By Mark Hallum
John Gotti, the 24-year-old grandson of the notorious Gambino crime boss, received five additional years last week— this time in federal prison — tacked onto his current eight-year sentence in connection with his role in a 2012 arson he helped to commit to assist an already convicted Bonnano family capo Vincent Asaro, 82, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn.
Asaro was also sentenced to eight years in state prison for orchestrating the arson attack on the vehicle of a man who cut him off in traffic and for which the young John Gotti was found guilty of being part of, according to court documents.
The March 14 sentencing by Brooklyn Federal Judge Allyne Ross comes nearly a year after Gotti was indicted for torching the car. He will be required to pay $27,000 for the value of the car along with the five-year federal sentence, according to court documents.
The senior John Gotti, also known as the Dapper Dan, was the head of the Gambino crime family and died in prison in 2002. The younger Gotti is the son of Peter Gotti, one of the crime family head’s sons. They are a Howard Beach family.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown announced in March 2017 that the young Gotti had been sentenced to eight years in prison following a guilty plea for selling prescription drugs that earned him an estimated $1.6 million per year. He had been operating his drug trade in Howard Beach and Ozone Park.
Howard Beach police had stopped Gotti’s car in June 2016 for having windows tinted beyond the legal limit. He was found to have an expired driver’s license and a Gucci bag containing more than 200 oxycodone pills.
Surveillance operations by the authorities overheard a conversation in which Gotti outlined a profitable underground trade in prescription drugs. Gotti admitted to selling more than 4,200 pills a month, averaging about $100,000 in sales in that period of time, the Queens DA said. The pills cost from $21 to $30 each.
The Queens DA said $5,600 in cash was also found in the vehicle along with $2,271 in cash from Gotti’s pants pocket. Of the money seized, $7,000 was traced back to that used by police in the undercover buy operations.
A search of Gotti’s home at 160-11 85th St. found $52,000 in cash and 480 pills
Asaro was famously acquitted in 2015 of charges tying him to the Lufthansa heist in which nearly $6 million in cash, precious metals and jewels was stolen from the German carrier at Kennedy International Airport. It is regarded as one of the biggest thefts in state history.
Reach reporter Mark Hallum by e-mail at mhall
