Mum’s the word as police investigate stabbing of ‘Junior’ Gotti

There is at least one thing that John “Junior” Gotti, scion of the mobster family, and Oscar Wilde, the playwright known for his ironic bent, have in common. They know that no good deed goes unpunished.

The aphorism is generally attributed to the acerbic writer and wit. Gotti, the son of the man who became notorious as the Teflon Don of organized crime because criminal charges slid off him like a fried egg on a properly coated skillet, learned of its truth during a weekend incident during which he was stabbed while reportedly trying to break up an altercation in a parking lot on Long Island.

“We are investigating, along with the Nassau Police Department, a stabbing that occurred in Syosset, N.Y., on Sunday evening involving John ‘Junior’ Gotti,” Shams Tarek, communications director for the Nassau County district attorney’s office, told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday. That is the only official word on the incident, clothed in a dense fog of omerta.

It is the back story that elevates what would be cheap crime into one worthy of a former boss, albeit temporary, of one of the five Mafia crime families.

Gotti, known as Junior, is the 49-year-old son of the late John J. Gotti, who was boss of the Gambino crime family. The elder Gotti was a frequent target of investigations but managed to shed prosecutors like water sluicing off a seal. But prosecutors were relentless and the elder Gotti finally died of cancer in prison, where he was serving a life sentence for murder and racketeering.

With his father out of circulation, Junior reportedly became acting boss from 1992 to 1999, then left the family business after a plea deal that involved him serving time for extortion and loan sharking. From 2004 to 2009, Gotti was a defendant in four racketeering trials, all of which ended in mistrials.

Finally, in January 2010, federal prosecutors announced that they would no longer seek to prosecute Junior on mob charges, thus earning the son the nickname “Teflon Jr.”

Gotti reportedly was in the parking lot of a CVS drugstore in Syosset around 9:45 p.m. on Sunday. He reportedly was breaking up a fight between strangers when he was stabbed in the stomach, but police said they aren’t sure exactly what happened. They are checking the video security footage.

What is known is that Gotti drove himself to a hospital, was sent to another hospital and treated and released.

Needless to say, Gotti, is not talking.

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