By Alex Davidson
A three-judge federal appeals panel failed to rule Tuesday in Brooklyn on whether Peter Gotti, who was put in solitary confinement because of an alleged plot to harm prison officials should return to the general prison population.
U.S. District Judge Frederic Block had ordered Peter Gotti returned to the general prison population last week, but U.S. Assistant Attorney Andrew Genser won a stay from the U.S. Second Circuit Court to delay that order until Tuesday’s hearing.
Gotti will therefore stay in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn until another appeals hearing on Oct. 4.
Federal officials had uncovered the suspected plot by relatives of the late mob boss John Gotti to murder the prison warden and possibly his family at the facilities where Gotti was held until his death in June.
In court documents filed two weeks ago, Genser contends Peter Gotti, John Gotti’s brother who was arrested in June on charges of racketeering and money laundering, was at the center of a plot to murder William Hedrick, the prison warden at both the Marion, Ill. and Springfield, Mo. prisons that held John Gotti until his death.
Both John Gotti and his brother Peter were residents of Howard Beach.
The alleged plot was discovered when Peter Gotti, thought to have taken his brother’s place as head of the Gambino organized crime family, was first moved out of the general prison population and put into solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
The move to isolate Gotti, and the resulting disputes over his treatment in solitary confinement, came after Metropolitan Detention Center and FBI officials notified the government that they had received “credible information” that the Gotti family wanted to “exact revenge for perceived mistreatment of John Gotti by the warden,” according to the court documents.
Peter Gotti is being held in administrative detention, effectively eliminating communication with other prisoners. In the documents, Genser says this is necessary “to limit [Peter] Gotti’s ability to facilitate the plot by curtailing his access to other inmates in the general population who could assist him by passing messages.”
Gerald Shargel, attorney for Peter Gotti, said his client had no knowledge of attempts to harm Hedrick.
Shargel said Peter Gotti “steadfastly denies having known of the plot.”
Reach reporter Alex Davidson by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
