Alleged Mob Boss Is Called Bully as N.Y. Trial Begins
Reputed Mafia boss John Gotti is a bully who ordered the shooting of a union leader to avenge the trashing of a mob-linked restaurant because “he couldn’t allow a challenge to go unpunished,” a prosecutor charged Saturday.
The remarks in state Supreme Court in Manhattan marked the beginning of the assault and conspiracy trial for Gotti, who prosecutors claim is “the head of the Gambino crime family,” the nation’s most powerful mob group.
“They rule by terror and intimidation,” Assistant Dist. Atty. Michael Cherkasky told the seven-woman, five-man jury.
Gotti, 49, is charged with ordering the May, 1986, shooting and wounding of John O’Connor, a carpenters union official.
His co-defendant, Anthony (Tony Lee) Guerrieri, 60, a reputed Gambino soldier, is accused of helping plan the hit, which was carried out by the Westies, a gang from Hell’s Kitchen.
The shooting came about four months after a union goon squad vandalized a Gambino-linked restaurant to protest the use of non-union labor.
Key evidence in the government’s case are tapes of secretly recorded conversations at Gotti’s alleged headquarters.
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