Reputed N.Y. Mafia Chief Arrested : Gotti, Two Others Indicted in Shooting of Union Official

John Gotti, reputed to be the most powerful Mafia figure in the country, was arrested Monday evening in Manhattan’s Little Italy on a state grand jury indictment charging him with the shooting assault of a New York union official.

Gotti, who law enforcement officials say heads the largest of New York’s five crime families, the Gambino organization, was arrested by 50 police officers on the street near his headquarters at the Ravenite Social Club, authorities said.

Gotti, 48, appeared before a New York Criminal Court judge and was scheduled to be arraigned this morning on a sealed indictment charging him with one count of assault in the first degree, one count of conspiracy and other charges that have not yet been publicly disclosed. He was held overnight at Rikers Island.

Two Others Arrested

Two other purported Gambino family lieutenants, Angelo Ruggiero, 48, and Anthony Guerrieri, 60, have also been arrested on the indictment.

Gerald McKelvey, spokesman for the New York district attorney’s office, said it is likely that prosecutors will seek to have Gotti held without bail pending trial on the charges. Criminal Court Judge Patricia Williams declined to hear Gotti’s bail petition Monday night, referring the matter to Manhattan Supreme Court Judge George Robers at this morning’s arraignment.

Law enforcement sources told The Times that the indictment charges Gotti with the May 7, 1986, shooting of labor leader John F. O’Connor, vice president of Local 608 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.

O’Connor was shot and wounded in the lobby of his union’s office building in downtown Manhattan, allegedly after O’Connor had ordered the vandalism of a Manhattan restaurant owned by reputed Gambino family member Paul Modica.

O’Connor recovered and was subsequently indicted with four other New York union officials on charges of extorting more than $100,000 from contractors.

According to sources, O’Connor had at least indirectly tried to coerce the owners of Bankers and Brokers restaurant to use union carpenters or to make illegal payoffs for employing non-union labor, not knowing that the Gambino family had an interest in the restaurant.

When Modica refused, O’Connor is alleged to have ordered the trashing of the restaurant on at least two occasions, sources said. “The second time it was rather severe, and the punishment was severe,” said one source. An estimated $3,000 in damage was done.

The indictment reportedly alleges that Gotti ordered the assault on O’Connor in retribution for the vandalism.

Though the indictment was only recently returned by the grand jury, the allegations are not new. An informant testified during the 1987 trial of eight New York gang members that members of the city’s Westies gang shot O’Connor as a favor for Gotti.

The informant, Francis (Mickey) Featherstone, held a secretly taped conversation with the two men who claimed to have information about the shooting. The two men told Featherstone they and other gang members had run into Gotti at the 1986 funeral of a Gambino family member and had learned of the dispute with O’Connor.

sh Volunteered to Do Shooting

One of the men, Kevin Kelly, said he was told by several Gambino members at the funeral that the shooting was “something they needed quick.” O’Connor, he said, “was supposed to get knee-capped.” Two gang members volunteered to shoot him, Kelly said.

Gotti is reputed to have taken over leadership of the Gambino family following the 1985 shooting of 70-year-old boss Paul Castellano on a midtown Manhattan street.

In the years since, Gotti has emerged as something of a celebrity. Frequently dubbed the “Dapper Don,” Gotti shows up for court appearances in expensive tailored suits and frequently chats amiably with reporters outside the courtroom.

The new indictment is a coup for Manhattan Dist. Atty. Robert M. Morgenthau and New York state’s Organized Crime Task Force, who have competed with the FBI and the U.S. attorneys in Manhattan and Brooklyn in a recent rush to return indictments against what remains of New York’s mob hierarchy following a number of crippling prosecutions over the last five years.

The indictment also comes just before the retirement of Rudolph W. Giuliani, U.S. attorney for the Southern District in Manhattan, who has obtained convictions in recent years against much of the leadership of New York’s other crime families.

Stinging Setback

Gotti has proved an elusive target. Though he was convicted of other crimes before taking over the purported leadership of the Gambino family, federal prosecutors suffered a stinging setback in 1987 when Gotti and six co-defendants were acquitted of racketeering and conspiracy charges.

In a seven-month trial in Brooklyn, prosecutors accused Gotti and the others of carrying out illegal gambling and loan-sharking operations, armed hijackings and at least two murders over an 18-year period.

Gotti’s lawyer, Bruce Cutler, a former Brooklyn assistant district attorney, could not be reached for comment Monday night. But he has consistently maintained in the past that Gotti has no ties to organized crime groups or any other criminal activity.

If convicted on the assault count, Gotti would face a minimum of five years and a maximum of 15 years in state prison. The conspiracy count carries penalties ranging from 1 1/3 years to four years.