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Attorney: Gotti Taking 'Circuitous Route' To Tampa

The Associated Press

John Gotti Jr. talks to the press after a hearing at the White Plains Federal Courthouse on Nov. 27, 2007 in New York.

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By HOWARD ALTMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 15, 2008

TAMPA - John "Junior" Gotti has left a New York prison and should arrive in Tampa around Tuesday, said his attorney, Charles Carnesi. Gotti is traveling via U.S. Marshals Service's "Con Air" system, Carnesi said.

Gotti is flying to Tampa, where he was charged by a federal grand jury with participating in the Gambino family-related mob murders of three men in New York: George Grosso, who was killed Dec. 20, 1988, in Queens; Louis DiBono, killed Oct. 4, 1990, in the World Trade Center parking garage; and Bruce John Gotterup, killed Nov. 20, 1991, at the Boardwalk at The Rockaways in Queens. Gotti was also charged with trafficking in cocaine.

The Gambino family was once ruled by Gotti's father, the late John J. Gotti, known as the "Dapper Don," for his expensive suits.

Gotti was picked up in New York in the beginning of the week, Carnesi said.

"He's taking the circuitous route," Carnesi said. "I know it doesn't take that long to get from New York to Tampa."

Gotti has been in solitary confinement since his arrest Aug. 5 and has not seen his family since being taken into custody, Carnesi said.

Carnesi said he had been trying to arrange a visit between Gotti and his wife, Kim, but that never happened. Gotti was flown out by the U.S. Marshals Service before he could celebrate his son's second birthday. That son, Carnesi said, was born while a jury was being picked for Gotti's third trial in New York.

Carnesi said he does not know when Gotti will have his first Tampa court appearance or where Gotti will be staying once he arrives. Carnesi said he will fly to Tampa once he knows when Gotti will have a court appearance.

Gotti is one of six defendants expected to be prosecuted in federal court in Tampa.

"What you have here is the Gambino crime family reaching out to Tampa, Florida," U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill said.

The only reason Gotti is being accused of murder, Carnesi said, is that one or more people connected to a previous Tampa mob investigation informed on Gotti.

The investigation that led to the indictments is related to the 2006 prosecution in Tampa of Ronald "Ronnie One Arm" Trucchio, a captain in the Gambino family who was sentenced to life after being convicted of racketeering.

That trial centered largely on activities in New York and New Jersey but also focused on a brutal battle for control of the lucrative valet parking business in the Tampa area.

Editor Howard Altman can be reached at (813) 259-7629 or haltman@tampatrib.com.

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