NYC- Maybe he's not the Dapper Don, but after two mistrials, John A. (Junior) Gotti is starting to look like the Teflon Don.
For the second time in eight months, Gotti dodged a federal racketeering conviction after convincing eight jurors that he had renounced the mob life he inherited from a father whose murderous reign over the Gambino crime family ended with his death in a Missouri prison in 2002.
"I'm John A. Gotti," Gotti said, as a crush of reporters descended on the mob scion outside the Manhattan Federal Courthouse. "John J. Gotti is in Tomb 451, St. John's," referring to his late father's crypt at a Queens cemetery.
Jurors declared themselves deadlocked after back-to-back notes to Judge Shira Scheindlin indicated the divide was too great to overcome after just a day and a half of deliberations.
Scheindlin let them go, saying "the jury has spoken."
Prosecutor Michael McGovern appeared momentarily flustered by the outcome and fought the mistrial, initially requesting that the anonymous panel of eight men and four women be asked to return Monday. But after consulting with his bosses in the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office, he relented.
But prosecutors say it's not over yet. They intend to try Gotti, 42, a third time, possibly as soon as next month.
The setback could renew negotiations for a plea deal, which was discussed on the eve of this trial.
"Unfortunately we are making ZERO headway and it looks impossible for anyone to change their conscience," said the jury's second note, sent at 1:25 p.m., one hour and 18 minutes after the first. "We are completely DEADLOCKED. More time will not change the views in this room. No juror can find it in their conscience to change their mind based on our interpretation of the evidence."
Then they added: "We want to leave ASAP."
The jury foreman, Greg Rosenblum, said even though the vote was 8 to 4 for acquittal, one thing was unanimous.
"All of us felt there wasn't enough evidence on either side to give a verdict," Rosenblum said last night.
"The issue of withdrawal [from the Mafia] was the major sticking point," he said. Gotti celebrated in the courtroom while Scheindlin went back to the jury room to chat with jurors.
He kissed and hugged his attorney Charles Carnesi, who wore a flowered tie that once belonged to Gotti's father.
"Tell her I'll see her in a little while," Gotti told attorney Seth Ginsberg, who was on the phone with Gotti's wife. Shouts could be heard coming through the cell phone. "He's coming home again," Ginsberg said over the phone. "Every day without a conviction is a good day. He loves you."
Gotti had readied himself for the worst and prepared to hand off his jewelry to a family member if he had to spend the night in prison.
He hugged his younger brother Peter, who had testified on his brother's behalf - stammering, during a withering cross-examination by McGovern, when asked if he knew what his father did for a living.
"One more," Gotti told Peter. "We gotta do it one more time."
Then he grabbed his mother, Victoria, in a bear hug, telling her: "I'm happy. I'm financially ruined but what are you gonna do?"
Outside, his mother pointed the blame at government prosecutors. "This is a railroad job in action," she said. "You all got sons. Your sons are next. They are trying to railroad my son."
Victoria Gotti attended every day of the the three-week trial and listened as mob informant Michael (Mikey Scars) DiLeonardo said that her husband had fathered a love child with a secret mistress.
Gotti was facing 30 years in prison on federal extortion, loansharking and kidnapping charges.
Prosecutors accused Gotti, 42, of a conspiracy dating back to 1992 when they say he ordered two thugs to kidnap Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, whose unsparing on-air attacks on the Gotti family following the Dapper Don's federal murder conviction left his son and heir apparently hungering for revenge.
Sliwa was shot several times after getting into a rigged cab near his East Village apartment on June 19, 1992.
After the mistrial was declared, Sliwa slipped into the back of the 15th-floor courtroom and huddled briefly with federal agents.
Afterward he spewed anger at radio partner Ron Kuby, who testified on Gotti's behalf, telling jurors that Gotti told him in 1998 that he was "sick of the life" and wanted out of the mob.
The testimony bolstered a key piece of Gotti's defense that he withdrew from mob life prior to 1999, when he pleaded guilty to unrelated racketeering charges.
"If I were a juror and I saw Ron Kuby willingly coming in and giving testimony for the guy who ordered the death of his friendly co-host, I would have my doubts also," Sliwa said.
Kuby's testimony "hurt me even more than those three hollow-point bullets," Sliwa said.
He repeatedly mocked Kuby, who he said is "a friend no more." The ponytailed civil rights lawyer has been the liberal foil to Sliwa's conservative rants for a decade. "I wouldn't doubt he's out in Oyster Bay, out at the Ponderosa out there, the $2 million stretch, literally toasting his friend Gotti," Sliwa said.
Gotti did return to his Oyster Bay, L.I., home, but Kuby was nowhere in sight.
Gotti pulled up to his estate in a silver Lexus SUV and emerged shortly afterward with his three sons, putting his arms behind his oldest and youngest. The family dog romped on the lawn where a children's trampoline rested.
"I feel great," he said, saying he would eat whatever his wife, Kim, cooked up. "Any free meal is a good meal."
But lawyers said there was a party planned on Long Island for family and friends and the defense team. The question is who would be picking up the tab.
Gotti's property has been tied up in government forfeiture actions, and his attorneys say they don't know if they can commit to representing him again if they don't get paid. They asked Scheindlin to set a court date later in the year so they can tend to prior professional commitments and plot a new strategy.
On Monday, Scheindlin will set a new trial date. The first trial, last September, also ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked, but indicated they had voted 11-1 in favor of conviction.
"I feel drained," Gotti said when asked about the prospect of a third trial. "You can never be ready. I'm worried. I'm concerned. I've got five children."
Keys to the trial
There were two pivotal moments in the trial of John A. (Junior) Gotti that may have led to the mistrial:
The Kuby Factor: Ron Kuby, noted defense attorney and a co-host of the "Curtis & Kuby Show," testified that Gotti wanted out of the mob.
"He told me [in 1998] he was sick of this life," Kuby said. "He wanted this to be over. He wanted to rejoin his family and be done with this."
Talking to Dad: Defense lawyers fought to have a tape played of a February 1999 prison chat Junior had with his dad in a Springfield, Mo., prison:
"Because I sat back, Dad, and I looked at our family and I looked at our kids and I said to myself, I says, 'you know John, you know what they're gonna do if they get away with doing this with me, my imbecile brother's gonna be next and my son John whose name is John Gotti is gonna be next and whoever is John Jr.'"
"If I have to give them their pound of flesh, I give them their pound of flesh. I go buy a house in Carolina, with my whole family, my sisters, my brothers, we go."
