Published: June 1, 2022, 1:29 p.m.
John Gleeson was lead counsel in the successful racketeering-murder trials of John Gotti and Vic Orena, which he talks about with Trey Elling, as detailed in the new book, THE GOTTI WARS: TAKING DOWN AMERICA'S MOST NOTORIOUS MOBSTER. Topics include:
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\n - The allure of working for the Eastern District of New York in the mid-1980s (1:28)
\n - How he became involved in the first Gotti case (3:15)
\n - Why his office didn't get along with the FBI's Gambino squad (6:42)
\n - Gotti's 'allure' in person (10:15)
\n - The special treatment Gotti received, despite being a defendant (13:17)
\n - Losing that first trial (15:24)
\n - The massive evidence obtained by bugging an apartment about the Ravenite club in Little Italy (18:57)
\n - How Gleeson took the lead on the second case (22:08)
\n - Nearly losing the case to the Southern District of NY (23:40)
\n - What they charged Gotti with (24:51)
\n - Using the bugged recordings to keep the defendants in detention (26:00)
\n - Getting two attorneys removed from Gotti's legal team (27:38)
\n - His initial response when learning Sammy "The Bull" Gravano wanted to flip on Gotti (30:10)
\n - Meeting with Sammy The Bull about flipping for the first time (31:44)
\n - Having to keep this a secret from his bosses (33:24)
\n - Learning from Sammy why they lost that first Gotti case (34:49)
\n - What worried Gleeson, leading into the second Gotti trial (35:45)
\n - Whether Gotti putting a contract out on his head during the trial worried Gleeson (37:44)
\n - Earning 'guilty' verdicts the second time around (39:06)
\n - His emotional response when finding out Gotti had died in the early 2000s (40:50)
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