The Holiday Season was a dark one for the brother and son of former Gambino Family Godfather John Gotti; brother Peter was convicted on most of the Federal charges he was facing, which should send him to prison for the rest of his life, while �Junior� Gotti�s attorneys failed in their attempt to spring him from prison on bail. Junior spent Christmas alone in a jail cell. If Media reports are correct that Junior was inducted into the Mafia as a �Made member� some years ago, Junior�s incarceration on Christmas Day was one consequence of a blood ritual Junior then participated in, during which his soul was promised in a secret ceremony that invoked the Eternal flames of Hell. Induction into this cult of Evil was an ambition planned for Junior by his father since the day he was born into this world.

     Fellow participants in such blood rituals are now set to testify against Junior in his upcoming trial in which he faces a variety of charges, including allegedly ordering the murder of talk show host Curtis Sliwa, an outspoken critic of Junior�s father and their criminal enterprise. Sliwa has further enraged Junior�s criminal attorneys by blasting Junior and the Gambinos on his top-rated radio show which he shares with criminal attorney Ron Kuby, who also was the target of an alleged hit plot by former Gambino Family Underboss Sammy �The Bull� Gravano. Junior�s lawyers have cried foul, attempting unsuccessfully to have a Federal Judge impose a gag order on Sliwa to prevent his �poisoning� of the jury pool in New York which will decide young Gotti�s fate. This ploy has backfired in the minds of many New Yorkers, who are quick to observe that what Junior�s lawyers are attempting to do is the very thing Junior is accused of; silencing Curtis Sliwa.

     Lawyers for Junior�s co-defendant �Little Joey� D�Angelo have now filed a Motion with the Judge in this case to have the trial moved out of New York, where, they claim, their client cannot get a fair trial because of the continued public rantings of Sliwa. However, a more effective ploy on the part of D�Angelo�s lawyers might be to file a Motion to have their trial severed from Junior�s, given that the actions of Junior�s lawyers has also had an impact on New York�s jury pool, with Junior and his alleged ambition to give up a life of crime in order to write children�s books the talk - and joke - of the town.

     At the very heart of this case is something that is the quintessential experience of the American people; our Constitutional right to Freedom of Speech. What Junior Gotti is charged with is far more serious than drug trafficking, for no one places a gun to someone�s head and forces them to take drugs. Junior�s problems are far more serious than operating an illegal gambling pool; no American has a gun pointed at their head and forced to gamble away their family�s wages.

     Lawyers in this case are probably right in their belief that the Defendants in this case cannot get a fair trial in New York, but they may be in for a bit of a surprise if they succeed in getting a Change of Venue; are the citizens of Nebraska, or Wyoming, or Kentucky, or any other State of the Union, any LESS supportive of our Constitutional Rights to Freedom of Speech as are New Yorkers?

     The attempt to silence Curtis Sliwa was not only an attack on every single American citizen and our way of life, but a violation of American Mafia protocol as well, which dictates that members of the Media and law enforcement are immune from retributions by members of organized crime. Someone violated these laws and now Justice must be served. Was that person John Gotti, who showed his contempt for Mafia protocol by murdering his predecessor Paul Castellano without consent from the Mafia�s ruling �Commission,� or was it his son Junior, whom, from the very moment he was first held in his father�s arms, was raised to be a murderer?

to be continued

Related Features by this author:

Last Days of the Gotti Gang
Part One: The Two Godfathers vs. the Two Ladies
http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_280.html

The �Last Don� and the �New Media�
http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_217.html

James Ridgway de Szigethy can be reached at:
writer10021@aol.com

© 2005

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