How's THAT for sensationalism? Here's an article I read in July
about a mob attempt on the life of Curtis Silwa back in the early
nineties. The feds have barely gotten aound to charging John Gotti
Jr. for the murder attempt.

Eating fans might remember the radio host as a winner of the
Carnegie Deli pickle eating contest, as well as contestant and emcee
in the Ben's Deli matzoh ball eating contest.



John ``Junior'' Gotti indicted on kidnapping, attempted murder
charges

by Tom Hayes, AP Writer
(07-22-04) 11:49 PDT NEW YORK (AP) --
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?
f=/news/a/2004/07/22/national1449EDT0690.DTL

Less than two months from freedom, the jailed son of the late mob
boss John Gotti was charged Thursday with the kidnapping and
attempted murder of an outspoken talk-show host -- allegedly to
silence his radio rants against the "Dapper Don."

John A. "Junior" Gotti, 40, was scheduled to leave prison Sept. 7 on
a 1999 racketeering conviction, but now faces charges that could put
the former head of the Gambino crime family away for life. Three
other alleged mobsters were named in the indictment.

Court papers allege that Gotti and Gambino soldiers Joseph "Little
Joey" D'Angelo and Michael "Mikey Y" Yannotti plotted in 1992 to
first kidnap and then murder Curtis Sliwa, reportedly as payback for
comments he had made about the elder Gotti on a radio show.

On June 19, 1992, Sliwa was ambushed after he hailed a cab on
Manhattan's Lower East Side. D'Angelo and Yannotti, who were inside
the cab, allegedly fired several shots before fleeing.

The cab "was intended to be a hearse," U.S. Attorney David Kelley
said at a news conference.

Kelley called the indictment "another powerful blow to the Gambino
organized crime family's grip on the city." He denied that the
timing of the charges was influenced by Gotti's scheduled release.

Sliwa underwent surgery for internal injuries and leg wounds after
the attack, which occurred four days before the elder Gotti was
sentenced to life behind bars in his racketeering case. In April
1992, Sliwa had been attacked by three bat-wielding young men,
leaving him with a broken hand and an injured scalp.

"Now the true culprit is going to have to face me in court, and I
can't wait to stare at him from the witness stand," Sliwa said
Thursday in a phone interview. "He had his thugs on two separate
occasions attack me for speaking out against his father and his
degenerate crime family."

Sliwa also founded the Guardian Angels, a crime-fighting group known
for making citizen arrests on subway trains.

In addition to the Sliwa attack, Gotti was charged in two additional
murder conspiracies and with securities fraud, extortion and loan
sharking.

Gotti's attorney, Richard Rehbock, said he had already spoken with
his client about the allegations.

"We are requesting that John be brought down (from prison)
immediately," Rehbock said. "We will be seeking a speedy trial on
this matter."

The younger Gotti took over control of the Gambinos, once the
nation's most powerful mob family, after his father was sent to
prison in 1992. Law enforcement officials have characterized him as
a "dumbfella," unable to insulate himself from legal woes.

Gotti, who is imprisoned in a federal facility in Ray Brook, N.Y.,
will likely appear in court next week on the new charges, Rehbock
said.

Yannotti, D'Angelo and the fourth defendant -- associate
Louis "Louie Black" Mariani -- were awaiting arraignment in
Manhattan. D'Angelo was indicted for the 1990 murder of Edward
Garofalo, on orders from Gambino underboss Sammy "The Bull" Gravano.