Mafia boss Gotti accused of being ‘soft’

In a Mafia murder trial in New York, a witness has accused the son of the late mobster boss John 'The Dapper Don' Gotti of being "soft".

Breaking the Mafia's omerta - code of silence - John Alite detailed his love-hate relationship with John Gotti Jr, who is on trial for multiple murder and cocaine trafficking, saying that it was for this reason he wanted to kill him. The testimony by Alite, a self-described "rat", came at a trial in Brooklyn Federal Court that has provided the best insight yet into the younger generation of the Gotti clan, which ran New York's famed and feared Gambino crime family.

Alite, who is giving evidence against 'Junior', also claimed that he had an affair with Gotti's married sister, Victoria. It was his reaction to this that led Alite to accuse 'Junior' of being soft. Alite said that be began an affair with Gotti's older sister in the late 1980s because her mobster husband, Carmine Agnello, beat her. "I had a problem with Carmine beating up Vicky again," Alite said. "That turned into me, Vicky fooling around a lot, seeing each other on the sneak."

Alite said that the FBI then warned him that Agnello wanted to kill him. Alite told the court that he wanted to kill Agnello too, but that 'Junior', the big softie, refused to let him. It was this apparent display of sensitivity that prompted his plot to kill 'Junior' because, he said, he did not think he was strong enough to run the family.

"I didn't trust his leadership," Alite said. "I thought he was weak; soft." Alite is then said to have plotted with the hit-man Charles Carneglia to kill 'Junior'. Things did not turn out well for Carneglia. He was later murdered, allegedly by 'Junior' - the old softie. The trial continues. ·