New York mobster Joseph O’Kane, who testified as a defense witness for friend John Gotti Jr. last fall, has been murdered in prison, the website Gangland News reported.
Joseph O’Kane, 44, was stabbed to death by a fellow inmate on Sunday in his cell block at a high-security prison in Waymart, Penn., the website reported. The Bureau of Prisons simply listed him on its website as “deceased”.
His lawyer Joseph Corozzo told the N.Y. Daily News: “It was under investigation, and the prison was on lockdown. He was well-respected in the facility, and I was unaware of any problems with any other inmates or with prison officials. That’s why this is so shocking.”
O’Kane was serving a life sentence for a 1999 murder and racketeering conviction. He testified to counter testimony by government witness John Alite. The jury deadlocked and a mistrial was declared. It was Gotti’s fourth mistrial in five years because of a deadlocked jury. The U.S. Attorney’s Office finally agreed to wave the white flag and not go after Gotti for a fifth time.
