John_Gotti

John Gotti & Racketeering I am sure everyone has heard about the big mob boss John Gotti and the charges that were brought against him that has landed him in jail since 2008 while waiting for his trial that has recently come to pass as a mistrial. The charges brought against him was a vast racketeering conspiracy involving murder, drug dealing, bribery, extortion, loan-sharking, and two Queens murders (George Grosso and John Gotterup). Racketeering described is broken down to racket. Racket is an illegal business, mostly ran as part of organized crime. Engaging in a racket is called racketeering. The most common type of racket is “protection racket” which is when there is a demand for money in turn for protection against the ones saying they will protect their business and if they don’t pay then they will instigate trouble if debts go unpaid which is a form of extortion. Another well known example is numbers racket, which is a form of illegal lottery. On October 15, 1970, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act commonly referred to as the “RICO Act” became United States law. The law allowed law enforcement to charge a person or group of people with racketeering. Now, there is a statutory limitation on this law which is 10 years. John Gotti tried to say that the statuette of limitations has passed in his case since he claims to have left the mob in 1999. Beside from that, the jury was shaking in their boots. I know none of them wanted to be a juror on his case. I honestly couldn’t blame them either. One juror said she couldn’t see herself convicting him because she would be afraid for her life one the trial was over. I think I would be one of those jurors too. John has plenty of motives to commit all types of crimes. He was brought up in the mob by his own father. And when he died, the business went to the son naturally. The reasoning for committing these types of crimes is of course, money, and lots of it. I would have to say the connection between this crime and the location would have to be that New York is a thriving state and there are many diverse people there and transient or immigrants who all may be trying to start new business in the land of the free and are susceptible or gullible to these mobsters, not to mention they are very scary men who will stop at nothing to get a piece of your pie and everyone else’s around you, and if you don’t give it to them in the for of money payments, they will take it out on you, your family, and your business. You will pay either way, so it’s best to just give them what they want and be protected. Honestly, the people in NY really like the Gotti family. They do protect in a sense. They keep all the thug drug dealers and prostitutions out of their sector, so in all it seems to be a win, win situation, especially when the police are too busy being stretched out through out a crime ridden city. Too much crime and not enough police officers to protect everyone. So that is where the Gotti family come into play, but for a price. Prevention strategies for this broad stream of crimes would be to not to hang around the wrong people and stay clear of crime and maybe consider not putting businesses in the city of New York. Keep good company and don’t get caught up in drugs, gambling, prostitution, etc. This type of behavior could easily land you six feet under by any number of gangs or mobs. It seems to me that these mobsters are also very hard to convict. No one wants to take the stand against them. That is the only way they could finally convict his father after like five trials and all of them failed to convict him until one of his own testified against him when he stood trial for five murders. That guy is now in the witness protection program. I’m not sure I would want to live my life in fear that I am being watched everyday, and my families lives are in constant danger. Well I hope you enjoyed the story of John Gotti. He is finally freed from this charge. We will see for how long he continues to keep beating the system. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/09/15/2009-09-15_juror.html