NEW YORK – Facing his third trial on racketeering charges, the son of the late mob boss John Gotti says he will leave New York this time if he's exonerated.
"I can't stay in New York," John "Junior" Gotti, whose father died in prison, told the Daily News. "I'm alone in this world. I'm a man without an island."
Gotti, 42, is scheduled to go on trial again in August after two previous juries deadlocked on charges alleging he arranged the beating of Guardian Angels founder and radio host Curtis Sliwa.
Gotti's lawyers have argued that he gave up all mob activities after he pleaded guilty in another racketeering case in 1999.
"There are men dying in prison for that life," Gotti said. "It's like a religion. But it's their religion, not my religion."
He said his father — "the consummate tough guy" — didn't understand why he pleaded guilty in the 1999 case.
"I told him I got children. I got a son named John Gotti Jr. What can he expect to be in this life?" he told the Daily News. He said his father eventually understood his obligations to his family.
"To this day, my father is a god to me," Gotti said.
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