Gotti Painted as Typical Gangster at Trial

Victoria Gotti may be starting off a book tour like a celebrity author, but her brother John "Junior" Gotti has been sweating it out in court as prosecutors try to show he was a typical organized crime cretin.

For a full week ending Thursday, the federal government used its star witness, John Alite, to convince a federal jury in Manhattan that Gotti was as lethal a threat to society as anyone else in the Gambino crime family.

The testimony marks the first time in four racketeering trials for Gotti over the last four years that the government has produced a witness who could so dramatically link Gotti to stabbings and murders and beatings in the 1980s and 1990s.

Prosecutors seem intent on taking a shine off the Gotti name that has resulted in part from his sister.

Thanks to WCAX

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Junior Gotti Explodes in Court

And on the seventh day, he lost it.

An enraged John A. (Junior) Gotti exploded Thursday, fed up after a week's worth of damning testimony from his ex-best friend - reportedly threatening to murder the mob informant in a Manhattan courtroom.

"I'll kill you," Gotti mouthed at John Alite just before the once inseparable duo shared a high-decibel Mafia meltdown in front of a stunned audience.

Jurors didn't see Gotti send that silent message to Alite, and they were ushered out of the courtroom before the real fireworks minutes later.

As Alite stepped down from the witness stand, he slowed and snarled at Gotti.

"You got something to say to me?" the star government witness barked, later telling the judge about the threat.

"You fag!" Gotti shouted back. "Did I kill little girls? You're a punk. You're a dog. You're a dog. You always were a dog your whole life, you punk dog."

The ugly encounter in federal court came after Alite blamed one of Gotti's uncles for a murder in the early 1990s.

The testimony enraged Gotti, who shouted at Alite while court officers intervened.

"You want to strangle little girls in a motel?" Gotti screamed as Alite was led away. "You dog!"

Alite had just testified that Vincent Gotti had strangled a young woman in a drug-fueled fight and left her body in a Queens motel bathtub.

Defense lawyer Charles Carnesi suggested Alite was the real killer.

"Ridiculous," said Alite, laughing. "His uncle, yes, strangled somebody and killed her. ... I wasn't there."

Alite confirmed that Junior was later blamed for the slaying, infuriating the Gambino boss.

Gotti, 45, facing his fourth racketeering trial, apologized for mouthing off, but federal Judge Kevin Castel was not moved by the mea culpa and said another outburst would land him in contempt.

"You are not doing yourself any favors, and you violated my direction," said Castel, who had warned Gotti during jury selection to keep his mouth shut.

Castel said he did not see Gotti mouth the threat at Alite, but accepted Prosecutor Elie Honig's claim that a U.S. Marshal saw Gotti do it.

"He lipped to me, 'We're gonna kill you,'" Alite told the judge. "So I said, 'What?' And he said, 'We're gonna kill you.'"

Gotti's mother, Victoria, said Alite went after her son because Carnesi was getting too close to the truth. Carnesi had forced Alite to recount hundreds of lies he had made - to the government, lawyers, family and friends - as he tried to worm his way out of a life sentence.

"Alite is a pathological liar - a rat caught in a proverbial trap, caught in his own lies, and he lashed out," she said.

The ex-friends ignored one another when they returned to court later in the day.

Thanks to Alison Gendar and Larry Mcshane

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Honeymoon in Hawaii Ends with Arrest of Reputed Mobster

An alleged Mafia associate was arrested on racketeering charges while on his honeymoon in Honolulu.

Twenty-seven-year-old Vito Pipitone is in custody awaiting a federal judge's decision on whether he may return to New York on $50,000 bail or be extradited.

A grand jury returned a 33-count indictment last month charging 15 members and associates of the Bonanno organized crime family. It accuses them of various racketeering charges, including extortion, bank fraud, narcotics trafficking and assault.

Pipitone turned himself in Wednesday after learning his brother and others had been arrested.

Authorities say Pipitone, his brother and three others stabbed and beat two men in October 2004 whom they believed had broken windows of a protected restaurant in Queens.

Thanks to AP

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