NEW YORK – John Gotti's (search) older brother was convicted Wednesday of trying to have Mafia turncoat Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano (search) killed as payback for his testimony against the Dapper Don.
The verdict against Peter Gotti (search) by an anonymous jury capped a trial that featured testimony from several informants and videotaped prison conversations between the Gotti brothers.
Federal prosecutors argued that Peter Gotti, 65, sought revenge against Gravano for his devastating testimony at John Gotti's racketeering and murder trial. The boss of the Gambino crime family was convicted in 1992 and died in prison a decade later.
Gravano, once John Gotti's underboss, abandoned the Gambino family for the Witness Protection Program and admitted to involvement in 19 murders.
Prosecutors said Peter Gotti and reputed mob captain Thomas "Huck" Carbonaro, who was also convicted Wednesday, plotted in 1999 and 2000 to kill Gravano in Arizona with a homemade land mine or a hunting rifle. But Gravano was arrested on drug charges before the hit could be carried out.
The evidence included a videotape in which John Gotti talked about going after Gravano. "We'll, we'll, we'll answer this rat," John Gotti told his brother.
Lawyers for Peter Gotti, a former sanitation worker, argued that he was unfairly targeted by prosecutors because of his last name. But prosecutors maintained that Gotti had replaced his imprisoned brother atop the Gambino family.
Peters Gotti is already serving a 91/2-year prison term on his conviction last year in a separate racketeering case.
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