GOTTI GETTING OUT

The jailed son of late mob boss John Gotti neared freedom on Monday after a judge agreed to release him on $7 million bond, less than a week after declaring a mistrial on the bulk of his racketeering case.

Under bail conditions approved by U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin, John A. ``Junior'' Gotti would be released from a federal lockup in lower Manhattan, but remain under house arrest in his home on Long Island until a possible retrial early next year.

Gotti, 41, was still in custody Monday as paperwork was finalized. His lawyers said he could be home with his wife and children as early as Tuesday.

``He's nervous,'' said defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman. ``He hasn't been out of prison in a long time.''

The judge set a Feb. 13 trial date and granted bail despite warnings by prosecutors that Gotti might try to tamper with witnesses if set free. But the judge predicted the scion of the Gambino organized crime family, who has been jailed since 1999, wouldn't run the risk.

``It strikes me that nobody is that stupid,'' she said at a hearing in federal court in Manhattan.

The judge declared a mistrial last week after a jury failed to reach a verdict on charges accusing Gotti of orchestrating a botched 1992 plot to kidnap Curtis Sliwa, a radio show host and founder of the Guardian Angels crime-fighting group, in retaliation for his on-air rants against the senior Gotti. He had faced a sentence of up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

Sliwa _ who testified at trial about being shot by a masked gunman in a stolen taxi _ told reporters that granting Gotti bail sends the message that, ``the boss is back. ... It means I have to watch my back.''

In exchange for his release, Gotti will put up a $7 million bond secured in part by the $4.5 million Long Island mansion owned by his sister, Victoria, along with his mother's $715,000 home in Howard Beach, Queens. He also will be subject to electronic monitoring, random searches and other restrictions.

The defendant was indicted last year only two months before he was to finish a prison term for an earlier racketeering conviction. The judge had denied him bail last year, and prosecutors argued on Friday that he should remain behind bars because of evidence of enduring mob ties.

Gotti has claimed he quit the Gambinos after his 1999 conviction, and wants to lead a quiet life with his family.

``This is not the same John Gotti that he was in '92, or even in '99,'' Lichtman said.

I dont know what the "fear" is...most of them are fairly old...

FEDS FEAR MAFIA REBIRTH (NY POST 9/26/05)
By MURRAY WEISS
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09262005/commentary/28583.htm

A TIDAL wave of imprisoned mobsters, including fero cious Mafia bosses champ ing at the bit to hit the streets, will soon be freed to reclaim the reins of the city's five crime families, The Post has learned.
In an extraordinary interagency memo, the FBI has been warned by the Bureau of Prisons to brace for the release of 80 goodfellas and their close associates, whose sentences behind bars will expire before January 2007, according law-enforcement sources.

The list of hardened hoods in the prisons bureau survey reads like a Who's Who of Mafioso whose exploits were splashed across the front pages during the past two decades:

* Venero "Bennie Eggs" Mangano, 84, legendary underboss to Vincent "Chin" Gigante of the Genovese crime family, is scheduled for release on Nov. 2, 2006, after serving 15 years for his role in rigging window-installation contracts at city projects in the infamous "Windows Case."

* Sal Avellino, 69, the Luchese crime family underboss and one-time chauffeur for family godfather Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo, is slated to be released Oct. 10, 2006, after serving 11 years in prison for his role in various mob activities, including the murders of two waste carters who were cooperating with the feds.

* Joe "Joe the German" Watts, 63, former chauffeur and gunslinger for John Gotti, the late Gambino boss, will be freed May 5, after serving 11 years for convictions for murder conspiracy and for an elaborate money-laundering scheme.

* Steve "Stevie Wonder" Crea, 58, a powerful Luchese underboss, is expected to be free Aug. 24 after serving three years for fixing prices on three Manhattan construction projects and extorting money from a Long Island construction company.

* Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo, 71, the capo cousin of Colombo crime family godfather Carmine "The Snake" Persico, who was convicted as the muscle over private carters and is coming out June 6 after serving nine years for racketeering.

* Salvatore "Sammy Meatballs" Aparo, 75, a powerful Genovese capo, will be free May 25 after serving time for a 1991 labor-racketeering conviction in a case in which another mobster was caught on tape bragging, "Hurting people. That's what this is about."

* Charles Carneglia, 59, a trusted Gambino power whose brother, John, was a reputed hit man in the famed slaying of boss Paul "Big Paul" Castellano, will be free May 1 after serving five years for extortion.

* Richard G. Gotti, 37, nephew of the late John Gotti, and son of the Dapper Don's brother, Richard V. Gotti, will be free March 3 after serving three years in the same racketeering case that convicted his father and his uncle, Peter.

Experts say the survey, conducted in July, serves as additional proof that speculation about the demise of the Mafia is vastly premature — despite high-profile defections of mob bosses such as Salvatore "Sammy Bull" Gravano, a succession of celebrated convictions and the latest twist involving a mob lawyer entering the witness-protection program, as The Post reported last week.

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