European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 22, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Iho ago of 18 in 1985, to applied Lor american citizenship. Bui Alex s Case is dilute real because his parents chose la be him Clay rather than risk permanently. Alienating him Alex said. Ii is also different he added because soviet officials were willing to Lei him make up his own mind Mora than pod lies. Alex was concerned with what he believed would be his Lack of a future in a country and culture he did nol know using a language Hal is clearly a second. This is All about our lives and nol the government and How it s Iro Aling ils a said. Alex got to know David during the Many weekends the germans Well Back to the old Brighton Beach neighbourhood to visit Gelman s parents. David liked to play with russian youngsters partly to have some Contact with a culture from which he was growing increasingly Distant. On feb. 17, live Days before Alex was to accompany his parents to Moscow David first told his parents about his Friend saying Alex needed help running away. You Don t run away from your parents Gelman remembers saying. You Don t run away from but he did agree to arrange a meeting for Alex with his lawyer the following evening. Me drove Alex s parents Iron Brighton Beach to the lawyer s Manhattan office because the Altman had no car. On the Way they were very Gelman said. He said Allman threatened to get anyone giving his child food and Saflar if the child stayed behind. At the lawyer s office Ala remembers a lot of crying a lot of but the lawyer said Alex had a right to stay in the United slates based on the fact that he was already there legally. He said that if this right were challenged he could use the same delaying tactics employed by Waller pot Ovshak s attorney. A few Days later after some painful scenes the Allman in desperation offered to sign a document promising to allow Alex to return to the United slates within a week if he did not like the soviet Union. Alex rejected the offer because he Felt that the soviet government might make it impossible for him to leave. The Day before the scheduled departure Alex called gel Nan to say his father wanted to speak with him. As requested Gelman drove to Brighton Beach. Allman said that his son had definitely decided to slay and that the rest of the family was going the next afternoon. He erred on my shoulder Gelman remembers. He said take my kid and help us out " celebrity John Gott by Robert d. Mcfadden new York times throughout the trial he was the focus of attention Dapper in the expensive suits and silk ties a sleek Ness in the trim steel Gray hair. Intensity in the dark eyes a commanding presence. Other defendants and even lawyers were deferential. The crowds made Way. It is thai Way with John gel to who was acquitted of racketeering charges earlier this month in what became one of the most closely watched of a series of trials in the last year involving what Federal prosecutors say Are he leaders of organized crime in new York City. To those prosecutors Gotti is a ruthless Man the Boss of the Gambino family with hundreds of members America s largest and most powerful mafia organization and As such the Power behind an Empire of loan staking extortion hijacking robbery and murder. To his lawyers Gold is a persecuted Man and a victim of character assassination a Gambler and former convict whose unusual free style unsavoury friends and troubled past have made him a target of vicious prosecutors who lacking sufficient evidence tried to use the testimony of killers and thieves to Railroad him into Jall i never said my client was a Saint got s lawyer Bruce Cutler told the jury in his closing argument. I told you he Graw up dirt poor and thai when he was younger a got into trouble and went to Ullie More than a year ago. Gotti was virtually unknown outside the worlds of his associates and hangouts and of he prosecutors and investigators who had infiltrated his coterie with undercover agents according to the undercover agents informers and wiretap recordings made at mafia meeting places Gotti Rose to the leadership of the Gambino lamely after the dec. F 6,1385, slaying of Gambino Boss pan Castellano 72. In a Hail of gunfire outside a Manhattan restaurant. Federal official said they believed Golly was responsible for the death of Castellano but no charges have Ever been brought in that killing. If Federal prosecutors Are right. Gotti at 46, is among the youngest Bosses the mafia has had. And Walsh Las week could Lead to limited immunity to North but Poindexter. Whose connection is described by sources As upwards to higher Levels of government has become the focus of investigators. Sen. George Mitchell a Maine said Poindexter is More important because of his Access to Reagan. Bui in other respects he said North was More directly involved in the operation. Ii the question is was there any information establishing knowledge of Iho president of this then Poindexter is the More important person. If the question is is there any information regarding the transaction in ils entirely then North is Moro the committees headed by sen. Daniel Inouye. D Hawaii. And rep. Lee Hamilton dm., also voted to Combine the stalls of the two panels into a single unit to expedite hearings and to provide Lor belter coordination in the remaining phases of the investigation. While it is still not known who directed the Iran Centra policy ultimately Poindexter As portrayed in the Tower commission report condoned and seeming / knew virtually All angles of it including Tho diversion. The Tower Board noted thai Pom Droxler was the official note taker in some key meetings yet no Nolos Lor the meetings can be found it said we have no Way of knowing it they Reagan and his Cabinet have denied they knew of the Contra diversion despite North memos in he Tower commission report that indicate he apparently believed that his activities on behalf of the rebels were approved at the highest level. The Washington Post reported thai Poindexter and his lawyers at one Lime planned to construe a Legal defense around his Contention that on iwo occasions in 1986 he told Reagan thai the arms sales to Iran were generating Money for the contras. Citing a Well placed Legal source the newspaper said Poindexter told Reagan thai Money for the contras contributed by iranians or israelis was an ancillary Benefit of the arms sales. The Tower commission report portrays Pom Dexler As Nof in s confidant and cheerleader. When North insisted to Congress Hal he had nothing id do with helping the contras the report showed Poindexter responded in a computer message. Well when North conceded an apparently illegal plan to threaten the Costa rican president Poindexter wrote you did the right thing but let s try to Keevil most importantly when North wrote an april memo to Pom Dexler Hal was intended for Reagan dearly explaining that Money 1mm the Iran arms Sale was being diverted to the contras Poindexter supposedly either did nol receive it or did not toward it to the president. Sunday March 22, 19b7 up Vijto John Gottl aftera Kultti Clung Golgi lives in a modest Blue and White split even Home at Howard Beach in the new York cily Borough of Queens with his wife Victoria and one son paler. He also has iwo older children. Another son died about 7 years ago when he was run Over by a car driven by a neighbor who subsequently disappeared. Some residents in Howard Beach which has been Lorn by the notoriety of a racial assault Case regard Gottl As an upstanding figure in the Community. People consider Helmace Tetty said one neighbor. People on the Block were excited to see him on Moit of Zotti t time he lists his occupation As Salesman but a does not go to a regular Job is spent at the Bergen Hunt and fish club in nearby Ozone Park Queens. He has a regular table where he meals with associates to talk and conduct business some of the talk according to informers and wiretap evidence is mundane advice on How to be respectful and avoid rough language around women warnings against using and Selling drugs and admonitions against carrying a gun or committing a crime without permission. But some of the table talk prosecutors say. Was about criminal activity. James Cardinal an Admi led murderer who worked for Gotti from 1979 to 1981, testified that he once savagely beat a Man As a favor to Gottl informers said he ruled his group with an Iron hand and demanded unquestioned loyally. You Don l get released from John got i s Crew Cardinal said. You live with John Gold you die with John Gotti was born in Brooklyn on oct. 27,1940. Lille is known of his Early life but his criminal record dates from 1967, when he was convicted of stealing a truckload of clothing and electronic equipment at Kennedy International Airport. A month later he was convicted of stealing another truckload. He got a seven year sentence in the first Case and four years to run concurrently in the second but served less than Naif the time. In june 1974, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 1973 killing of John Mcbratney who had been a suspect in the kidnapping and death of the Nephew of the mob Leader Carlo Gambino. Prosecutors said the Mcbratney killing was for Golgi a step up the ladder of Success in the mafia. He was sentenced to four years but served Only two. Prosecutors said Hal soon after his release he became a Malia member and by 1979 had become a Caplan of a Crew in the family and was reporting to the unde Boss Anzallo Dellacroce. Several criminal cases in which Gold was involved look strange turns. In March Las i year he and another Man were acquitted of assault charges in state supremo court when the victim Romual piece to first failed to appear and then Leslif cd he could not identify his assailants or remember How he Tost $325 Ifray were said to have taken. In the racketeering Case a government informer. William Battista disappeared during pretrial hearings after being Laid a would have to to silly. And a defendant in the original indictment vanished after pleading guilty. Judge Eugene h. Nickerson. Who presided in the Case revoked Gotti s $1 million bail last May and ordered him jailed throughout the trial saying thai Gottl was a reckless and dangerous Man and that there was substantial evidence he would intimidate witnesses if he remained free. The stars and stripes Page 17
