By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
A reformed Brooklyn gangster claims in his book “Surviving the Mob” that he was recruited by a Gambino crime family capo in 1996 to rub out gangster John (Junior) Gotti over money, according to the website Gang Land News.
Some have dismissed the claims as garbage, according to Gang Land News editor Jerry Capeci, a former mob writer for the New York Daily News.
Nonetheless, ex-mobster Andrew DiDonato, now 45, claims it all took place when Nicholas (Little Nick) Corozzo was expected to take over the crime family, pending the exhaustion of all appeals for the elder Gotti for his 1992 conviction, Gang Land reported.
DiDonato writes that Nick Corozzo explained that even though “the feds were after him and his taking over the family would double the speed of their investigation” and “he expected to be arrested at anytime…he had to grab the opportunity. After all, that was what every gangster who came up from the streets dreamed of being some day: the boss of the family.”
“Nicky turned to me and made the sign of a gun with his thumb and finger. He said if he did get arrested, there’d be a lot of work (killing) to do. Then he looked around at everybody and he said, ‘Do you hear me? I said if I get arrested there’s gonna be a lot of fuckin’ work to do.
“Nicky grabbed my hand and said, ‘And we’re gonna start with that fucking Baby Huey in Queens.’ Baby Huey was what we called Junior Gotti. Nicky looked at me and Mike Yannotti. He said, ‘Okay. Start gettin’ familiar with this guy.’ Mike nodded. I said sure, whatever had to be done, would be done.”
Gangland reported that in an interview with DiDonato that the ex-mobster said Corozzo didn’t specifically say why he wanted the Gotti son dead, but Corozzo had voiced anger with Junior “about the phone card business that they were involved in. He felt he was partners with Junior and Jackie D’Amico and Joe Watts and he believed there was supposed to be some money coming to him. He wasn’t getting the share that he deserved and he wasn’t happy about that.”
Joseph Corozzo, (right) Nicky’s nephew and a leading attorney, said, according to Gang Land: “It’s completely untrue, but unfortunately anyone can write a book these days in an attempt to cash in on his criminal activity.
Gotti Jr.’s attorney Charles Carnesi said, according to Gang Land: “The allegation makes no sense. The guy’s trying to rewrite history. John has never been involved in any phone card operations.”
