Longtime Gambino mobster “Joe the German” Watts sentenced to 13 yearsOne of the most trusted mob associates of the late John Gotti the former Gambino crime family boss Joseph “Joe the German” Watts was sentenced to 13 years behind bars yesterday. A high ranking associate in the Gambino family Watts has been tied to as many as 11 murders and was allegedly a back up shooter in the 1985 hit on Gambino boss Paul Castellano. Watts was never allowed to become a “made man” in the Gambino family because he was not Italian.
Watts was already serving a two year sentence for a violation of his supervised release in which he was caught breaking bread with known mobsters. Watts was facing a maximum sentence of up to 30 years before agreeing to a plea deal in January in which he pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill Frederick Weiss on the orders of mob boss John Gotti because gotti thought the sanitation exec had turned rat. Prosecutors said that the plan was to lure Weiss to a Staten Island garage where Watts was waiting gun in hand to make the hit , but the plan was foiled because Weiss never showed up and ended up being killed by a separate hit team the next day. Watts also pleaded guilty to assault against Abe Berger an ex-con who he met while doing a six year stretch for a 1998 conviction after Berger essentially defrauded him out of $400,000 claiming he was a stock market wizard.
The Judge in the case who hit Watts with the maximum allowable sentence according to the plea deal said it was because Watts resumed his life of crime almost immediately after being released from jail the last time. Defense lawyers argued that Watts advanced age meant that he might not outlive the long term punishment but Judge Colleen McMahon told Watts that he seemed like a healthy fellow who was accustomed to prison life. She also said “Im betting your may walk out of jail” but also warned him that if he did get out and didn’t learn to walk the straight and narrow she would toss him right back in the can.
http://mafiareport.com/longtime-gambino-mobster-joe-the-german-watts-sentenced-to-13-years
