John 'Junior' Gotti was afraid 'every day' of getting whacked

John "Junior" Gotti feared he'd be whacked when he was a member of the Gambino crime family.

"Every day it's a possibility," Gotti told CBS's "60 Minutes" in an interview that will air on Sunday. "It's a possibility that something can happen to you every day of your life. And you know something, when you hang out in the streets, you're hanging with a different type of a person. ... Who knows? Everything is possible. It's a volatile experience."

Gotti, 46, said the best part of that volatile existence was the actual moment he joined the mob.

He said the "proudest moment" of his life was when he was "made" as a member of the Gambinos -- the Mafia's way of formally inducting someone into a crime family.

After the secret ceremony, Gotti said his father, the late John "Teflon Don" Gotti who was the family boss at the time, hugged him.

"I was slowly becoming like [my father]. ... I think he was very happy," said Gotti.

The interview comes four months after the Teflon Don's son scored a fourth hung jury that eventually led the feds to drop the case against him


Gotti had spent more than a year behind bars waiting for his last trial, but was sprung on $2 million bond after the jury deadlocked this past Dec. 1 after 11 days of deliberations.

The case against Gotti involved a laundry list of mob crimes that grew even longer after the feds flipped former Gambino associate John Alite. Gotti was also accused of ordering a 1992 attack on radio talker and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.

The jury didn't entirely buy it.

As for Gotti, he never used the words mob or Mafia during the "60 Minutes" interview when talking about his role as a member of the Gambinos, saying instead that he was "a street guy."

"I was in the streets," he added.

Gotti said his induction was a lifelong dream for him after growing up on the streets of Howard Beach, Queens.

"I'd go to the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club all the time and I would just watch ... they'd be playing cards ... hanging out … breaking balls … and laughing and commiserating," he recalled, "And you're right there and you’re saying, 'This is where I belong.'"

Gotti, who claims he quit the mob in 1999, also said he never got angry when the city's newspapers mocked him.

"Every time [we] were in the tabloids on the first page, the sales would go up about eight percent. ... Who cares? I don't really care. 'Dopey don!' Who cares? Have fun with it."

Gotti's mom unleashes tirade after jurors released

NEW YORK — John "Junior" Gotti's mother unleashed a profanity-laced tirade Wednesday after a judge dismissed two anonymous jurors at her son's racketeering trial, saying he was being cheated of a fair trial as his father had been.
"They're railroading you!" Victoria Gotti shouted as she stood in the spectator section several feet behind her son. "They're doing to you what they did to your father."
John Gotti Sr. was convicted of racketeering in 1991 after several previous trials had ended in deadlocked juries. He died in prison in 2002.
Mrs. Gotti's outburst came as the two-month trial nears its end and after several notes from jurors over a period of weeks indicated there were personality issues bothering some of them.
The trial is the fourth for Gotti in the past four years. The others ended in hung juries.
Even before the latest trial began, seven jurors asked to be relieved of the jury duty. Five complained of issues such as damage it would cause to their jobs or personal finances, but two suggested that they feared being on a jury for an organized crime trial.
Several weeks ago, the judge revealed that he had received an anonymous letter to the court purportedly from a juror who was angry that one juror seemed to be fawning over the defense lawyer's presentation. As a result, the judge questioned each juror about any concerns but none arose. Castel dismissed the two jurors Wednesday after one complained this week that a fellow juror had made her feel "very uncomfortable."The juror told Castel that the woman told her at one point: "I'd rather phony people not speak to me at all."
The juror added: "I don't need that. I should be spanking her."
Castel said he decided to release the two jurors from duty after receiving a letter from the government. The contents of the letter were not revealed.
The judge said judges have wide latitude to release jurors from duty before deliberations start. Three alternate jurors are left.
"This is a railroad job. Enough now. Enough," Mrs. Gotti said after the judge made his announcement outside the presence of the jury.
Gotti, seated at the time, turned his head around to look at his mother and said: "Ma. Ma. Please."
Later, he told his mother: "I can deal with it. I'm OK. Don't worry about it. I'm fine."
At one point, Mrs. Gotti shouted as she pointed toward prosecutors and the judge: "They're the gangsters, right there! ... Put your own sons in there. You bastards."
Still shouting, Mrs. Gotti was ushered out of court by her family and court security officers.
Gotti's lawyer, Charles Carnesi, objected to the dismissal of the jurors, saying the judge should have been more concerned about the anonymous letter he had received weeks ago from a juror who "objected to the fact that a juror was paying particular attention to the defense case and somehow found that to be offensive."
Closing arguments are expected next week.

Junior Gotti mob trial : Joseph Fusaro gripe

There were no hair-raising tales Thursday at the Junior Gotti trial - although the judge and a mob witness both could have used one.
The unlikely pair commiserated in court over their balding domes, providing a light moment in the mob heavyweight's trial.
Joseph Fusaro, called by the defense for John A. (Junior) Gotti, testified that he met the second-generation gangster in a prison barber shop 11 years ago.
Judge Kevin Castel, listening from the bench, eyed the 66-year-old witness' shiny skull and posed a question.
"You use a barber shop frequently?" Castel asked.
"No, not me," replied Fusaro, who turned to take a look at the judge's pate.
"Don't think you do, either," the witness continued.
"Quite right, sir," said Castel.
"I know the feeling," said Fusaro.
The back-and-forth came before Fusaro testified that he wanted to approach Gotti inside the prison at Valhalla about collecting $180,000 in loan-sharking money.
Fusaro testified that when he did meet with the ex-Gambino boss, Gotti quickly turned him down.
"He was done with that," Fusaro testified. "He said, 'If you have any brains, and I think you do ... do your sentence because this is over."

Federal Prosecutors Portray John Gotti as Killer as Victoria Gotti Enjoys Star Treatment

NEW YORK — As his sister Victoria Gotti began a book tour like a celebrity author, John "Junior" Gotti sat in court, portrayed as a merciless killer by federal prosecutors who want to show he was far different from his entrepreneurial sister.
Last week, the government used its star witness — childhood friend John Alite — to convince a Manhattan jury that Gotti was as lethal a threat to society as anyone else in the Gambino crime family once led by his late father, John Gotti Sr.

Read The Full Story RatFella Alite

Mobster, Albert Anastacia Hit

Albert Anastasia, head of Murder Inc. and boss of what would become the Gambino crime family, was found on the barbershop floor of the Park-Sheraton Hotel on W. 55th St. The reputed chief executioner of Muder Inc. was slain by unknown assailants at 10:18 am on October 25, 1957. Following his death, Carlo Gambino took over as family boss. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/galleries/ny_mobs_greatest_hits/ny_mobs_greatest_hits.html#ph5#ixzz0JsubWzNW&C