Tuesday, August 5, 2008

John “Junior” Gotti, son of convicted mobster John Gotti, was arrested early Tuesday morning.

Multiple sources say that that Gotti was arrested by the FBI at his home on Long Island, in New York state.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday afternoon that the 44-year-old Gotti has been indicted along with five other men in connection with 3 murders and cocaine trafficking.File:Gotti gambino.jpg

According to the Associated Press, the indictment “says he was involved in the slayings of George Grosso in Queens, NY, in 1988; Louis DiBono, who was killed in the parking garage of the World Trade Center in Manhattan in 1990; and Bruce John Gotterup, killed in 1991 at the boardwalk in Rockaway, Queens. It also accuses him of possession and trafficking of more than 5 kilograms of cocaine.”

The elder Gotti — who died in prison in 2002 at age 61 — was convicted for ordering the killing of DiBono, among other crimes.

A second indictment charges Gotti’s associates. John A. Burke, 47, who is in prison in New York; James V. Cadicamo, 33, of Tampa; David D’Arpino, 33, of Howard Beach, NY; Michael D. Finnerty, 43, of Oceanside, NY; and Guy T. Peden, 47, of Wantagh, NY are all charged in connection with the murders, the Associated Press reports.

ABC News reported that Gotti was photographed and fingerprinted at the FBI’s Long Island Resident Agency in Melville, New York, and taken to the federal court house in Manhattan for arraignment on Monday afternoon. The New York Times reports that Gotti will be taken to Tampa, Florida arraignment in United States District Court, where Tuesday’s news conference was held.

The younger Gotti pleaded guilty to racketeering charges including bribery, extortion, gambling and fraud in 1999. He was sentenced to 77 months in prison and was released in 2005 with credit for good behavior.

Since then Gotti was tried three times over an alleged plot to kidnap Guardian Angels founder and radio personality Curtis Sliwa. Trials in September of 2005 and in March and September of 2006 each resulted in hung juries. Prosecutors said they believed Gotti to be guilty, but lacking fresh evidence, they decided to no longer pursue the case.

“I can’t wait for the day until he gets three hots and a cot and I’ll pay for that expense,” Sliwa told ABC News. “The third time that he walked out, he gave me a sly grin as he was able to go home to his family in Oyster Bay, his Ponderosa. But I swore then that until the ends of time that until he goes to hell without an asbestos suit that I’d see him in court again and that wish has come true.”

“They tried very hard to convict him up here. They spared no resources and it didn’t work,” Charles Carnesi, Gotti’s attorney told the Associated Press. “It’s tragic for him and his family to have to continually go through this. It’s almost laughable.”

Another lawyer for Gotti, Seth Ginsberg told the New York Times that “We’re confident that there is no strength to the allegations and that he will prevail once again.”