DIRECT EXAMINATION:
Q.(Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael G. McGovern) How old are you, sir?
A.(Michael DiLeonardo) 50.
Q. Are you married?
A. Yes.
Q. How many times have you been married?
A. Twice.
...
Q. Where were you born?
A. In Brooklyn.
Q. What part of Brooklyn?
A. Bensonhurst.
Q. How long did you live in Bensonhurst?
A. About 47 years -- 43 years actually. Then I moved to
Staten Island.
Q. What kind of neighborhood was Bensonhurst when you were
growing up as a kid?
A. An Italian neighborhood predominantly, mostly Italians.
Q. Who did you live with when you were a kid in Bensonhurst?
A. My mother and father, and next door to my grandmother
grandfather.
...
Q. What became of your two brothers, [Deleted] and Robert?
A. [Deleted]..., and my brother Robert was murdered.
Q. When was your brother Robert murdered?
A. July 16, '81.
Q. How did your brother Robert die?
A. He was shot dead.
Q. Where did you go to high school?
A. New Utrecht.
Q. New Utrecht?
A. Utrecht, yes.
Q. Was that in Bensonhurst?
A. Yes.
Q. What year did you graduate?
A. I believe it was '73.
Q. Did you go on to college?
A. Yes.
Q. How long did you stay in college?
A. About 18 months, year and a half.
Q. Did you graduate?
A. No, I did not.
Michael DiLeonardo |
Q. Were you known by any nicknames as you were growing up as a
kid in Brooklyn?
A. Yes, I was.
Q. What was that nickname?
A. Mikey Scars.
Q. How did you get that nickname Mikey Scars?
A. When I was about eight or ten years old I was bitten by a
dog in the face, and it left a visible scar.
Q. How soon after that dog bite on your face did people start
calling you Mikey Scars?
A. Almost immediately.
Q. So at the age of eight or ten years old?
A. Yes.
Q. Have you ever used that nickname to refer to yourself?
A. Never.
Q. What name do you prefer that your friends call you by?
A. Michael.
Q. Did there come a time that you moved out of Brooklyn -- I
think you referred to this earlier. You said Staten Island.
What's the time frame of that?
A. '98, March of '98.
Q. How long did you live in Staten Island?
A. Until 2002, June of 2002.
Q. What happened in June of 2002?
A. I was arrested.
Q. Did you go to prison at that time?
A. Yes.
Q. What type of criminal charges were you arrested on?
A. A racketeering case.
Q. Was that state or federal?
A. Federal.
Q. What district were you arrested in and charged?
A. The Southern District.
Q. This district?
A. This one right here.
Q. Were you taken before a federal judge?
A. Yes.
Q. Who was that?
A. Judge Casey.
Q. Is that a federal judge in this courthouse?
A. Yes.
Q. How long did you remain in prison on those charges on which
you were arrested in June of 2002?
A. Until June of 2005.
Q. And what happened in 2005?
A. I received bail.
...
Q. What is the current status of that criminal case?
A. Awaiting sentencing.
Q. Have you pled guilty to crimes?
A. Yes.
...
Q. Now, without telling us where you currently live, do you
live alone or with others?
A. I live with others.
...
Q. Who picked the place where [Deleted] you live now?
A. The witness security program, the Marshals Service.
Q. Did you or your family have any say in the location where
you now live?
A. No.
Q. Do you [Deleted] currently live under your real names?
A. No.
Q. And whose decision was that?
A. The Marshals Service also.
Q. Are you appearing here today under the protection of the
United States Marshals Service?
A. Yes.
Q. Prior to your arrest in June of 2002, had you ever been
arrested before?
A. Yes, twice.
Q. What was the first time?
A. I believe it was in the '70s. It was a gambling, promoting
gambling charge for a casino in Las Vegas.
Q. Were you innocent or guilty of that charge?
A. Guilty.
Q. And what in particular had you done to be guilty of illegal
gambling?
A. I was part of this gambling operation.
Q. Did you plead guilty to that charge?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. What was the sentence?
A. I believe I got a $50 fine.
Q. Now, you say there was a second arrest. When was that?
A. September 2000.
Q. Were you arrested or did you voluntarily surrender?
A. I surrendered in Atlanta.
Q. Atlanta, Georgia?
A. That's correct.
Q. On what charges?
A. It was a racketeering case, extortion, money laundering.
Q. And was that state or federal?
A. That was federal.
Q. Was that federal court in Atlanta?
They started a group called the Black Hand. They were going around extorting everybody, and it became later on into what's called Cosa Nostra, or Mafia.A. Yes.
Q. How much time were you facing on those racketeering charges
in Atlanta, Georgia?
A. 20 years and up. It was a high guidelines.
Q. High sentencing guidelines?
A. High sentencing guidelines, yes.
Q. How did you plead in that federal case? Guilty or not
guilty?
A. Not guilty.
Q. Did you go to trial in that case?
A. Yes.
Q. Was the trial held in federal court in Atlanta?
A. Yes.
Q. Was that a jury trial?
A. Yes, it was.
Q. How long were you on trial?
A. Four months to the day.
Q. What was the result?
A. I was acquitted.
Q. Do you remember the date on which you were acquitted?
A. Yes, August 30.
Q. Of what year?
A. 2001.
Q. Who found you not guilty? The judge or the jury?
A. The jury.
Q. Were you innocent or guilty of those charges?
A. I was guilty.
Q. In fact, as you sat in that courtroom listening to the
jury's not-guilty verdict, were you in fact a member of a
racketeering enterprise just as you had been charged?
A. Yes. The Gambino family.
Q. What kind of family is the Gambino family?
A. Mafia or Cosa Nostra family.
Q. You used that term "cosa nostra."
What does that mean in English?
A. It means "our thing" or "this thing of ours."
Q. You say that the Gambino family is part of Cosa Nostra.
Are there other families that make up Cosa Nostra in the New
York area?
A. Yes. There's four more in New York and one in New Jersey.
Q. And can you name for us the ones that are resident
principally in the New York area?
A. Yes. There's the Genovese family, Columbo family, the
Bonanno family, and the Luchese family.
Q. You say there's an additional, or sixth, family that's
principally based in New Jersey?
A. Yes. The Decavalcantes.
Q. By August of 2001, that day that the jury pronounced you
not guilty in Atlanta, how long had you been a member of the
Gambino family?
A. At that time in 2001 it was 13 years.
Q. Do you remember the date on which you were inducted into
the Gambino family as made member?
A. Yes. That would be December 24, of '88.
Q. What specifically happened on Christmas Eve of 1988?
A. I was inducted. I became a made man.
Q. Did you go through a ceremony at that time?
A. Yes.
Q. What does it mean to be inducted into a Mafia family as a
made man?
What title do you take on at that point?
A. Soldier.
Q. What does it mean to be a soldier?
A. Well, I had latitude now and as part of the organization I
could go to my captain who's in charge of the crew which in
turn goes to the boss. And I just about free reins of anything
I wanted to do.
John Gotti Sr. |
Q. Who was the boss of the Gambino family on Christmas Eve of
1988 when were you inducted as a soldier into the Gambino
family?
A. John Gotti, Sr.
Q. How old were you when you became a Gambino soldier?
A. 33.
Q. Was that a proud day in your life?
A. It was then.
Q. As you sit here today, do you still consider yourself a
member of the Gambino family?
A. No.
Q. To your mind when did you leave the Gambino family?
A. The day I walked into the U.S. Attorney's Office and
cooperated.
...
Q. Prior to your arrest in June of 2002, what types of crimes
had you committed on behalf of the Gambino family?
A. Construction extortion, general extortion, stock market
fraud, murder conspiracies, murder, assaults.
Q. Money laundering?
A. Money laundering, tax evasion.
Q. You mentioned conspiracies to murder and actual murder.
How many people did you kill or agree with others in
the Gambino family should be killed?
A. There was two, and a conspiracy to murder. Three all
together.
Q. To your knowledge, did all three of those people end up
getting killed?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you know how they died?
A. They were all shot to death.
Q. Did you shoot any of those three victims?
A. No.
Q. Did you see any of these three victims being shot to death?
A. No.
Q. Were you present when any of those three victims was shot
to death?
A. No.
Q. Were any of those victims killed on your orders?
A. No.
Q. So what, to your mind, makes you guilty of those murders?
A. I was sent by the boss of our family on each occasion, the
two murders. I was part of the conspiracy.
Q. Who was at the head of each of these conspiracies?
A. Paul Castellano with Jack, and John Gotti, Sr. with Fred
Weiss and -- yes, I would say Frank Hydell also, yes.
Q. With regard to all three of those victims, were you part of
the Gambino family at the time those murders were carried out?
A. Yes.
Q. Sir, have you used any illegal drugs in your life?
A. In my early teens, like 14, 15 years old, I smoked pot
maybe a dozen times.
Q. Any hard drugs?
A. No.
Q. Heroin?
A. Never.
Q. Cocaine?
A. Never.
Q. Any other narcotic?
A. No.
Q. Are you currently taking any prescription drugs?
A. Yes. I'm taking Nexium for acid reflux.
Q. Acid reflux?
A. Yes.
Q. For those who don't suffer from that, can you just describe
that condition.
A. Yes. If you retain a lot of acid in your esophagus, this
controls it, this medication.
...
Q. How far back do you trace your own roots in the Mafia and
the Gambino family?
A. The turn of the century, early 1900s.
Q. Through whom?
A. My grandfather on my father's side.
Q. And who was your paternal grandfather?
A. Jimmy DiLeonardo.
Q. Tell us something about him.
A. When he first came to the country, they started a group
called the Black Hand. They were going around extorting
everybody, and it became later on into what's called Cosa
Nostra, or Mafia.
Q. Was the Black Hand a precursor to today's Mafia?
A. Yes, it was in this country.
Q. Do you consider -- in this country.
Do you consider your grandfather one of the founding
members of the Black Hand?
A. Oh, yes.
Q. How close were you to your grand father when you were
growing up as a kid in Brooklyn?
A. I grew up in his house.
Q. Was your grandfather associated with any particular Mafia
family later on, after the initial formation of the Black Hand?
A. Yes. There was a fellow that he was gumbatas with, my
grandfather, called Sam DeQuillo, who became the boss of that
family and later on metastasized into the Gambino family.
Q. What rank in the Gambino family did your grandfather
ultimately hold?
A. He was a soldier.
...
Q. And when I use the term "straightened out," can you tell us
what that is a synonym for?
A. Yes. It's an induction, inducting into the family, being a
wise guy, being a made member.
Q. So when an associate gets straightened out, he becomes
what?
A. A made man, a soldier.
Carlo Gambino |
Q. Who was the boss of the Gambino family when you were
growing up in Bensonhurst as a kid?
A. Carlo Gambino.
Q. Had you ever met Carlo Gambino?
A. Yes, many times.
Q. I am going to refer you to Government's Exhibit 26 on the
screen. Tell us whether you recognize that individual.
A. That would be him.
Q. That's Carlo Gambino?
A. Yes.
Q. Was Carlo Gambino close with your grandfather?
A. Oh, yeah.
Q. How so?
A. He would come by the house. My grandfather was much older
than him, and he was like, almost like a protege of the old
timers at that time, Carlo, and he would come by the house for
advice at times.
Q. Did he attend your grandfather's wake?
A. Yes, he did.
Q. Did you come to know your grandfather's and your father's
friends when you were a kid?
A. Yes.
Q. How so?
A. They would come by the house. They would have meetings in
my grandfather's basement or just come by on Sundays and drop
off pastry or something like that.
Q. Who were some of these folks that you grew to meet as a
kid?
A. [Deleted]
Q. Anybody else?
A. Joe Gallo, who was a consigliere. His family and my
grandfather's family came from the same town in Italy, I
believe, so they had that relationship.
Q. How old were you when you were rubbing elbows with
consiglieres and captains?
A. As far as I can remember back. They would give me a
quarter, dollar, 50 cents, at that time, in the '60s.
Q. Did you ever meet Joe Columbo?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. How did you come to meet him?
A. That was the night I got bit in the face by the dog. I was
being rushed to the hospital, and he was coming in my house to
go upstairs to a card game that was being held upstairs. And I
was bleeding profusely through a towel, and he had given me his
handkerchief on my way out.
Q. Who was Joe Columbo at the time he gave you that
handkerchief?
A. He was the boss of the Columbo family.
...
Q. Now, how old were you when Carlo Gambino died?
A. I believe I was 21.
Q. What year was that?
A. '76.
Q. Who succeeded Carlo Gambino as the boss of the Gambino
family?
A. Paul Castellano.
Paul Castellano |
Q. Did you ever meet Paul Castellano?
A. Many times.
Q. I show you on the screen Government's Exhibit 9. Do you
recognize that individual?
A. That's Paul Castellano.
Q. By the time you were 21 years old, how familiar had you
become with the criminal affairs of the Gambino family?
A. By the time I was 21, I was very familiar. Like I said, I
grew up around it. I knew just about -- without being
introduced, of course, who the wise guys were and things like
that.
Q. Had you already started committing crimes on behalf of the
Gambino family?
A. Yes.
Q. How so?
A. When Pauly wanted me to go give somebody a beating or do
some vandalism or things of that nature, I would, or I started
to shylock at early age, bookmaking.
Q. Did your connection to the Gambino family grow stronger
once Paul Castellano came to power?
A. Yes.
...
Q. Where were you hanging out these days that you said you
were on record with the Gambino family and Paul Castellano was
in power?
A. Paul had opened up a social club in Brooklyn on 86th Street
called Veterans and Friends. I would be there three, four
times a week as a kid.
Q. Would you turn in the photo binder to Government's Exhibits
101A and 101B, which are not yet in evidence.
A. OK.
Q. Can you just describe for us the scenes depicted in 101A
and B?
A. Yes. That would be Veterans and Friends. That would be
the social club.
Q. And whose social club was that?
A. Paul's.
Q. Do you recognize yourself in these photos?
A. Yes, I do.
...
Q. You said there came a time that you were put officially on
record as an associate of the Gambino family... Did that change
the way that you were able to earn money?
A. Yes.
Q. How so?
A. It gave me a strong-arm umbrell
A. I could go out there and
start things on my own, start some things and earn some money
for me and my family.
Q. Why were you stronger with the Gambino family behind you?
A. I had a whole enterprise behind me, a whole army. It's
like having a license.
Q. What kind of money did you start to earn on the street?
A. I got $10,000 from [Deleted] to go out and start
shylocking, which I did.
Q. What do you mean by shylocking?
A. Well, I was able to go out and lend money out at an
interest rate, a weekly interest rate.
Q. What kind of interest rate?
A. I charged up to 5 percent, from 3 to 5 percent at that
time.
Q. And that's 5 percent a week?
A. 5 percent weekly, yes.
Q. If someone pays that weekly percentage, does it do anything
to affect the principal?
A. No, never.
...
Q. As you were earning money on the street through loan
sharking and other activities, were you sharing any of that
money with your soldier and your captain?
I had a whole enterprise behind me, a whole army. It's like having a license.A. Yes. I would give 1 percent of the 10,000, which was $100,
to [Deleted]. And [Deleted] suggested that every Saturday I go
out and see [Deleted], as we called him, put $100 in an envelope
and give him a hundred also.
Q. Why were you kicking up to your superiors?
A. That's the way the machine works. That's the way our
captains and soldiers in the hierarchy eat, through the
associates and soldiers. We have to support them.
Q. Did there come a time that you opened your own social club
in Brooklyn?
A. Yes.
Q. About when?
A. Late '70s, maybe 1980, first one.
Q. Where was that located?
A. Bay 7th and 86th Street, down the block from Paul's club.
Q. How did that, if at all, help you to continue to earn
money?
A. Well, now that I had a home base, if somebody wanted to
come and find me to borrow some money or a beef or for any
reason, to gamble, they would know where to find me, and I had
my own crew of guys and we all hung out there.
Q. When you say a beef, what is that?
A. Say somebody had an argument in the neighborhood over money
or anything. They could come and find me, a dispute, an
argument.
Q. Did there come a time you closed down your first club and
opened a second social club?
A. Yes.
Q. Approximately when?
A. I would say that was '80 or '81.
Q. Where was that one located?
A. 75th Street and New Utrecht Avenue in Brooklyn.
Salvatore Gravano |
Q. Who was coming to your social clubs in the late 70s and
early 1980s?
A. Well, the second club everybody really started to come, a
lot of made members, Sammy Gravano..., just about everybody in
Sammy's crew...
Q. Do you recall the first time you met John Gotti, Sr.?
A. Yes.
Q. Approximately when was that?
A. Late '70s.
Q. Where were you when you met him for the first time?
A. By my grandmother's house in Brooklyn.
Q. And how did John Gotti, Sr. come to be by your
grandmother's house?
A. [Deleted] came to me one day, and he says, There's going to
be a high-level meeting, and it would be good for you to find a
safe house, find a place maybe -- he suggested my grandmother's
house that this meeting could be held at. It would, you know,
build up my credit in the family.
Q. What is a safe house?
A. It's a place where they can meet where they hopefully won't
be seen by law enforcement and out of the eye of the public
really, somewhere they could blend in.
Q. Did [Deleted] tell you what the purpose of this meeting
was?
A. Yes. Paul Castellano issued a committee to go around
pulling in all the skippers two at a time with their crews and
telling them our edict against dealing drugs, that if you're
caught dealing drugs you will be killed.
Q. You mentioned the term "skippers." What does that mean?
A. The captains.
...
Q. At that point in time did you have any idea who John Gotti,
Sr. was?
A. No.
...
Q. Were you allowed as an associate to participate in that
high-level meeting?
A. No. I stayed outside and watched... After I said goodbye
on John and everybody else left the house, when John was walking
away, [Deleted] told me, he says, "See that guy. He's going to
be the next boss of our family."
Q. Just to be clear, who was the boss at the time that the
meeting was being held?
A. Paul Castellano.
Q. You told us earlier that your brother Robert was shot to
death on July 16 of 1981.
How old were you when your brother Robert was killed?
A. 26.
Q. Who did you believe was responsible for his murder?
A. The Columbo family.
Q. Did you do anything to avenge his murder?
A. No. I was directed not to go anywhere near it, or the
Gambino family would wash their hands with me.
Q. Explain that to us. Who directed you not to do anything to
avenge your brother's murder by the Columbo family?
A. Paul Castellano had sent some emissaries to talk to me
about it. My brother Robert was with the Columbo family, and
being he was with that family, we have no say and no influence
on their politics or anything that they do.
So this is a way to tell me this is Cosa Nostra. This
is the way the rules are. Your brother was there. They killed
him and that's it. There's no questions to be asked. If you
want to do something about it, you are on your own.
So I was advised to eat it. [Deleted] came and told
me, he said eat it. Keep it in your stomach. That's the life.
If you want to be part of the life you got to eat it.
Q. And did you?
A. I ate it.
Q. By the time you were 26 years old, had you been involved in
any violence yourself?
A. Yes.
Q. What type?
A. Many assaults. I had a lot of fights in my time. I hit
somebody with a baseball bat, chased guys with baseball bats,
gang fights. We had a lot of gangs in our neighborhood. We
would fight with different areas of our neighborhood, with our
friends, believe it or not.
Q. Did you consider Bensonhurst a tough neighborhood as a kid?
A. Oh, it was extremely tough.
Q. What about loan sharking?
You talked about that earlier. Do you consider that a
crime of violence?
A. Oh, yeah.
Q. Why?
A. If you don't pay, you may get hurt.
Q. Did there come a time that you were asked to participate in
a murder for the Gambino family?
A. Yes.
Q. When was the first time?
A. In the early '80s.
Q. Approximately how old were you at the time?
A. I was 26, 27, maybe around there.
...
Q. Gravano, at this point in time, you knew to be who?
A. He was a soldier in the Gambino family.
...
Thomas Bilotti |
Q. And Tommy Bilotti?
A. He was captain at that time.
Q. What happened when you... assembled at Nino's restaurant?
A. After some smalltalk, Tommy had tapped me on the shoulder
and says, come on, take a walk outside. Where we stepped into
a vestibule. And he looked me in my eyes and he says do you
know why you're here? And I says, yeah. I said we got to do a
piece of work. Tapped me back on the shoulder, he says, come
on, let's go back in.
Q. And did Bilotti ever take you up on your offer to do a
piece of work for the family?
A. No.
Q. Anything ever come of that meeting?
A. No.
Q. Did there come a time, however, shortly after that, that
you actually did participate in a murder conspiracy and murder
on behalf of the Gambino family?
A. Yes.
Q. How did that come about?
...
A. [Deleted] said, we have to do a piece of work. Gravano had a
beef with somebody, and that he got permission from Paul
Castellano to kill this guy. And he says that I was going to
be on it.
Q. Did [Deleted] tell you who the intended victim was?
A. I don't know if he told me then, but later on I found out
it was Jack. He might have told me that.
Q. And who is Jack?
A. I never got his last name. He was an associate of Gravano.
Q. Did you have any idea who this Jack was?
A. No.
Q. What instructions, if any, did [Deleted] give you about
what your particular role was to be in this conspiracy to
murder Jack?
A. Yes. He wanted me to drive a diversion car, or back-up
car, after the man was killed and placed in a trunk and driven
to a location and left.
Q. Did you ultimately play that role in Jacks's murder?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. How so?
A. The night he was murdered, he was in a bar called Docks...
Q. Were you there, did you see them kill Jack?
A. No, I was sitting in a car, about a block, block and a half
away, waiting for [Deleted] to pull up with the body of Jack in the
car, drive to a designated spot, block the street, [Deleted] would
park, and then get in the car.
...
Q. What happened in your life in May of 1985?
A. May of '85?
Q. Well, not through the Gambino family, your own family, I
mean.
A. Oh, I got married.
Q. Okay. How were he you making money at that time?
A. I was doing some shylocking, some bookmaking; things of
that nature.
Q. Did you have any businesses that you were involved in in
May of '85?
A. Yes. I had a produce business...
...
Q. At this point in time, Paul Castellano was still the boss
of the Gambino family?
A. Yes.
Assassination of Castellano |
Q. Do you recall what happened to Paul Castellano on December
12, 1985?
A. He was murdered.
Q. Where?
A. In New York.
Q. Do you remember the exact location?
A. Sparks Steak House.
Q. Was anyone else murdered that night with him?
A. Yes. Tommy Bilotti.
Q. Did you ever speak to anyone who had played a role in the
murder of Paul Castellano and Tommy Bilotti?
A. Gravano.
...
Q. And in your conversations... did you learn who had carried
out the murder of Paul Castellano and Bilotti?
A. Yes. It was John Gotti, Frankie DiCicco, and others.
Q. John Gotti, Sr.?
A. Yes.
Q. And who was Tommy Bilotti, at the time that he was killed
alongside of Paul Castellano, the boss?
A. He just became underboss.
Q. So who succeeded Paul Castellano as the boss of the Gambino
family as '86 rolled around?
A. John Gotti, Sr.
Q. And who did John Gotti, Sr., make his underboss immediately
after killing Castellano's underboss, Tommy Bilotti?
A. Frank DeCicco.
Q. Let me show you on the screen government exhibit 17. Who
is that?
A. Frankie DeCicco.
Q. What became of Paul Castellano's social club, the Veterans
and Friends Club that we saw in some of those earlier photos
after Gotti and DeCicco murdered Paul Castellano?
A. Frankie took it over.
Q. So the social club stayed in operation?
A. Oh, yeah.
Q. And did you continue to go to the Veterans and Friends,
even though Castellano was now dead?
A. Sure, yeah, I was close with Frank.
Q. I want to direct your attention now to approximately four
months after the Castellano murder, April 13 of 1986.
Do you recall going to the Veterans and Friends that
day?
A. Yes, I do.
Q. And do you recall what time of day you arrived?
A. I believe 12:00, around 12:00, 1:00.
Q. Do you recall seeing anything out of the ordinary as you
entered the Veterans and Friends that day?
A. Yes. I drove a up Bay 7th Street, towards 86 Street. And
when you get to that point, you can either make a left or
right. And directly across the street is a catering hall with
a driveway to go to the back. And I seen a fellow sitting in a
car with a baseball cap, leaning down in the seat in the car,
looking back on his rearview mirror towards the club. And I
said -- I felt that was odd.
Q. And when you went inside Veterans and Friends, who did you
meet in there?
A. There was about 50 or 60 guys in there at the time.
Q. What guys?
A. Gambino family guys; associates, soldiers, captains,
Frankie DeCicco.
Q. Once you got inside, did you tell anyone about what you had
seen outside, that thing that you said was, seemed odd to you?
A. Yes, I mentioned to [Deleted].
Q. What did you say?
A. I told him what I seen. And he said, he wrote it off as
law enforcement.
Q. Meaning what?
A. We thought -- we had the FBI sitting outside, or Kenny
McCabe, or somebody like that taking pictures, which they
usually did on Sundays -- almost every day.
Q. Just to be clear, who is Kenny McCabe?
A. He was an investigator with the government, and he would be
tenacious fellow. He was on that club every day it was open,
from beginning to end.
Q. What happened shortly after you went inside the Veterans
and Friends Club that day?
A. Frankie DeCicco walked out with another individual named
[Deleted], who was a soldier in the Luckese family.
And within a couple of minutes, there was a huge explosion,
rocked the whole club. And there was a -- Frankie's car had
been blown up with Frankie sitting in it.
Q. Did you go outside?
A. Yeah, we all ran outside.
Q. And what did you find when you got to DeCicco's car?
A. Car was blown up and on fire.
Q. Where was Frankie DeCicco?
A. Frankie DeCicco was still in the car. [We] ran across
the street to the car. And they were trying to pull Frankie
out of the car, but he was just falling apart, they said. And
the other fellow, [Deleted], was blown across the sidewalk
on to a fence, and his foot was hanging off.
Q. Either of those two men alive at that point in time?
A. [Deleted] lived, and DeCicco died.
Q. Did Gotti, Sr. appoint a new underboss after the murder of
Frank DeCicco?
A. Yes.
(continued - please scroll down)
...
Q. Did [Deleted] have any suggestions for you as to how you
could raise your profile to increase your chances of getting
straightened out?
A. Yes, he wanted me to come around the Ravenite whenever
they were open, whenever John was there -- he wanted me to be
around the boss more often -- or go out to the Bergen Hunt and
Fish on Saturday.
Q. And what was the Bergen Hunt and Fish?
A. That was John Gotti's headquarters.
Q. John Gotti, Sr.?
A. Senior.
Q. And did you actually start attending these social clubs?
A. Yeah.
Q. As recommended?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. And by 1988, approximately how many times a week were you
at John Gotti, Sr.'s social club, the Ravenite, on Mulberry
Street?
A. That would be three or four.
Q. And who would you see there on a weekly basis?
A. Just about everybody in the family. Throughout that week,
everybody would come.
...
Q. And now I want to direct your attention to a date you
mentioned at the beginning of your testimony, Christmas Eve of
1988. Remind us, again, what happened that day.
A. I got straightened out.
Q. And, how did you first come to learn that that was going to
be the day you were going to be inducted as a soldier?
A. [Deleted] told me.
Q. What did he say to you.
A. He says, oh, put a suit on, you're gonna get straightened
out.
Q. Did he give you any directions as to where to meet him?
A. On Mulberry Street.
Q. Did you do as he directed that day?
A. Yes.
...
Q. Sorry. How far from the Ravenite was this?
A. Several blocks.
Q. And on the way..., did [Deleted] give you any instructions
on what to do or expect?
A. Yes. He says when they ask you do you know why you're
hear, say no.
...
Q. Did you have an understanding, at that point in time, why
if asked, you would have to falsely claim that you had no idea
why you were going there?
A. Well, it was supposed to be a secret ceremony; nobody was
supposed to know what is going on that day. And it was a
breach; but it goes on all of the time.
...
Q. What had happened once you and these other associates were
assembled in that room together...?
A. There came a time when there was a knock on the door.
...
Q. Okay. And what happened next?
A. Third knock, that was my knock...
Q. And what happened to you at that point?
A. I went into the room.
Q. [Deleted] brought you into the adjoining room?
A. That's correct.
Q. Describe for the jury the scene that you encountered when
you walked into the other room...
A. Yes. There was a long, rectangular table with about ten
captains sitting around it. At the head of the table, there
was Gravano and [Deleted]... And, like I said, there were
captains...
Q. Okay. Around this long table, you say at one end, is Sammy
Gravano. What rank in the family did he hold at this point now
in December of 1988?
A. He was consigliere.
...
Q. Where did you sit?
A. I sit at the -- they brought me to the head of the table.
Q. And once you were seated at the table, who was next to you?
A. Gravano...
...
Q. Who spoke, once you were seated the table?
A. Gravano.
Q. What did he say?
This is not a club. This is a secret society. There is one way in this society, the way you would come in today, and one way out, on a slab.A. He asked me if I knew why I was there, which I acknowledged
no. He then says, do you know these men? I says, yes. He
says, do you respect these men? I said yes. He says we have
been watching you for a long time. This is not a club. This
is a secret society. There is one way in this society, the way
you would come in today, and one way out, on a slab. He says
do you want to be a part of us. I acknowledged yes. He says
which finger do you shoot with. I put up my index finger.
There was a saint, a picture of a saint on a table, which was
crumbled up and placed in my hand. I had my hand like, this,
cupped. [Deleted] pinches my finger, pricks it, drops
some blood on to the saint, whereas then Gravano says, I'm
going to light it on fire, and roll it around in your hands,
and repeat after me. And, he did so. He says, if I betray the
oath of omerta, may my soul burn in hell like the saint.
Q. When you said there is one way into the life, the way you
came in, one way out, out on a slab, what did you understand
them to mean by that?
A. Death.
Q. And after you -- pledged this oath to never betray the
secrets of La Cosa Nostra, what did Gravano do, what was the
next part of the ceremony?
A. He congratulated me and says this is your new family, we
come first before your blood family. If we call you, you come
in when we call you. Even if you have to kill your own
brother, this is what it is. He says, [Deleted] is now your new
father. He told me to go around and kiss all of the captains,
congratulations. That is what I did. I went around the table
and came back to the head of the table.
...
Q. And after you sat down at the table again, after greeting
everyone, what was the next step in the ceremony?
A. We were locked in, procedure called "locking in."
Everybody stands up, we all hold hands, some words are spoken
in Italian to the effect whatever is done here today or
discussed here today, stays here. That was supposed to be
locking in, keeping the secret.
Q. And after you did that, did the ceremony continue?
A. Yes.
Q. How so?
A. I was instructed to go sit at the end of the table... They
then started to tell us about the hierarchy of our family.
Q. Just to be clear, what happened to the other associates who
had been left behind in the room?
A. Excuse me. They called the other two fellows in, the same
ceremony, as I sat there, and then they told us about --
Q. Just the same ceremony with the pin, the blood, and the
saint, fire and the oath?
A. Exactly the same.
Q. Once all five of you had gone through that ceremony, how
did it proceed from there?
A. Yes. Then they started to tell us about the hierarchy of
our family...
Q. What about other Cosa Nostra families, were they discussed?
A. Yes. Then they gave us the hierarchies of the other
families in our areas.
Philip Rastelli |
Q. Who were some of the bosses that were made known to you at
that point?
A. Genovese family, was Vinny, "the Chin", Gigante. Bonanno
family was Philly Rastelli...
...
Q. Once you knew who the administrations were of your family
and the other families, where did the ceremony proceed to at
that point?
A. The captains were then telling us about the don'ts, what
not to do, things you could get killed for. Such as, sleeping
with another member's wife, you would be killed for that; if
you were married and you slept with another member's family,
you would be killed for that; if you murdered without
permission, you could be killed for that; if you dealt drugs,
you would be killed for that; if you dealt in stocks and bonds,
you would be killed for that; raise your hands to another
member, you would be killed for that; if you robbed from the
family, you would be killed for that. And there is a few other
ones.
Q. What did you think about all of these rules as they were
being laid out for you?
A. It was a big hypocrisy.
Q. How so?
A. Well, you got, [Deleted] was a big drug dealer, big heroin
dealer. He had a case going... And then he, you had the
hierarchy itself who just killed a boss without commission
approval. So it was a lot of double standards and hypocrisy there.
Q. You said earlier that while that picture of the saint was
burning in your hands, you pledged a -- a blood oath never to
reveal the secrets of La Cosa Nostr
A. Is that what you are
doing here today?
A. Absolutely.
Q. And is there a rule in Cosa Nostra about admitting the
existence of the Gambino family?
A. You never admitted to an outsider.
Q. And what happens -- give us an example about your walking
down the street one day, and you're a made member of the
Gambino family, you see someone across the street who is a made
member of the Genovese family, can you run over to him and say
hi, you don't know me, but I'm Mikey DiLeonardo, a soldier with
the Gambinos?
A. Not if I was never introduced. If I was never introduced,
that can't happen. I would be sanctioned.
Q. How would it work, what would you say?
A. Well, you would say, hello, that's it. You can't allude to
anything about Cosa Nostra.
Q. What if there is a third party present who is also a made
member?
A. If he -- if he has been previously introduced to that
individual, and introduced to myself, then he could introduce
us as friends, as amica nostra, friend of ours.
Q. What is the purpose of these, this rule of not being able
to introduce yourself?
A. Complete secrecy. You can't trust who the other guy is, if
you don't know for sure, until you meet him, someone else
vouches for him with an introduction.
Q. Same thing applies to identifying the name with the Gambino
family?
A. Oh, of course.
...
Q. And where did you go after the ceremony ended?
A. Up to the club where John was; John, Sr.
Q. What club?
A. Ravenite.
...
Q. And after the ceremony when you went to the Ravenite, were
you actually introduced to other members of the family as a
soldier?
A. John, Sr. first. And then everybody else in the family.
...
Q. At the time you became a soldier in the Gambino family,
what were you doing to earn money?
A. I was working with the Teamsters, some shylock, and some
bookmaking; things like that.
Q. And when did you become affiliated with the Teamsters?
A. I believe it was about a year before. '87.
Q. And any particular local of the Teamsters?
A. Yes. 282, trucking local.
Q. And you say it is a trucking local. What do you mean by --
A. That all of the union drivers, all of the truck drivers,
they belong to that union, just about, that had to do with
construction, concrete trucks, and things like that.
Q. Was there any relationship at that point in time between
the Gambino family and local 282 of the Teamsters?
A. Oh, they were with us. They were under our control.
Q. What do you mean by that?
A. Well, we had it from the president of the union all of the
way down to its membership. Most of it, everybody was with us,
so we controlled it, we infiltrated it.
Q. To your knowledge, how long had local 282 been under the
control of the Gambino family?
A. First day they signed their charter, they were with us;
whenever that was.
Q. And how far back in the last century would that have been?
A. Go back to the Teamsters from Detroit, from them, they were
always with us; from Jimmy Hoffa, all of the way until now.
Q. How did the Gambino family come to infiltrate local 282?
A. Oh, you start out with membership. Like I said, you put
executives in there; president, secretary, things like that.
And that is how we control it.
...
Q. And in addition to getting jobs for members of, and
associates of, the Gambino family, did the Gambino family's
control of local 282 earn money and benefits for the Gambino
family in any other way?
A. Oh, sure. The general contractors and jobs in Manhattan or
any job over $5,000,000, our salaries would run them probably
between 75 and a hundred thousand a year. And depending on the
life of the job, could cost them hundreds of thousands. So
they would make deals with the union, or we were wiseguys, to
keep the teamsters off the job in those years. And they would
save that money and they would give us the money. And then on
the lower level, if a truck showed up to a job site, and we
wanted to shake down the company, we'd tell them where is your
book, they didn't have a book, we'd take money from them and
then let them drop off their materials. Or just tell them,
your union dues are due, up to the driver. And the company
would come up with a few dollars, pay us off, 500, 600 dollars,
things like that.
Q. What would happen to a construction company if they refused
to pay off the Gambino family?
A. They wouldn't be able to drop anything off at that job
site.
Q. What happens to the job site?
A. We shut it down.
Q. Did those companies ultimately pay in most instances?
A. Yes.
Q. What particular job did you get with local 282 in 1987?
A. Teamster foreman.
Q. And who got you that job?
A. Sammy Gravano and [Deleted].
Q. What qualifications did you have to be a Teamster foreman
with the trucking union?
A. I knew Sammy Gravano.
Q. Did you have any other qualifications?
A. I didn't even know how to drive a truck.
Q. And I want to show you, first of all, it is marked for
identification. I believe it was -- I show you what is marked
for identification as government's exhibit 811
A. Tell us
whether you recognize that document.
A. Yes, I do.
Q. What is it?
A. That is the day I signed up for local 282.
Q. Well, what is the document?
A. It is a -- it a, my book, I believe.
Q. Your book. With whom?
A. Local 282.
Q. Okay.
A. It is an application for my book for local 282.
Q. Do you recognize your handwriting on this document?
A. That is mine.
Q. Okay.
MR. McGOVERN: Your Honor, we offer 811 A.
MR. CARNESI: No objection, Judge.
THE COURT: 811 A is received.
(Government's Exhibit 811 A received in evidence)
Q. And if we could pull it up on the screen, I'm going to ask
you, Mr. DiLeonardo, to use the laser pointer and kind of walk
us through this document and tell us what we're looking at.
A. Okay. Here is the -- here would be the date.
Q. And what is the date shown on the document?
A. April 23rd of '87. That is how much I paid for my book,
plus a month union dues.
Q. Okay. And then, scrolling down on the document a little
bit, it says building material, drivers, and chauffeurs, local
number 282. Is that the Teamsters trucking union you have been
discussing?
A. Yes.
Q. And your name is shown there, Michael
A. DiLeonardo?
A. That's correct.
Q. And under occupation, it says driver. Were you, in fact, a
truck driver?
A. No.
Q. Again, you had no idea how to drive a truck?
A. Never.
Q. It also says that you were employed at Grecco Brothers; who
is Grecco Brothers?
A. They were a concrete company in Brooklyn that was with us
at the time.
Q. What do you mean "with us"?
A. We controlled them.
Q. Who is "we"?
A. The Gambino family.
Q. Did you actually have a job at Grecco Brothers?
A. No.
Q. And I take it, it says three weeks you were employed at
Grecco Brothers, that is also false?
A. That's correct.
Q. Then scrolling down a little bit more to the rest of it, it
says teamsters 282 and a voucher signed by Jack D.
Who is Jack D?
A. He was one of the officials of the union, an old-timer.
They let him sign it, because he was really old.
Q. Okay. Did he answer to the Gambino family?
A. Yes.
...
Q. We have moved two years from signing up with 282, and now
we're in August '89. So now you have been straightened out and
you're a soldier in [Deleted] crew?
A. That's correct.
Q. And the location of the photo, do you recognize it?
A. Yes. It is one of the jobs I worked at.
Q. Okay. What was the job; do you recall?
A. It was a Tischman job, I believe. It was Gimbels building
being taken down.
Q. Tischman?
A. Tischman General Contractors.
Q. Gimbels?
A. That was like a Macy's type of place.
Q. And you said you -- you recall that it was being taken
down; taken down by whom?
A. Big Apple.
Q. Who is Big Apple?
A. Demolition company around us, around the Gambino family.
Q. What do you mean "around the Gambino family"?
A. They come into us, they're with us, we control them.
Q. Who was controlling Big Apple back in 1989?
A. Gravano.
...
Q. What was your purpose in being on the job site?
A. When Gravano put me there, Big Apple, like I said, was
under our control. And they were doing the demolition. My job
was to stand there and count the containers at that time, see
how many containers, garbage containers were coming off the
job. I was to keep count and then give it to Gravano.
Q. And, once Gravano installed you on this job site as a
Teamsters foreman, how were you getting paid?
A. From Tischman.
Q. Okay. And what was Tischman paying you?
A. They were giving me a check. I had a ceiling, though.
They made a deal with Tischman that I would only get five or
ten hours in overtime. Usually, the jobs like that, they could
get 30 hours a week or better in overtime, but the deal was 5
to 10 hours, plus a hundred a week cash from Big Apple.
Q. Cash payoff?
A. Cash, yeah.
Q. And were you getting health benefits?
A. Oh, yeah; union.
Q. Retirement annuity?
A. Yes. All type of annuities.
Q. And were you actually doing any work on the job?
A. I -- that was my work, standing and counting containers.
Click here to go to Part Two
Edited by:
Thomas P. Hunt
New Milford, CT
thunt@onewal.com
