Mob Star_ The Story of John Gotti Part 22

In February 1985, the federal hammer raised by the Angelo bugs slammed down on the Crime Capital. In Manhattan, Paul, Neil, and bosses, acting bosses, or underbosses of the other four Families were indicted on charges of operating an illegal RICO enterprise-the Commission.

The indictment began with a history of Family crime dating to 1900. It said the Commission was formed in 1931 to "regulate" Family relationships, and that its current members had used murder as a regulatory tool. The contemporary group had also formed a "club" of contractors, and used extortion to gain control of all concrete jobs in New York City over $2 million.

Many top officials joined Rudy Giuliani to toast their work. "The indictment exposes the structure of organized crime on a scale never done before," said FBI director William H. Webster. "The mob is on the run and we ask you to help drive the Mafia out of New York City and out of the United States," said Steven Trott, chief of the Justice Department's Criminal Division and the official who gave Dearie the decision on Wahoo.

The media turned to its sources and asked who was running the Gambino Family now that Paul and Neil each had two federal cases pending.

This resulted in John Gotti's public debut, a half-page splash in the Sunday, March 3, Daily News Daily News under this headline: under this headline: NEW G.o.dFATHER REPORTED.

HEADING GAMBINO GANG.

Reporter Paul Meskil said Gotti was being identified as the "new 'acting boss' of the Gambinos, a position that could make him the most powerful leader of the New York underworld."

The speculation was a bit rich. The Pope was still the boss, and though quite sick, Neil was underboss. It was true that Gotti was in a position to move up, but so were others, like the two Thomases, Gambino and Bilotti. Two photos ran with the story. One showed the "home of new reputed G.o.dfather John Gotti in Howard Beach." The second was a mug shot from Gotti's hijacking days, in which a young man with black hair stares into the lens, daring it to capture any emotion except defiance.

On March 18, Agent Abbott and his boss, Frank Storey, met Giacalone to turn the Source Wahoo files over to her. She had won the battle to indict him, but they still wondered why she planned to tell defense attorneys about him if her case was not based on his information. She said the defense was ent.i.tled to all his prior statements to authorities. Not all lawyers would argue it had to be done voluntarily. Why not at least wait until asked?

Sorry, boys, Giacalone said.

John Gotti knew he was about to become another Family defendant, but on March 20 he was able to joke about it.

The government was about to "knock the f.u.c.kin' nuts off of me," he said to Peter Mosca. "They figure instead of givin' ya 10 years, they give ya 30 years."

Mosca visited Gotti in the company of Dominick Lofaro, the wired informer who was working off a heroin charge after telling the state Organized Crime Task Force he was a made man in Ralph Mosca's crew. Ralph Mosca, Peter's father, had sent the pair to tell Gotti that a card game about to open in Maspeth-near the Gotti-controlled Cozy Corner Bar-was not Mosca-sponsored, despite its operators' claims.

The messengers arrived on 101st Avenue and exchanged greetings with Gotti and Angelo, still h.o.a.rding his heroin tapes, which the government had turned over during pretrial discovery in his case. Gotti already knew of the rival operation from his Cozy Corner nominee, Philip Cestaro, and was amazed at the operators' gall.

"I cleaned [out] that neighborhood when there were junkies down there, fifteen years ago when we were on the lam," he said, referring to his McBratney era.

The men nodded respectfully.

"Yeah, we got a game right there and we got a club there ... so now this f.u.c.king pimp went around and told all the storeowners, 'We gonna open up a game.' He was making like he's got a license!"

Gotti said he had dispatched Cestaro to tell the two men in Maspeth that they should just sell coffee because "John" had a game at the corner. But the men didn't know a "John."

At this Gotti paused to poke fun at himself. "That's all right ... I don't even know who I am myself sometimes."

The men laughed respectfully.

Gotti completed the story by telling Peter Mosca that the two men told Cestaro they were "with" his father.

Mosca wanted to know, "Which one?"

"I don't know which one of them. I didn't even go see them yet. But if I go see them, maybe I'll ... you know, I'll crack one."

Gotti told Mosca and Lofaro to visit the men and find out who they were really with and report back to him. Later that day, they did. Mosca said the men wouldn't name their sponsor, perhaps not until they could find one important enough to match up against Gotti.

"Well, forget about that," Gotti said. "I got four thousand guys, I'll send 'em from every neighborhood."

"I wanna know who they're gonna come up with," Peter said.

"I don't give a f.u.c.k who they come up with."

Gotti said he wouldn't even let the men host a friendly game of poker. "I'll tell you right now, I need the exercise. They're not gonna play nothin' ... let someone come forward ... I want somebody to come forward. I'm dying to see who's gonna come forward."

"Yeah, me too," Lofaro said.

"He better go to Russia and get a guy. He can't get n.o.body from the five crews we know."

Five days later, on March 25, 1985, Czar Gotti and nine soldiers were indicted.

The indictment was sealed pending the arrest of John and Gene Gotti, Neil and his son Armond, the brothers Carneglia, Willie Boy Johnson, Anthony Rampino, Nicholas Corozzo, and Leonard DiMaria. Corozzo was named as the leader of another crew in the other mob that included DiMaria and Armond.

All were charged with two RICO counts: racketeering and conspiracy. Each faced 40-year sentences and fines of $50,000. Each was accused of varying "predicate acts"-that is, specific crimes committed to benefit the illegal enterprise.

Three of Gotti's seven predicates were crimes he had been convicted of and served time for-two hijackings and attempted manslaughter in the McBratney case, which the RICO indictment elevated to murder. John Carneglia was accused of the murder of court officer Albert Gelb; Willie Boy was accused of conspiracy to murder Anthony Plate, the loan shark whose disappearance led to Neil's beating a case in 1979.

It was Neil's third federal rap in five months-the mortgage on a life in crime was coming due in his final months. He was accused of supervising both the Gotti and Corozzo crews over an 18-year period. Gene and John Carneglia were not in a good spot either; they were already under indictment in the Angelo drug case.

On March 28, NYPD detectives and DEA agents moved out to make the arrests. A little after 4 A.M., they found John, Gene, and Willie Boy playing cards at the Bergin.

"What'd we do?" John asked.

"Don't worry, you already did it," DEA agent Magnuson replied. "Your crimes have caught up with you."

Raymond Dearie issued a press release after the arrests. He said an investigation had reconstructed the organized acts of an illegal enterprise by interweaving almost 20 years of information from state and federal files.

"The investigation revealed that what appeared initially to be unrelated investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of the defendants for the commission of numerous state and federal crimes was, in fact, the organized criminal activity of the two crews under the supervision of underboss Aniello Dellacroce," Dearie's statement said.

Dearie didn't say that most of the interwoven probes had produced no indictments. But he did salute the work of the Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Suffolk County district attorneys, Billy Burns of the NYPD major-case squad, DEA agent Edward Magnuson, and a.s.sistant U.S. attorney Diane Giacalone. A veteran reporter noted the remarkable omission of the FBI and asked for an explanation. Dearie answered that the DEA was the federal agency on the case because, early on, it involved drug-trafficking allegations.

United States of America v. Aniello Dellacroce, et al. was called for arraignment and bail applications later that day in Brooklyn, with Judge Eugene H. Nickerson presiding. was called for arraignment and bail applications later that day in Brooklyn, with Judge Eugene H. Nickerson presiding.

Michael Coiro, then under indictment, too, appeared for John and Gene and pleaded them not guilty. John was released on $1 million bail secured by his brother Richard's home and his own home, which was in Victoria's name and said to be worth $230,000. Gene was released on the same bail he posted in the drug case, $250,000 secured by his home.

Anthony Rampino was released to the facility at which he had been arrested-a heroin detoxification center in the Bronx. Neil was not able to appear; he was hospitalized for a chemotherapy treatment and would have to plead not guilty by telephone.

"Your Honor, unfortunately, I think Mr. Dellacroce's stay with us is somewhat limited," said his lawyer, Barry Slotnick.

After bail for the others was decided upon-two defendants, Buddy Dellacroce and Charles Carneglia, had not been found-Giacalone told Judge Nickerson that Willie Boy Johnson, now the only defendant in the courtroom, should be jailed immediately because "no conditions of bail would secure his appearance."

The judge's eyes requested an explanation.

"The reason is that Mr. Johnson has been an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a period of over fifteen years, including a period up through the present time."

Willie Boy remained as still as a courthouse statue, although his fists were clenched so tightly the words "True" and "Love" tattooed across his knuckles stood out clearly. His close friend John Gotti was headed home to Howard Beach, but he had been told earlier that day about Willie Boy-by Willie Boy-as they and others were brought to the courthouse in handcuffs.

"They're accusing me of being an informant," Willie Boy told Johnny Boy. "It ain't true."

Gotti was stunned, not by truth but by untruth. Giacalone had to be lying. The idea of Willie Boy as a rat was crazy. Willie Boy had been around too long. He knew too too much. Calling him an informer was a devious effort to make him go bad. much. Calling him an informer was a devious effort to make him go bad.

"I don't believe it," Gotti said.

By denying it, Willie Boy was keeping a vow he had made in 1966 when he said that's what he would do if it surfaced. That was when he was "very bitter with La Cosa Nostra La Cosa Nostra members who never helped his family while he was in prison" and was described by the FBI as a "tough, standup guy" and "muscle man for Gambino" who "moves with fluidity through the underworld," but would never be made because he wasn't Italian. members who never helped his family while he was in prison" and was described by the FBI as a "tough, standup guy" and "muscle man for Gambino" who "moves with fluidity through the underworld," but would never be made because he wasn't Italian.

Willie Boy, a rock-solid 51-year-old former boxer, listened as Giacalone urged that he be jailed without bail.

While informing on his codefendants, he had been "simultaneously partic.i.p.ating in serious criminal activity," and it would be legally impossible to keep his informer status a secret. She recounted how in December, when first warned by the FBI, he said he would be killed if he was revealed.

"It is an a.s.sessment with which I cannot disagree. We have indicated to Mr. Johnson that we are prepared to protect him as a result."

"Not true, Your Honor," Willie Boy protested.

It was true, but Willie Boy was trying desperately to avoid going off to jail as a protected inmate. He feared his codefendants would regard it as proof that he was an informer. He wanted to make bail and take his chances on the streets, but Giacalone held all the cards. Earlier in the day, she and her supervisor, Susan Shepard, had informed him he would be compromised, but they were prepared to offer him protection.

"I will be killed," he had said. "My family will be slaughtered."

Giacalone now told the judge about the earlier meeting. "He also said ... that he would at some point tell them himself in some way, his codefendants, that he had been an informant."

The judge asked Willie Boy to tell his story under oath; Johnson denied being an informer, though he did admit: "I spoke to the FBI many times."

"Did you give information to the FBI about Messrs. Gotti and those?" the judge asked.

"No sir."

You never mentioned Mr. Gotti?"

"No, sir."

Willie Boy, who, in addition to many other crucial tips, had fingered Gotti in the McBratney case and set him up for apprehension, hesitated briefly before continuing.

"I might have mentioned the name. Yeah. Mr. Gotti. They mentioned it to me."

"What did you say about him?"

"They said he's the boss. I said, 'He's always the boss.' Things like that."

After a few minutes more, Nickerson decided Willie Boy was a serious no-show risk for trial. He said the FBI files showed Willie Boy had been an informer about his codefendants and about the specific crimes they had committed.

"It would be irresponsible of me, it seems to me, to release him on bail ... and so I order his detention."

Willie Boy was led away to the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Because of a report filed the next day by Source BQ, he was locked in a special pen-sealed off from the other inmates like a man with a deadly disease.

Source BQ reported that three Bergin men-whom he would not name-had discussed killing Willie Boy without Gotti's permission-to protect him "from embarra.s.sment." As a ruling member of the Gambino Family, "John would immediately fall into disfavor if it became known on the street he was so closely aligned with an FBI informant." BQ said crew members were surprised that Willie Boy's status as an informer had been disclosed in court. "Because this fact is known, Johnson's life will forever be in jeopardy."

Willie Boy was confined in his cell 23 hours a day. His access to showers and recreation was restricted. A gla.s.s door to the pen enabled other inmates to taunt him. In a few days, he complained he had found blood in his urine and needed medication. On Easter Sunday, his wife, who had sent messages from Wahoo to the FBI many times, was denied visitation. When his lawyers visited, he was led to them in leg shackles.

The lawyers demanded a hearing to protest this "cruel and inhumane" treatment, which they said was Giacalone's attempt to force Willie Boy to become a witness, and to reapply for bail because "his life is not in danger."

On April 9, the hearing was held and now Gotti would learn that two more informers were talking to the FBI about the Bergin crew. Without identifying him, Special Agent Storey described BQ's report. He also disclosed the FBI had received a tip from a recently developed source who said the crew wanted Willie Boy freed "so they could talk to him and find out more about" the extent of the damage.

The hearing was adjourned without change in Willie Boy's habitat. He would spend the next 16 months in the special pen while the pretrial moves in the case were played out. His had been a most unusual saga, soon to be reprised by a second mystery man, Source BQ-who, like Wahoo during the past decade, had received about $35,000 in small, periodic payments from the FBI.

Peter Mosca and Dominick Lofaro's visit to Ozone Park to discuss the Maspeth card-game situation was the probable cause that the state Task Force needed to go up on John Gotti, and plant bugs in the Nice N EZ Auto School, next to the Bergin annex. The state bugs went in 13 days after Gotti's indictment, so no conversations taped by them could be used in Diane Giacalone's case.

Gotti was overheard only once-complaining about "severe" gambling losses-before he motored to Florida and rented two rooms on separate floors of the Fort Lauderdale Hilton under the name Dom Pizzonia. His bail required Nickerson's approval for trips outside New York; Gotti thought that Bruce Cutler, who was handling pretrial matters, had arranged this. In fact, Cutler hadn't, and on April 24, Gotti was arrested for violating bail as he and three other men clad in bathing suits sat by the pool. As they took Gotti to his room so he could dress, FBI agents noticed what appeared to be a tattoo of a serpent on his right shoulder.

Working the phone, a frantic Cutler got Gotti out of jail by 9 P.M. The next day, in court, Cutler apologized for a "misunderstanding." He said he thought when he arranged for Gotti to be excused from a routine court appearance he had also "indicated to Miss Giacalone that John Gotti was going with his family down to Florida." In the future, Cutler said he would notify Judge Nickerson when Gotti would be away.

"You are going to notify us?" Nickerson said icily. "You are going to notify us he is going to break the bail limits?"

Cutler said no, he meant to say he would ask the court's permission and, meantime, his client was still in Florida and wouldn't be able to be in court to be admonished until April 30. "He is emotionally ... he doesn't fly, Your Honor."

Early in May, to help identify people overheard on the bugs, the state Task Force put a video camera atop a Long Island Railroad trestle over 101st Avenue a few hundred feet from the Bergin annex. On May 8, the Task Force learned how paranoid-and vigilant-that part of Ozone Park is: The camera was stolen.

"Right this instant we're going on tape," Gotti crowed that night in the annex, "and we know their [listening post] is [at] Ninety-fifth Street and Ninety-ninth Avenue. And I want them to know and that's why I'm talking the way I'm talking right now here."

Within hours, the Task Force moved out of its post, which hindered timely "observations necessary in identifying those ... in intercepted conversations," according to an affidavit.

Though certain he was being overheard, Gotti continued to create a record of his verbal ferocity and gambling. On May 11, he complained about a man who owed him money and hadn't made a payment despite a pocket full of cash. "I'll kick his f.u.c.king brains in. Six thousand in his pocket Tuesday and he don't tell me nothing. I ought to whack him." On May 12, he bet 15 dimes on a pro basketball game. "I got on the [Philadelphia] 76ers, taking two [points]. That's a $30,000 decision."

Now and then, officers monitoring the bugs tried to count the profanities in Gotti's tirades, a difficult pastime. On May 19, they heard him describe sitting in a restaurant the night before near "Val," a jeweler who belonged to another crew and owed him money. "Right behind me is that f.u.c.kin' d.i.c.k sucker Val, that a.s.shole jeweler with the big mouth family, big mouth, f.u.c.kin ... [I] told him you better come and check in every week. You miss one week and I'll kill you, you c.o.c.ksucker, f.u.c.kin' creep." The next day, Gotti said Val "might be tough in that crew, but that crew ain't got n.o.body tough anyway."

On the day Gotti derided Val's toughness, Source BQ filed a blockbuster report; it suggested a reason why Gotti, even by his standards, was talking tough in May.

After saying Gotti still didn't believe that Willie Boy was a rat because he had been "involved in too much criminality" to be working for the FBI, BQ said he had been at the Our Friends Social Club in Ozone Park and seen the future. Although he didn't say so, his report indicated Gotti may have had his own Wahoo in Castellano's camp, because he seemed well informed.

BQ said John, Angelo, Gene, and John Carneglia had received "sensitive street information" that the Pope was "contemplating contract murders" on them "because of internal strife within the Gambino Family and, in part, because John is being touted" as his replacement. He said Castellano "wants to make Tommy Bilotti the new head of the Gambino Family and is therefore considering wiping out a strong portion of the Gotti faction. Gotti is contemplating striking first before Castellano can formulate his own plan."

Special Agent Colgan summarized BQ's a.s.sessment of the situation this way: "Source believes John Gotti would definitely consider a hit on Castellano and others, including Bilotti, and if he was successful, Gotti would surely be one of the most formidable and youngest heads of an organized crime Family."