Gotti jury deadlocks in NY Mafia mistrial By Christine Kearney
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A judge declared a mistrial in the case of suspected Mafia boss John "Junior" Gotti on Friday after deadlocked jurors were unable to reach a verdict for the second time in six months.
Prosecutors immediately said they would seek a third trial on racketeering and other charges against Gotti, whose late father was one of New York's most notorious crime bosses.
Judge Shira Scheindlin called the jury's day-and-a-half of deliberations "surprisingly short" but said "the jury has spoken" after it had sent her two notes saying the 12-member panel was hopelessly deadlocked.
A hearing was called for Monday at which a new trial date could be set.
Gotti's defense focused on the claim that he had given up mob life. He hugged his lawyers upon hearing of the mistrial and left the courthouse surrounded by a gaggle of reporters.
"I want to raise my children," he said. "That's all I wanted in life."
A previous trial also resulted in a deadlocked jury, forcing the retrial. The second trial rekindled New York's obsession with the Mafia and Gotti's infamous father, revealing accounts of bloody shootings and secret mob codes.
Gotti, 42, was accused of leading the Gambino crime family, extorting construction companies, loan-sharking and ordering a brutal attack on Curtis Sliwa, the founder of New York's Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol, because of his critical comments about the Gotti family on his radio show.
Sliwa did not believe Gotti had withdrawn from the Mafia, telling reporters, "There's only one way to withdraw from the mob and that's to be at room temperature."
The defense said excerpts from a videotape of a 1999 prison conversation between Gotti and his father proved the younger Gotti wanted to leave the mob.
Gotti's father, John "The Dapper Don" Gotti, ran the Gambino crime family, one of New York's "five families," until the law caught up with him. The older Gotti went to prison in 1992 and died there 10 years later.
Prosecutors allege Junior Gotti took over as the Gambino family street boss, but Gotti's lawyers said he withdrew from the Mafia upon pleading guilty to separate racketeering charges in 1999, for which he spent five years in prison.
Gotti remained in jail throughout the previous trial but was freed on bail once the first mistrial was declared in September.
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For some reason I just don't think that they are ever going to convict this guy on these charges. Two trial now where the jury could not reach a verdict on these charges.
Now they are going to go for trial number 3?
Don Cardi
