The ex-mafia man who's the key witness in the racketeering case against mobster John "Junior" Gotti told the jury yesterday how he once lived the good life – describing a story that could've come straight out of the classic mob movie "Goodfellas."
He never had to wait for a table at five-star restaurants. He got the best seats at shows.
"When we went to stores, we got suits custom-made. We got treated like celebrities," former mobster John Alite said in Manhattan federal court.
And he loved it, Alite told prosecutor James Trezevant when asked if the special treatment was something he enjoyed, reports the New York Post.
The 46-year-old, testifying in Gotti's fourth racketeering trial, said he reported to Junior for a decade after joining the mobster's team in 1984.
"When I got to know him, it was a big thing," Alite said of his relationship with Junior. "People would treat us a lot differently."
Alite said his job was to rake in big bucks -- somewhere between $50 and $75 million -- for the Gambino crime family. He testified that he kept $10 million and handed up to $7 million over to Junior -- at least $3 million short of what he was supposed to give Gotti, reports the Post.
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The mob canary said on the stand that he used his extra money to purchase property, companies and stocks. He had two dozen cars, the most expensive suits, Bruno Magli shoes, which go for $500 a pop, Rolex watches and diamonds, reports the Post.
Alito testified that Junior told him he paid three quarters of a million in cash to renovate a Long Island home, and that he bought a weekend home, a trucking business and gold bars. He also said Gotti was involved in multiple crimes, including the killings of Louis DiBono, who was a no-show for a meeting with the mob boss, Junior's father, and drug dealers George Grosso and Bruce John Gotterup.
While Alite's relationship with Junior began going downhill 15 years ago, he told the court it wasn't like he could just walk away from the mob.
"It's not the Boy Scouts. We can't say we don't like it no more and call your mother," Alite said. "There's no quitting."
Junior's sister, Victoria Gotti, author of "This Family of Mine," was in the courtroom along with her mother and sister. Apart from laughing at how much money Alite said he made, the three women, particularly Junior's sister, mostly glowered at Alite from the pews, reports the Post.
In February, Alite testified that he'd had an affair with Victoria Gotti.
