She made Gotti gush

Don called love child real 'doll'

BY MAUREEN SEABERG AND DAVE GOLDINER
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS


Gotti grandkid Victoria Gotti at Uncle John's retrial.

John (Dapper Dan) Gotti spoke glowingly about his alleged love child in taped jailhouse conversations - calling the girl a "doll" and a "precious little kid," it was revealed yesterday.
The imprisoned mob boss ordered his brother, Peter, to keep an eye on the girl, whom they said was blessed with the Gotti family's good looks, leading mob expert Jerry Capeci reported on his Ganglandnews.com Web site.

"I ain't seen her in seven years, but she's a doll, a precious little kid," John Gotti said while serving time at the maximum security Marion Federal Penitentiary in January 1998, Capeci reported.

"You saw [her]? Cute kid, eh?" Gotti added. "Good kid. She look like I told you?"

Peter Gotti agreed that anyone could see that the girl belongs to the Gotti clan.

"I thought she was my daughter or a bigger version of my granddaughter," Peter Gotti said on the tape. "She's a nice kid."

Capeci reported the late don chatted about the supposed love child during a string of federally monitored visits with relatives as he served a life sentence for racketeering and murder.

The jailhouse chats came to light nearly a week after a mob rat testifying at the Manhattan Federal Court trial of John A. (Junior) Gotti claimed the Dapper Don had a secret kid.

Sources have identified the suspected love child as 19-year-old Meagan Grillo, the daughter of Gotti's alleged mistress, Shannon (Sandy) Connelly.

Connelly contends Meagan was fathered by her now ex-husband, convicted Gambino soldier Ernest Grillo - and says she and Gotti were just "friends."

Even though Gotti doesn't refer to Meagan by name in the tapes, there is little doubt that he is talking about a daughter from his alleged affair with Connelly, which was common knowledge among wiseguys and lawmen alike, Capeci said.

"When you know all the history, it's not too hard to put together," he said.

In the jail tapes, Gotti's gentle tone about the girl is a startling contrast to the bile he spews toward her mother, whom he calls a "pee-pee brain."

Seconds after John Gotti asked his brother to look out for his secret daughter, he orders him to convince Connelly, and the girl's grandmother, Rosemary Connelly, to stop pestering him for cash.

"When you see that other person again, that Rosemary," he said. "The daughter annoys me with these f------ letters and cards. She thinks we're like boyfriend and girlfriend again, you know what I mean?

"You tell her, 'Listen, I don't know if you know who he is or what he is, but he's a busy guy, this guy. He knows his obligations. He tries to meet his obligations, and all that. In his heart, he feels what he's supposed to feel in his heart.' She's disappointed. Where does she think this f------ money grows? You gotta tell her."

"I feel bad I can't do the right thing, but what am I going to do?" Gotti added.

Rosemary Connelly, 77, the longtime mistress of the late Gambino underboss and Gotti mentor Aniello (Neil) Dellacroce, came to the door of her Staten Island home yesterday and tore up a note left by a reporter asking for comment.

Minutes later, Connelly returned and slowly ripped up a newspaper containing an article about the supposed "love child."

Originally published on March 3, 2006

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I can't understand, for the life of me, what this all has to do with prosecuting John Junior! What does his father's extramarital affairs have to do with his breaking the law and being on trial for it?

All that this story has done is bring much uneeded attention on this poor girl's life. It's not her fault that her mother had an affair with John Gotti and that she was the result of their affair. I feel really bad for this young girl. They are dragging her name through the mud just to sell papers.

IMO she doesn't deserve this.


Don Cardi