Peter Gotti found guilty as N.Y. cracks down on organized crime

From Jonathan Wald
CNN

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NEW YORK (CNN) -- Peter Gotti -- the boss of the Gambino crime family and brother of the late mafia kingpin, John Gotti -- was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in prison for money laundering and racketeering, authorities said Thursday.

Gotti and six co-defendants, including his brother Richard V. Gotti, 61, and nephew Richard G. Gotti, 36, were found guilty after a wide-ranging indictment intended to weaken the mafia's grip on New York City's ports.

"Gotti's conviction and sentence mark an important milestone in our continuing efforts to dismantle organized crime in New York and specifically, to eliminate its grip on the waterfronts of Brooklyn and Staten Island," said Roslyn Mauskopf, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Law enforcement officials made references to similarities between this case and the 1954 movie "On the Waterfront," which stars Marlon Brando as a longshoreman who stands up to his corrupt union bosses.

But when the indictment was issued in June 2002, then-U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Alan Vinegrad attempted to dispel any hints of Hollywood in this latest mafia drama, reminding reporters that this case "is real, it shouldn't be glamorized."

Gotti, a former trash collector, became the third head of the Gambino family when his brother John became seriously ill in prison and John's son, John "Junior" Gotti, was convicted of bribery and extortion, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors asserted that as head of the Gambinos, Peter Gotti was regularly paid homage and cash by lesser members of the crime family.

Family "capos" and underlings used intimidation and threats to extort money from waterfront businesses and the main longshoremen's union in New York, prosecutors said.

Action star testifies

Steven Seagal testified that the Gambino family tried to extort millions from him.

During their investigation authorities learned of a Gambino family plot to extort as much as $3 million from actor Steven Seagal.

The action film star, who appeared in films such as "Under Siege" and "Hard to Kill," testified that mobsters demanded payments after he fell out with Julius Nasso, his former business partner and an alleged Gambino associate.

In his testimony, Seagal recounted a phone call in which Vinny Nasso, Julius' brother, told him "I need the f---ing money now or else."

U.S. District Court Judge Frederic Block gave Gotti a more lenient sentence than the maximum of 11 and a quarter years but a harsher term than the minimum nine.

"It's a long sentence," Gotti's attorney, Gerald Shargel, told CNN, "but it's a lot better than it could have been."

Shargel pleaded for Judge Block's mercy by listing the 64-year-old's many illnesses, including blindness in his left eye, a thyroid condition, crushed discs, chronic joint pain and gout.

In sentencing Gotti, Block rejected those pleas but did agree to consider "the draconian conditions Mr. Gotti endured for 85 days in solitary confinement whilst awaiting trial, the fact that the extortion of Seagal was not foreseeable and that prison time shouldn't be enhanced for an alleged supervisory role," Shargel said.

Shargel did not raise the recent death of Gotti's mistress in his request for leniency. Police believe Marjorie Alexander, 43, committed suicide in a motel room on Long Island shortly after she went public about her years-long affair with Peter Gotti.

"This was a sad and tragic development," Shargel said. "It was neither my client's nor my wish to exploit the situation."

In a separate case, government lawyers are prosecuting Gotti and two of his associates for racketeering charges and conspiring to murder Gambino "underboss" Salvatore Gravano -- "in order to maintain and increase their respective positions in the Gambino organized crime family." The trial is scheduled for June and Gotti could face a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison if convicted.