Introduction
The paper will discuss first and foremost the life and the trial of John Gotti his activities and what happened in his trial. The paper will also discuss about witness. The paper will also discuss how vital witnesses are to different kinds of cases and what witness can do for a criminal to succeed in his/her case.
John Gotti
In a career of just under seven years as the boss of the most powerful Mafia crime family in the United States, John Gotti seized the popular imagination as no other gangster since Alphonse Capone more than a half century before. He grasped power by murdering the boss, Paul Castellano, who allegedly had marked Gotti for death because of complicity in drug dealing and his rebellious ways. Because of the sensational nature of Castellano's execution, Gotti became the object of press attention when authorities let it be known that he was a prime suspect in the murder and the new godfather. He rose to the occasion. Gotti dressed and behaved the way he thought the public expected gangsters to look and act. It was as if he studied gangster movies to shape his image. All but unknown prior to Castellano's murder, his past was dredged up (Kelly 142).
In 1986, Gotti faced more trouble with racketeering charges that could have meant a 20-year sentence. After a year in trial, in March 1987, Gotti was acquitted. In 1989, another attempt to topple the new godfather also failed when a union leader who was presumably the target of Gotti's anger recanted his testimony, and the Teflon Don confounded the government once again. Investigation of the Castellano murder turned up nothing substantial that implicated John Gotti, though everyone including the mob knew he engineered the hits (Kelly 142).
As a money machine turning out a steady stream of cash, the Gambino crime family had no equal. But it would soon come crashing down when the FBI discovered a weakness in the mob's defenses. Bugs and sophisticated electronic surveillance devices were planted in an apartment above the Ravenite Social Club, the official headquarters of the Gambino family on Mulberry Street in Little Italy. Gotti and his chief lieutenants, Sammy the Bull Gravano and Frank Locascio, used the apartment for discussions of sensitive mob business. Without realizing that the government was eavesdropping, John Gotti talked himself into a life sentence without parole (Kelly 144).In December 1990, the government considered that it had sufficient evidence to arrest Gotti, Gravano, and Locascio on multiple racketeering counts and murder. By early fall 1991, Gravano broke his mafia vows and became a government witness. His testimony against his boss was devastating. On April 2, 1991, after 13 hours of deliberation a jury found Gotti guilty of all the racketeering and murder counts against him. He received a life sentence without parole, which is currently being served at the maximum security federal penitentiary in Marion, Illinois (Kelly 144).
Witness
Witness is a term used to designate either a person who testifies or gives evidence in a judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding or someone who attests to or is present at the execution of a legal instrument such as a deed, an affidavit, or a will. An oath is required of every person called to testify at any kind of a judicial proceeding. Not every person may be competent to testify as a witness. The attendance of a witness at a judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding is compelled by the issuance of a subpoena; only witnesses within the jurisdiction of the court may be subpoenaed. Witnesses may not be compelled to give evidence against themselves; a witness may refuse to answer any questions that might serve to incriminate him or her. When granted immunity, however, the witness may be compelled to answer; in such a case the answer may not be used to convict the witness of a crime (Pattenden 72).
In the case of John Gotti there was a time that he was untouchable by the police. He cannot be convicted to the crimes because of lack of evidences. It changed due to the decision of one of the member of Gotti’s gang to be a witness against him. This shows how the witness proves to be a vital evidence against criminals. Gravano became a very vital clincher in the outcome of the case. The closeness and direct participation of Gravano to Gotti’s activity gave him credibility. The participation of Gravano as a witness removed the cases that can be filed against him. Gravano being a state witness saves him from experiencing the same fate as Gotti has.
References
Kelly, Robert. Encyclopedia of organized crime in the
United States: from Capone's Chicago to the new urban
underworld. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000.
Pattenden, Rosemary. Judicial discretion and criminal litigation. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990.
0 comments:
Post a Comment