For pushing pills on the streets of Howard Beach and Ozone Park, the grandson of the late organized crime kingpin John Gotti will be spending the next eight years in the slammer, prosecutors announced on Thursday.
John J. Gotti, 23, was ordered on March 2 to serve eight years behind bars and five years’ probation after pleading guilty last to counts of second-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and conspiracy to commit a felony.
He must also forfeit more than $250,000 in drug proceeds that law enforcement agents seized from him following his arrest on Aug. 4, 2016, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
“The sentenced imposed today by the court sends a strong message to all drug dealers that illegal drug trafficking in Queens will not be tolerated,” Brown said in a statement on March 2. “Drug abuse and misuse can destroy the lives of young people and wreak havoc in our communities.”
John J. Gotti and eight others — including his girlfriend — were picked up by NYPD Narcotics Borough Queens South members in August as a result of a long-term investigation into illegal prescription drug sales in the areas of Howard Beach and Ozone Park. Gotti had previously been arrested on June 30, 2016, by the 106th Precinct after cops found him in possession of large quantities of Oxycodone, Xanax, methadone and other drugs during a routine traffic stop.
During the long-term investigation, prosecutors police used court-authorized wiretaps and recording devices — one of which was installed on an Infiniti G35 sedan that Gotti used — which captured conversations Gotti had about his illegal business.
In one instance, law enforcement sources said, Gotti stated that he sold more than 4,200 pills a month, earning more than $100,000 monthly; he once estimated that his Oxycodone trafficking business netted him $1.6 million a year.
Along with surveillance, undercover detectives posed as customers to purchase more than $46,000 in Oxycodone pills from Gotti between April 22 and July 28, 2016, spending an average of between $21 and 30 per pill.
Law enforcement agents raided Gotti’s home on 85th Street on Aug. 4 and recovered $52,000 in cash from his bedroom and 480 Oxycodone pills. In executing other court-authorized raids at the homes and businesses of his associates, police also recovered $200,000 in cash and a ledger which contained Gotti’s drug records.
Cases are currently pending against Gotti’s alleged co-conspirators.
Gotti’s grandfather, John Gotti, was the head of the Gambino crime family during the late 1980s. He operated his criminal empire out of the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club in Ozone Park. The “Teflon Don,” as the elder Gotti was often called, was known for not shying away from the spotlight even as he was the focus of repeated investigations and prosecutions for criminal activity.
After being acquitted at trial three times, John Gotti was finally convicted in 1992 on federal charges including murder, racketeering and conspiracy; he died in prison in 2003.
