Oct. 7, 1996
Oct. 7, 1996
Junior Goes For The BIG House By Jerry Capeci JOHN (Junior) Gotti is proving to be less and less of a chip off the old block. Since becoming acting boss of the Gambino crime family, Junior hasn't been shot at, hasn't been seen on Mulberry Street, hasn't bought any tailor-made clothes, hasn't made any of his neighbors disappear and, most of all, hasn't been indicted, although the feds are probably doing their damnedest.
But Gang Land hears Junior isn't quite satisfied with the six-bedroom colonial on Long Island's ritzy North Shore that he bought last December for $717,800 from the descendants of a Civil War general. He's not looking to sell the house in the quaint, but exclusive, village of Mill Neck. He wants to add a second story. But stuffy places like Mill Neck have laws about building up. Junior, who claims he needs the extra space for his four kids, was required to file a petition for a variance and give any village resident who didn't like the idea a chance to object. Forget about it. There were no takers. There hasn't been a peep from his neighbors. "We haven't had any protests," the village secretary told The Daily News' Larry Sutton. Despite the lack of community unrest, the Mill Neck zoning board voted to reserve decision on Junior's petition. The august body probably needs time to figure out how to get the media to stop covering the story. IT was the Friday after Thanksgiving, the kind of day most gangbusters would spend with their families rather than with the Families. But Nov. 24, 1995 wasn't a normal day for FBI agents Matty Tricorico and Frank Spero. The veteran G-men digested their turkey while talking to Gambino mobster Dominic (Fat Dom) Borghese.
Watts (right) is charged with the execution murder of William Ciccone, a mentally disturbed man who got off a shot at Gotti as he left his Queens social club headquarters in April, 1987. Borghese was a guest at the Brooklyn House of Detention awaiting trial on a gambling charge and had reached out to the agents looking to make a deal. He had already pleaded guilty to taking part in a federal murder conspiracy for which Watts was awaiting trial, and knew he had something the feds wanted: The goods on Watts. The conversation among the three men was the first step in a broad cooperation agreement between Borghese and state and federal prosecutors. By the time Thanksgiving rolls around next month, Watts, who is expected to be transferred soon from a federal prison in West Virginia to await trial for Ciccone's murder, will be eating a turkey dinner with all the trimmings at the Brooklyn House of Detention.
THERE'S either something wrong with reputed Genovese crime boss Vincent (Chin) Gigante's heart. Or there's nothing wrong with the mobster's ticker. Gigante had a court-approved visit with his longtime paramour Olympia Esposito last Wednesday but managed to get a pass on a scheduled date with a federal judge two days later.
Prosecutors objected, noting that Gigante had 27 visits with Esposito between Aug. 16 to Oct. 2. They argued that since he had survived a court appearance last month, he shouldn't be excused from the routine status conference. But Judge Eugene Nickerson decided to await the results of an Oct. 17 exam by the head of Mount Sinai Medical Center's Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and held the conference without Gigante and did not make any major pre-trial rulings. "If it turns out to be true that he needs an operation," said prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, "we wish him a speedy recovery so he can go to trial on March 17."
|
And unlike his
dad, he has bought a mansion.
That's
why 
A few hours
before his tete a tete with Esposito, Gigante's lawyers filed papers seeking an
adjournment, contending his chronic heart ailments had gotten worse and that he probably
needed open heart surgery to correct several "life threatening" problems.
