John Alite was sentenced to ten years in prison. He already had close to six years in. He was released in the spring of 2012. He opted not to go into the Witness Security Program and has instead returned to New Jersey, where he lives and where he is trying to make a living. He sees a therapist once a week and still struggles sometimes to control himself. Violence was so much a part of his life for so long that he calls it “an addiction.” But he says he recognizes that he has to go in another direction.
He is happy to be back around his two sons, John and Matt, and has a cordial, if sometimes strained, relationship with their mother, Claudia. He is estranged from his first wife, Carol. “She hates me,” he said. “And I’m not that crazy about her.” And he is struggling to work his way back into the lives of their two children, Jimmy and Chelsea.
Alite has several business ventures that he is trying to develop and is still close to many of the friends he had when he was on the streets. He clearly is still rankled by the perception that he was “chased” from his Queens neighborhood by Gotti and his associates. In fact, he has been back there several times since his release from prison. Twice he was accompanied by camera crews. Late in 2013, he was interviewed for a piece on 60 Minute Sports about New Jersey’s efforts to legalize sports betting. As a former bookie, Alite said legalized bookmaking would be a good thing for New Jersey and wouldn’t hurt organized crime’s illicit business. A film crew for that story accompanied him to Woodhaven, where he showed them around his old neighborhood. A British film crew working on a series about “life after the mob” also spent several days with him in New Jersey and New York in the spring of 2014. Alite tells the same story to anyone who asks: He did what he did. He can’t undo it. All he can do is try to move forward, try to be better, try to make sure that his kids, and other kids, don’t get seduced by the power and the money that is organized crime.
John A. Gotti has also shared his story with the media, appearing on 60 Minutes in February 2011. The hour-long exclusive interview, billed as a Special Edition of 60 Minutes Presents, was conducted by Steve Kroft, one of the best reporters on that highly acclaimed program. Kroft interviewed Gotti in his home in Oyster Bay, Long Island.
Gotti’s lawyer, Charles Carnesi, was by Junior’s side. 60 Minutes also had to agree that no one else would be interviewed on camera for the piece. Alite has watched segments from the show several times on YouTube. When Alite is mentioned, Gotti refers to him as a “punk,” a “dog,” and a “miscreant.” The interview, which runs for about forty-one minutes, is just more Gotti spin, says Alite. Junior is telling the same story, offering the same half-truths and never coming to grips with who he is or what he has done.
There has also been talk for the past four years about a movie, Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father, which would purport to tell the story of the father-and-son mobsters. John Travolta has been mentioned to play Gotti Sr. The project, like so much else in Hollywood, has been on again, off again. But if it ever gets made, with Junior and his sister Vicky as producers, Alite is certain it will be more myth than reality.
John Alite says when he looks in the mirror each morning he knows who he is. He knows what he’s done. He does not try to hide from it. But he does try to build on that recognition, on that acceptance of responsibility. He thinks he is becoming a better person. That won’t change the horrible things that he did in the past; it won’t bring back the people he has killed; it won’t ease the pain and suffering of those he has hurt. But by facing up to it all, he believes he can move forward. Alite is at peace with the man he sees in his mirror.
He wonders who it is that John A. Gotti sees in his mirror.
In November 2013, Junior Gotti was in the news again. He said he had been stabbed outside a CVS pharmacy in Syosset, Long Island, not far from his home. Initial news reports indicated that Gotti, who drove himself to the hospital, told emergency room attendants that he had tried to break up a fight in the drugstore parking lot between two strangers and that one had stabbed him. When police arrived at the hospital, according to news reports, Gotti, who was not seriously injured, politely declined to talk with them.
The incident had occurred around 9:45 P.M. on a Sunday. One news report noted that CVS employees had not seen anyone scuffling. The report also said there was no evidence of a fight in the parking lot. John Alite says he has no idea what happened that night. But he doesn’t buy the Good Samaritan spin Junior Gotti tried to sell.
John Gotti’s Rules of Leadership: Always manipulate the facts to present a positive image. Perception is reality.
JOHN GOTTI’S RULES OF LEADERSHIP
1.Whenever possible, underlings must take the weight of a crime pending against Gotti or his family.
2.No member of any crew, in the presence of the boss, may wear sunglasses.
3.Members and associates are not to speak to the media. Granting interviews or appearing on television is prohibited.
4.Wives and girlfriends are to remain low-key. They are not to speak in public or call attention to themselves.
5.Whenever possible, use demeaning nicknames to describe underlings. It establishes who is in charge and who is subservient.
6.Drug dealing is prohibited and punishable by death. (Any member or associate dealing drugs must share his profits with the boss.)
7.Always keep underlings waiting. It reminds them who’s in control without saying a word.
8.No member or associate is to fool around with the wife, girlfriend, or daughter of another member of the organization.
9.Always acknowledge the presence of the boss first in any public or social setting. In any social setting with members of other crime families, make them come to you to pay their respects. Going to them first is a sign of weakness.
10.Never talk business indoors. The government has “ears.” If you are talking business in a car, be sure the radio is turned up loud. Best to talk on the street while walking.
11.When charged with a crime, no matter the circumstances, do not plead guilty. It’s a sign of weakness.
12.Always manipulate the facts to present a positive image. Perception is reality.
PHOTOS SECTION
Junior Gotti and John Alite surrounded by some of the crew. (U.S. Justice Department exhibit)
Junior Gotti and John Alite during their early years. (U.S. Justice Department exhibit)
Junior with Alite after the birth of Alite’s son Jimmy. (U.S. Justice Department exhibit)
Junior Gotti and Alite outside a Manhattan federal courthouse during a proceeding for Gotti Sr. (U.S. Justice Department exhibit)
John and Claudia at their home in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. (Photograph courtesy of John Alite)
John with visitors Claudia, Matt, Johnny, Jimmy, and Chelsea at the federal prison in McKean, Pennsylvania. (Photograph courtesy of John Alite)
Working out with his sons at the gym on his Voorhees, New Jersey, property. (Photograph courtesy of John Alite)
Flowcharts of the Alite-Gotti-Gambino connections. (U.S. Justice Department exhibit)
John J. Gotti. (U.S. Justice Department exhibit)
The Dapper Don. (U.S. Justice Department exhibit)
John A. “Junior” Gotti. (U.S. Justice Department exhibit)
Ronnie “One-Arm” Trucchio. (U.S. Justice Department exhibit)
Johnny Gebert, murder victim. (U.S. Justice Department exhibit)
Bruce Gotterup, murder victim. (U.S. Justice Department exhibit)
With Claudia in Paris. (Photograph courtesy of John Alite)
Relaxing with “friends” in Colombia. (Photograph courtesy of John Alite)
A camel ride in Senegal while waiting for fake passports. (Photograph courtesy of John Alite)
Girlfriend Rose in Copacabana. (Photograph courtesy of John Alite)
At his apartment in Copacabana. (Photograph courtesy of John Alite)
On the street in his Rio neighborhood. (Photograph courtesy of John Alite)
An inmate “showers” in Ary Franco
. (Photograph courtesy of John Alite)
The Ary Franco chow line, bug- and mice-infested rice and beans. (Photograph courtesy of John Alite)
Alite and cellmates feasting on food smuggled in by bribed prison guards. (Photograph courtesy of John Alite)
Alite and Klaus in Ary Franco. (Photograph courtesy of John Alite)
First page of Junior Gotti’s 302 proffer memo. (Photograph courtesy of John Alite)
Gambino crime family organizational chart from 1991. (U.S. Justice Department exhibit)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This story could not have been told without the cooperation and candor of John Alite, who spent hours going over the details with me. The only thing I asked John was to be truthful. I believe that he was and for that I thank him.
Over the years, there have been dozens of law enforcement and underworld sources on whom I have depended for insights and for “reality checks.” They were again invaluable in the writing of this book, but for various reasons have opted to remain anonymous. One source and good friend, however, was quoted by name. Dave Gentile, a retired FBI agent who helped dismantle the Philadelphia mob, has always been there for me. I appreciate that in so many ways. He was also instrumental in making the connection between John Alite and me and for that I thank him.
Mark Chait edited this book and did what good editors do. He took a manuscript and made it better. And Tom Pitoniak had the often tedious but necessary job of copyediting this story. He did it with style, class, and grace, which I believe is reflected in the final product.
Finally, I want to thank my wife, Angela, for her love and support. Once again she put up with the crazy hours and every day disruptions that are part of the writing process.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GEORGE ANASTASIA, who spent more than thirty years reporting on crime for the Philadelphia Inquirer, is the grandson of Sicilian immigrants who settled in South Philadelphia. He is the author of six books of nonfiction, including Blood and Honor: Inside the Scarfo Mob, the Mafia’s Most Violent Family, (which Jimmy Breslin called the “best gangster book ever written”); The Last Gangster; and The Summer Wind: Thomas Capano and the Murder of Anne Marie Fahey. He lives in southern New Jersey.
www.georgeanastasia.com
www.bigtrial.net
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ALSO BY GEORGE ANASTASIA
Blood and Honor
Mob Father
The Goodfella Tapes
The Summer Wind
The Big Hustle
The Last Gangster
CREDITS
COVER DESIGN BY RICHARD L. AQUAN
COVER PHOTOGRAPHS: UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE—EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK (JOHN “JUNIOR” GOTTI); FEDERAL POLICE, BRAZIL (JOHN ALITE’S MUGSHOT)
COPYRIGHT
Gotti’s Rules is a journalistic account of John Alite’s involvement with the Gambino crime family and his role in the federal trials of John Gotti Jr. and Charles Carneglia. Scenes and dialogue have been reconstructed based on quoted trial testimony, court-related documents, interviews, FBI and other law enforcement documentation, and published news stories.
GOTTI’S RULES. Copyright © 2015 by George Anastasia. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
EPUB Edition January 2015 ISBN 9780062346889
ISBN: 9780062346872
10987654321
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