For John "Junior" Gotti it must seem like one of the worst possible examples of deja vu. For the fourth time in the past five years a jury in federal court in Lower Manhattan is deciding his fate.
Gotti is facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison, if the jury finds him guilty of running a drug selling operation, ordering a string of murders to protect it, while also being a high ranking member of the Gambino organized crime family.
Among the charges is the baseball bat beating and shooting in the back of a cab of Guardian Angels founder and radio talk show host, Curtis Sliwa.
In closing arguments the prosecutor told the jury Gotti ordered the attacks on Sliwa in retaliation for remarks Sliwa made on his radio show about his father, John Gotti Senior.
"Junior" Gotti's attorney told the jury his client had nothing to do with the attacks on Sliwa and never ordered anyone's murder.
Gotti's defense against the racketeering conspiracy charges is that he quit the mob back in 1999.
The feds have put Gotti on trial three previous times since 2004. Each of those trials ended with a hung jury.
His father also walked away after each of three trials before being convicted of racketeering and murder in 1991. The elder Gotti went to prison on a life sentence and died there in 2002.
Family members claim "Junior" Gotti has been a government target simply because of his last name.
