The "Dapper Don" Beats a Rap

By John S. DeMott

John Gotti likes to dress and drive for success, preferring $1,800 double- breasted suits and a black Mercedes 450 SL, all in keeping with his reputation as the "Dapper Don" of the underworld. Last week he had reason to top the spiffy threads with a bright, back-in-business smile. The reputed boss of America's largest Mafia family was acquitted by a New York jury of federal racketeering charges brought against him nearly two years ago by federal prosecutors. As the jury foreman called out not-guilty findings for Gotti and six co-defendants, including Gotti's brother Gene, the triumphant Gotti jumped up, pointed to the prosecution table and said, "Shame on them! I'd like to see a verdict on them." Added his lawyer Bruce Cutler: "This is a powerful verdict."

For the Government, it was a disappointing setback. Gotti's acquittal marked federal prosecutors' first defeat in a vigorous war against the Mob that has put many organized-crime kingpins behind bars for long prison terms. Two weeks ago, in the "pizza connection" case, 17 mobsters were convicted of selling tons of heroin and cocaine through pizza parlors in the Northeast and Midwest. In December, eight of New York's powerful crime bosses were convicted of running a vast network of criminal activities. Last October, Philip Rastelli, head of the Bonanno family, and eight co-defendants were found guilty of racketeering. Last year mob leaders from Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Kansas City were jailed for skimming profits from Las Vegas casinos.

Gotti, 46, was accused of seven racketeering acts, among them the 1973 barroom murder of James McBratney, who, prosecutors said, was suspected of killing a nephew of the late Carlo Gambino, then head of the Gambino crime family. Gotti helped do away with McBratney, prosecutors claimed, to gain favor within the family.

According to federal officials, Gotti, a mere captain in the Gambino family when the charges were filed, got the top job after Gambino Boss Paul Castellano was gunned down on a midtown Manhattan street in December 1985. Authorities believe that Gotti organized the hit, but he has not been charged.

Why did Gotti go free when other accused top mobsters took a fall? After hearing evidence for five months and deliberating for seven days, the jury asked to review a defense exhibit showing the criminal records of seven Government witnesses. Collectively, they had been convicted of nearly 70 crimes, including murder and drug trafficking. Apparently jury concluded that their testimony against Gotti was not believable. The jurors were tired, said Defense Attorney Cutler, of the prosecution's "regurgitating things said by paid witnesses who've lied in the past, witnesses who've sold drugs, witnesses who have killed people. They've had it!"

Gotti, who had been imprisoned without bail since May, returned to his home in Howard Beach, Queens, to savor his freedom. Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Giacalone, the prosecutor, refused to speculate on why the jury did not believe her case. Said she: "We presented the evidence as best we could. That was our job. The jury's job was to decide whether the defendants were guilty. They did their job, and that is the end of that."

Perhaps not. Andrew Maloney, U.S. Attorney for the eastern district of New York, says he will continue to go after people in organized crime -- and some of them may be the defendants who were acquitted last week.

With reporting by Raji Samghabadi/New York