locascio, 59, could get one life sentence and 75 years.
Gotti`s lawyer, Albert Krieger of Miami, said he would appeal the verdicts, which were reached in 13 hours of deliberation after a 10-week trial.
James Fox, head of the FBI`s New York office, called the conviction ”the most important crossroads” and predicted it would deal a major blow to the mob. ”I`m not saying it`s going to happen in a year,” he said, ”but the mob as we know it in New York City and this country is on its way out.”
When the jurors filed into court Thursday, Gotti smiled broadly and seemed confident that he would be acquitted.
When the jury forewoman said ”guilty” 25 times-13 times for Gotti and 12 for Locascio-Gotti showed no emotion. At one point, the nattily attired Gotti motioned for his attorney to remain calm in the face of the verdicts.
A high school dropout who rose to the top of the Gambino family and was treated as a local folk hero, Gotti also sought to reassure his disappointed followers.
”I`ll be OK,” he told supporters crowded into the federal court in Brooklyn. He and his codefendant, who have been held without bail since their arrest 16 months ago, were then driven to the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
Emerging from the Gotti family home in the Howard Beach section of Queens, Gotti`s daughter, Victoria, reacted to the verdict with bitterness.
”I think it stinks,” she told reporters. ”It wasn`t fair. He never had a chance.” She added: ”My father is the last of the Mohicans. They don`t make men like him anymore-they never will.”
The trial featured secretly recorded tapes and nine days of riveting testimony by Gotti`s hand-picked successor. It culminated a six-year effort by prosecutors to convict Gotti, who was known as the ”Teflon Don” because three previous prosecutions against him ended in acquittal.
”The Teflon is gone,” said Fox of FBI at a news conference. ”The don is covered with Velcro, and all the charges stuck.”
Many of the charges stuck because of the testimony of Salvatore Gravano, Gotti`s underboss who turned informer. Gravano broke the underworld`s cherished code of silence by agreeing to testify against Gotti in exchange for a reduced prison term. He told of being involved in 19 murders, including the 1985 assassination of Paul Castellano, who preceded Gotti as head of the Gambino family.
Federal agents said Gotti moved against Castellano because he felt the crime boss had discovered that Gotti and his lieutenants had violated Castellano`s firm prohibition on selling narcotics. The practice could have cost Gotti his life.
On the witness stand, Gravano testified that he and Gotti watched as Castellano and his bodyguard were gunned down Dec. 16, 1985, in front of Sparks Steak House on East 46th Street in Manhattan. He said he and Gotti outlined the murder plan the night before the shooting and selected four hit men, along with four backup men.
The prosecution`s star witness also told of how the mob collected millions of dollars each year by controlling illegal gambling, riverfront operations, the garment industry`s trucking business, labor unions and other businesses.
Gotti`s chances for an acquittal were damaged by his own secretly recorded words. Even though he indicated on the tapes that he suspected he was being monitored by the FBI, he made numerous incriminating statements.
On one 1989 tape, he said, ”And every time we got a partner that don`t agree with us, we kill him. You go to the boss, and your boss kills him. He kills `em. He OKs it.”
Gotti`s attorney Krieger said he will file an appeal within 30 days. During the trial, Krieger made it clear he will base part of his appeal on what he considers an inappropriate comment by U.S. Atty. Andrew Maloney.
In his closing rebuttal Monday, Maloney told jurors that they had a reason to fear Gotti and his crime family.
”If you accept the proof of what you are dealing with here, the boss of the murderous and treacherous crime family and his underboss, you would be less than human if you didn`t feel some personal concern,” he said.
Defense attorneys objected, and the judge sustained their objection. Gotti`s lawyer contend that the damage had been done, however, diminishing the chance of his client`s receiving fair consideration from the jurors.
Defense lawyers also are expected to appeal a ruling by the judge that did not allow them to present certain witnesses they wanted to call in an attempt to undercut Gravano`s credibility.
The Gotti verdict came just one day after the acting boss of the Columbo crime family was arrested in New York on murder charges. The arrest of Victor Orens means that four of the five crime family bosses are now in jail or awaiting trial.
”I think we are wreaking havoc on the Cosa Nostra,” Maloney said. ”The world of omerta is rapidly evaporating,” he said, referring to the mob`s oath of silence.
Federal prosecutors say La Cosa Nostra-”Our Thing”-is disintegrating because of aggressive prosecution and the increasing willingness of mobsters to become informants. And they say that many of the time-honored traditions of the secret society, such as not harming the families of organized crime hits, are now being violated.
Shortly after Gravano testified against Gotti, a racketeering indictment unsealed in Newark alleged that two members of New York`s Genovese crime family had discussed killing Gravano`s wife, Debra, and their two children with a member of a Providence, R.I., crime family. Those discussions were held despite Debra Gravano`s disavowal of her husband, refusing to follow him into the federal witness protection program and barring him from seeing their children.
