By Philip Newman
The prosecution trying for a fourth time to convict John Gotti Jr. has staked much of its case on a 47-year-old self-confessed hit man and one-time sidekick and pal of the defendant.
John Alite has spent more than a week on the witness stand in Manhattan federal court not just naming names and dates going back up to 20 years, but portraying Gotti, his former friend, as a ruthless Mafia chieftain from Howard Beach who enjoyed his work.
Under questioning by prosecutors, Alite related stories of mob rubouts, beatings and other violence.
After each such story, prosecutors asked, “And who ordered you to do this?”
“John Gotti Jr.,” Alite replied time after time.
Alite has testified Gotti was responsible for at least seven murders.
Gotti’s defense counsel, headed by attorney Charles Carnesi, maintains that while Gotti may have been a higher-up in the Gambino crime family at one time, he had left the mob by 1999, forsaking a life he no longer embraced.
Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York have charged Gotti with racketeering and two murders — those of George Grosso and Bruce Gotterup, both alleged drug dealers.
Alite testified that Gotti admitted to him that he fatally stabbed Daniel Silva, 24, in the Silver Fox bar in Ozone Park.
It was not always that way between Gotti and Alite, who related with relish how sweet life could be as a member of the Gambino upper crust. It was a life of tailor-made suits and Rolex watches.
“When I went to top restaurants, I never had to wait,” Alite said. “When I went to shows, I had the best seats. We got treated like celebrities. I had cars — a ton of cars.”
Was Alite involved with the defendant’s sister, Victoria?
“I had feelings for her,” Alite said. “She had feelings for me. We talked to each other.”
Outside the courtroom, Victoria Gotti took vigorous issue with Alite’s story.
“The only feelings I had for John Alite were that I despised him,” she said.
The trial is the fourth in five years for Jr. Gotti. He was tried in 2005 and 2006, with all three ending in mistrials.
The defendant’s father, John Gotti Sr., the Dapper Don, avoided conviction three times in the 1980s before he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1992. He died in prison in 2002.
Reach contributing writer Philip Newman by e-mail at timesledgernews@cnglocal.com or phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 136.
