John A. (Junior) Gotti stayed behind the scenes and served as the Gambino family's acting boss.

Salvatore (Tore) Locascio was a daily spectator and an up front and vocal supporter during their fathers' 10-week trial.

"What is this Nazi Germany?" Tore screamed on the first day of jury selection when the trial judge ordered the spectators out of the court room.  "They don't let the family in? This is my father. What do they think we're going to do, shoot 'em in the courtroom."

He was just as demonstrative when the guilty verdicts were announced. "Injustice!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

Last week, Tore, now reputedly an acting capo, was a throw-in defendant in a 60-count racketeering indictment while Junior was the lead one as the feds hit 40 Gambino mobsters and associates with a litany of crimes.

And while Junior, 33, surrendered to the feds and spent Super Bowl Sunday in jail, Tore was in San Diego watching the Denver Broncos upset the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXII, according to a usually reliable Gang Land source.

Tore, 38, is set to surrender today for arraignment on two counts that charge him, Junior and six others with a  lucrative extortion scheme at Scores, a high-end Manhattan topless joint that is a hot spot for tourists, celebrities and professional athletes, like the Chicago Bulls' Dennis Rodman, who hung out there last week until the wee hours of the morning. Virtually everyone at the nightclub -- from the owners to the dancers to the coat check girls -- paid kickbacks to the mob, according to New York FBI boss Lewis Schiliro.

Junior has a detention hearing tomorrow at which prosecutors Carol Sipperly and Marjorie Miller will argue that he is a danger to the community and should be held without bail until his trial. The charges against him, however, do not include any violence. He is accused of labor racketeering -- extorting construction companies and labor unions -- and defrauding the public and several telephone companies of millions in a prepaid telephone card scam. The feds are also seeking up to $20 million in forfeitures.

Junior's attorney Richard Rehbock called the indictment weak, accused authorities with grandstanding. He predicted the charges wouldn't stand up

when the case goes to trial. "They got what they wanted,' he said. "They got their headlines."

A hearing was postponed Friday to allow Rehbock time to refute assertions by prosecutors that Gotti was prone to violence and had threatened several of his extortion victims. The feds had seized a two-shot derringer, a silencer-equipped .38 caliber pistol, an AR 15 assault rifle and $358,000 and a list of attendees at Gotti's 1990 wedding in a raid at a South Ozone Park social club and brought it all to court  to hammer home their point. 

Rehbock said only one of the guns  -- the derringer --  was Gotti's and it was an antique that had belonged to his grandfather. "I apologized to my client for having to spend the weekend in jail but he understands that when they throw this stuff out there, we have to respond," Rehbock said later.

Gotti's uncle, Peter Gotti, (left) a reputed capo whom law enforcement officials say is part of a Gambino family committee that helps Junior run the crime family, attended the session in White Plains Federal Court. A veteran of these kinds of affairs -- he was acquitted the one time he was charged with racketeering -- Peter chatted amiably with reporters, but he didn't have anything to say to anybody about his nephew's case.

ASK ANDY

Andy -- seen at the right reading one of his all time favorite Mafia books, Mob Star -- answers a query about the Pittsburgh family from  Gang Land viewer/reader Mario Machi.

"The strength of the Pittsburgh Family has fluctuated over the last 30 years and at present its influence is on a  downward spiral," says Andy. "In 1970, the Pennsylvania Crime Commission estimated that there were about 32 members under the command of Boss John LaRocca. Ten years later, the Commission felt the Family was down to 13 mobsters, with many at a very advanced age. But in  1990, the Commission speculated that there was a mild resurgence of the Family under the new leadership of Michael Genovese, who took over after   LaRocca died in 1984. However, there still were only about 13 members. Six members had died over the decade so it appears the Cosa Nostra Commission was approving only "replacements."This restriction caused long time associates of the Pittsburgh Family to act, and be treated, as if they were full fledged members. This kept resentment of not being "straightened out" at a minimum. Genovese was in his seventies when he took over, and his underboss, Joe Pecora died in 1987 at the age of 68. It was an old organization.

"Stefano Monastero was the Family's first boss. He ruled until 1929 when he was murdered. His successor was Giusseppe Siragusa who the Crime Commission says was closely associated with the powerful Salvatore
Maranzano of New York. Maranzano was killed on September 10, 1931 and
Siragusa was gunned down three days later. It is likely that his death
played some part in creating the myth of a purge of so-called Moustache Petes."That legend claims that after Maranzano's death, up to 40 other mob leaders were gunned down over the next few days. As we have pointed out in the past, this was pure nonsense.

"John Bazzano took over and the internal strife continued. He met his
maker at a dinner called in his honor. This was a tactic not new to Cosa
Nostra since three of Al Capone's gangsters (Anselmi, Scalise and
Giunta) also were being acclaimed at their last supper in 1929. The next
two bosses voluntarily stepped down and in 1956 Sebastion John LaRocca
took over the top spot.

"Despite its small membership, the Family exerted great influence over a wide area of western Pennsylvania and parts of West Virginia, according to the Commission. Traditionally, its members were well disciplined and  the Family always had the backing of the powerful Genovese Family, which was Pittsburgh's representative on the Cosa Nostra Commission.

"Recently, Pittsburgh mobsters were alleged to have become involved in the Rincon Indian Casino in Valley Center, California. An indictment charges that a tribal council member was paid off to for give a contract to run the casino to companies associated with the Pittsburgh Family. The Family allegedly shipped video poker machines into the casino in violation of federal law. Last April, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Teitlebaum said the
Family was still making major money from a "street tax"it imposes on small time criminals, especially those involved in gambling.

"It is clear that although the Pittsburgh Family may not compare in power
to larger organizations in New York and Chicago, is has been a serious threat in the Western Pennsylvania area for more than 60 years."