John Gotti Jr./youtube

They don’t make mobsters like they use to. In the day, most mobsters lived by the golden rule of silence. But these days, more and more of the boys are jumping ship and cutting deals.

By Tom Leonard
The Daily Telegraph of London
NEW YORK — ANYONE looking for evidence of the pathetic state of America’s once mighty Mafia could find it last week in one of Brooklyn’s federal courtrooms.

On the defence bench, a bespectacled 62-year-old man in scruffy green sweater and grey trousers sat impassively as an alleged former workmate, a fellow hitman in New York’s Gambino crime family, spilled the beans on everything from the murderousness of its menfolk to the infidelity of its women.

The trial of Charles Carneglia for five murders and racketeering charges has been electrified by the evidence of John Alite, a self-confessed assassin for the Gambino clan and their ruling family, the Gottis, who has “ratted” on his old friends.

Alite’s lurid succession of claims included that John Gotti Jr ordered a string of murders, that he (Alite) had an affair with Gotti’s married sister, Victoria, and that two police officers helped in at least one of the Gambino murders.

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UNDER THE CATEGORY OF OTHER RATS

Bernie Madoff Expected to Plead Guilty Thursday (N.Y. Times)

The remnants of corruption from the Bush administration continue to trickle in. In this case, a NASA official may have had more than the success of the space program on his mind.

By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON – A former top NASA official has been indicted on charges of steering $9.6 million in agency funds to a consulting client.

The U.S. attorney’s office announced a three-count indictment today against Courtney Stadd of Bethesda, Md., who had served as NASA’s chief of staff and White House liaison.

The indictment accuses Stadd of steering money from an earth science appropriation to Mississippi State University, which was paying him as a consultant. Stadd is also accused of lying to NASA ethics officials investigating the matter.

Stadd faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on all three charges.

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