Oft-Acquitted ‘Teflon Don’ Faces Toughest Trial : Crime: This time, prosecutors say, charges against reputed mob boss John Gotti may stick--and bring long prison term.

Hair styled by regular visits to the barber shop at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, creases sharp in his $1,800 suit, silk necktie carefully chosen to coordinate, John Gotti once again is center stage at a high-stakes, high-visibility trial with more than a touch of Hollywood.

After winning acquittal three times, the reputed head of the nation’s largest organized crime family is the chief attraction in a Brooklyn courtroom. He is facing federal charges including murder, murder conspiracy, racketeering, illegal gambling, loan sharking and obstruction of justice.

Gotti, 51, who swears he is just a salesman for a plumbing and heating supply company, is accused most prominently of masterminding the assassination before Christmas in 1985 of Paul Castellano. The government says Gotti wanted to take Castellano’s place as head of the Gambino crime family.

Gotti is on trial for ordering five underworld executions, although federal prosecutors have now alleged that he authorized six other hits as well, for a total of 11.

The prosecutors, who have succeeded in winning the cooperation of Gotti’s most trusted aide, Salvatore (Sammy the Bull) Gravano, are convinced they have their strongest case yet against the man the media has dubbed the “Teflon Don.”

Extraordinary precautions are being taken to guard against jury tampering (artists may not even sketch prospective jurors’ faces) as Gotti sits outwardly jovial and smiling in court with co-defendant Frank Locascio.

Since his arrest more than a year ago, Gotti has been held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan. Incarceration has put a severe crimp in his lifestyle, which previously included trips in his custom Mercedes from his modest home in Howard Beach, Queens, to expensive restaurants; visits to his country home in Pennsylvania, and jaunts in his speedboat on Jamaica Bay.

It has been lights-out promptly at 10:30 p.m. and a severe decline in sartorial splendor. Except for court appearances, Gotti has been forced to wear a dark brown prison-issue jumpsuit.

Even though prosecutors stand 0-3 against Gotti, law enforcement officials stress that over the past decade they have made significant progress against traditional organized crime. They say three of New York City’s five Mafia families essentially are on the ropes and major assaults are under way against the other two.

“The infrastructure of the Cosa Nostra is in the process of disintegration,” said Ronald Goldstock, director of the New York State Organized Crime Task Force. “The Gotti trial should be put in a larger context.”

Although Gotti has not been convicted in these cases, Goldstock said, “he has been unable to avoid prosecution and electronic surveillance. . . . (and) the conversations . . . were used to convict a dozen people around him.

“You look at Gotti’s achievements as head of the family after a five-year period. His achievements are largely he was acquitted three times and they have been able to have fireworks on the Fourth of July.

“In terms of the family, he has been a disaster,” Goldstock said. “People within the family have been blown up in internecine warfare. Others have been convicted and public and law enforcement attention have hurt the businesses the family are in.”

The Gambino and Genovese families remain New York City’s most powerful Mafia organizations. Estimates are the Gambino family contains some 400 members, who are involved in loan sharking, gambling, theft, hijacking and receiving stolen property. They also have penetrated such industries as construction and trucking (in the garment business) as well as crime at airports and on the waterfront.

Prosecutors believe they won some important victories even before jury selection began.

By gaining the cooperation of Gravano, who was charged in the indictment with committing three murders and was arrested with Gotti on Dec. 11, 1990, government lawyers believe they may have the strongest witness ever against Gotti.

Gravano is expected to tell the jury that Gotti ordered the slaying of Castellano because Castellano, as head of the Gambino crime family, planned to assign mobsters reporting to Gotti to other crews. Castellano complained that Gotti crews were involved in drug trafficking, against Castellano’s orders.

At the time, Gotti was a middle-level captain in the crime family who had served prison time for attempted manslaughter and for cargo thefts and truck hijackings at Kennedy Airport.

Gravano, a 46-year-old amateur boxer, also is in the position to corroborate government tape recordings, prosecutors believe. Some of the tapes show that Gotti had confidence in Gravano and planned to have him act as his surrogate if he went to jail. Government lawyers allege that on one of the tapes, Gotti discusses the five murders that prosecutors say he ordered.

Prosecutors also succeeded in getting federal judge Leo Glasser to disqualify Gotti’s longtime lawyer Bruce Cutler, who successfully represented him in the three trials that ended in acquittals.

The government lawyers argued that Cutler’s close relationship made him “house counsel” for the Gambino crime family and that Cutler’s voice is heard on tapes to be introduced as evidence.

The prosecution team headed by U.S. Atty. Andrew Maloney cited evidence during the pretrial hearings of widespread jury tampering at previous Gotti trials.

To avoid that possibility, Glasser ordered extraordinary security for the jurors when they are selected. Not only will they remain anonymous and be sequestered for as long as three months, but federal marshals will be present when family members visit and even during trips to the doctor. All the jurors’ phone calls will be monitored as well as any letters they receive or decide to write.

Jurors are being screened in a book-lined conference room on the second floor of the courthouse near the Brooklyn Bridge. Gotti and his defense team, headed by Miami lawyer Albert J. Krieger, sit at a large table, as do prosecutors.

At one recent session, Gotti, wearing a dark double-breasted suit and patterned gold and blue tie, watched as several potential jurors expressed nervousness at the possibility of judging him. One woman said she was frightened because Gotti sort of knew her sister living on Mulberry Street in Manhattan. She was excused.

“Relax, nobody is going to bite you,” Judge Glasser reassured a man who said he was a machinist.

Jurors are being asked a series of questions including whether they have ever undergone a tax audit, if they have prejudice against the government, if they have seen the movie “The Godfather,” whether they approve of government wiretaps.

In one incident, 10 jurors who passed initial screening and were sequestered had to be dismissed after a mix-up allowing them to read newspapers detailing the additional murders Gotti is alleged to have authorized. In another, Gotti--with Judge Glasser out of the courtroom--publicly insulted the judge.

Once the 12 jurors and six alternates are selected, seats in the courtroom will be as hard to get as tickets to the hottest Broadway shows. Even with half the courtroom reserved for the news media, the crush of reporters already far exceeds the seating capacity. Members of the public who wish to catch a glimpse of Gotti will surely have to rise before dawn to get in line.

The stakes are high for both sides in the case. As multiple offenders, Gotti and Locascio face life in prison if they are convicted. Government lawyers, meanwhile, are dealing with a man who has become the nation’s leading symbol of prosecutorial frustration.

Because he is seen by some as a celebrity here, Gotti’s lifestyle has been microscopically dissected in the media. The New York Post even carried Gotti’s Super Bowl pick on the front page.

Gotti picked the Buffalo Bills to win. Prosecutors are hoping the bad luck will continue.

GOTTI RAP SHEET

Here are some key events in the life of John Gotti, who is facing murder and racketeering charges at a trial in New York: 1957: The high school dropout is arrested after a street gang fight.

1958: Convicted of burglary; given probation.

1963: Serves 20 days for car theft.

1966: Serves one year for unlawful entry and grand larceny.

1967: Arrested on federal hijacking charges in FBI sting at Kennedy Airport.

1968: Arrested in state hijacking case; pleads guilty but received no prison time.

1969: Pleads guilty in federal hijacking case; gets three years.

1969: While in prison, indicted on hijacking charge; indictment dismissed because police used illegal wiretap.

1974: Arrested for murder of James McBratney.

1975: Pleads guilty to attempted manslaughter in McBratney case; gets two years.

1984: Arrested on assault and robbery charges; case later dismissed after victim learns who Gotti is and develops amnesia on the witness stand.

1985: Arrested on federal racketeering charges; later acquitted.

1989: Arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit assault after allegedly ordering the shooting of a union official; acquitted in 1990.

1990: Arrested on federal racketeering charges; accused of crimes while boss of the Gambino crime family.

Source: Associated Press