Word: gotti
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Mafia's tradition of omerta, the code of silence, is explicit: betray the family and pay with your life. But beginning with the televised confessions of Cosa Nostra Songbird Joseph Valachi in 1963, that code has been repeatedly violated. At the racketeering trial of reputed Mafia Boss John Gotti last week in Brooklyn federal court, omerta suffered one of its rudest shocks...
Before he was locked up in New York City's Metropolitan Correctional Center last May to await trial on racketeering charges, reputed Mafia Boss John $ Gotti, 45, was known for his expensive Italian suits and impeccable grooming...
...prison can be hard on a man, and when Gotti finally appeared last week in Brooklyn Federal Court, the "Dapper Don" of the tabloids showed signs of fashion fatigue. No tie. No tan. His graying hair no longer meticulously styled. Only a starched white pocket handkerchief, practically a Gotti trademark, hinted of better days as the alleged head of the Gambino crime family. While attorneys painstakingly questioned prospective jurors, whose names were kept secret for their protection, Gotti suffered another setback: U.S. District Judge Eugene Nickerson ruled that during the trial, the boss could not eat lunch in the courtroom...
Piecyk, understandably, got scared. He wrote to Queens District Attorney John J. Santucci that after he read that Gotti was not merely one of the "punks in the Mob" but "was next in line for Godfather, naturally, my idea of pursuing this matter dropped. I can't and will not live the rest of my life in fear." When Piecyk was finally put on the witness stand, he lost his memory. He could not recall having been robbed by anyone. Wearing dark glasses, he pointedly avoided looking at Gotti, who lounged at the defense table, nattily dressed in a dark...
Next day the charges were dropped and Gotti, who could have received a 15-year sentence if convicted, walked out of the court joking and laughing. Gotti is scheduled to go back on trial next week as one of the main defendants in a racketeering and conspiracy case against members of the Gambino crime family. While he can hardly consider that a welcome prospect, he may find it more seemly to stand trial as a would-be Godfather than as a common street mugger...