John A. “Junior” Gotti has been indicted on conspiracy charges in Florida, linking him to large-scale cocaine trafficking and the slayings of three New York men in the late 1980s and early ’90s, federal officials said Tuesday.
Federal prosecutor Robert O’Neill announced the indictment of the 44-year-old Gotti and five other men at a news conference. He said the indictment showed that the men were “trying to gain a foothold” in the area.
“I think what you have here is the Gambino crime family reaching out to Tampa, Fla.,” said O’Neill.
Gotti – the son of the late Gambino family crime boss John Gotti – was arrested at his Long Island, N.Y., home and is expected to appear later Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. O’Neill said the slayings occurred in 1988, 1990 and 1991.
If convicted, Gotti faces life in prison.
“They tried very hard to convict him up here. They spared no resources and it didn’t work,” said Gotti’s attorney, Charles Carnesi. “It’s tragic for him and his family to have to continually go through this. It’s almost laughable.”
In 1999, Junior Gotti pleaded guilty to racketeering crimes including bribery, extortion, gambling and fraud. He was sentenced to 77 months in prison and was released in 2005.
Gotti also was tried three times in Manhattan on racketeering charges for an alleged plot to kidnap Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa. The trials in 2005 and 2006 ended in hung juries and mistrials.
Federal prosecutors announced at the time that they were giving up – and Gotti said he had long since retired from his life of crime.
Article by CHRISTINE ARMARIO and TOM HAYS
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