John Gotti Jr.’s fourth racketeering trial was a disaster for the prosecution, ending up in another mistrial. But he thought he was going to get convicted and wrote the judge at the onset of jury deliberations in November, griping about his rulings and his attorney’s refusal to let him testify during trial.
“He thought he was dead meat,” said one knowledgeable source, according to the Web site Gang Land News, which requested that the letter be released. “He felt that everything had gone against him and he would be convicted. That’s what spurred him to write the letter.”
The letter was just unsealed Feb. 2 in federal court in New York. In it, Gotti also complained about the judge not granting funding for transcripts and a decision not to allow a witness to testify.
The government tried four times in five years to convict Gotti, the son of the late John Gotti, the boss of the Gambino crime family. Each time the juries deadlocked, resulting in mistrials. Last month, the U.S. attorney’s office officially announced that it would not pursue a fifth trial.
As part of his defense in his trials, Gotti claimed he had left the mob long ago. The prosecution insisted he was lying.
“Make no mistake, I committed crimes in the past, but I left my former life behind over 10 years ago,” Gotti wrote to U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel. “I have served my time and paid my debt to society (I’ve served over 7 years in prison; I’ve paid a $13,000 fine; I forfeited $1.5 million as well as 90 acres in the Poconos and a farm in upstate New York; I paid approximately $400,000 in restitution; I paid back hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes …).
To read more click here.
