Sister of murder victim lashes out at John "Junior" Gotti, blaming reputed mobster in angry letter
The sister of a Queens drug dealer who prosecutors charge was rubbed out on orders from John A. "Junior" Gotti ripped the accused gangster as "scum of the earth" in a furious five-page letter obtained by The Daily News.
Ivyann Gotterup-Stratton said Gotti sent "his dog" John Burke to kill her brother, Bruce Gotterup, in 1991.
"I guess killing my brother seemed like a way to move up the food chain to Burke," she wrote. "A lot of good people were killed just so some gangsters could keep their reputations."
Gotti, the former head of the Gambino crime family, belongs in jail "with his so called 'family,'" she wrote.
The son of the infamous Teflon Don, John Gotti Sr., Junior Gotti is on trial - for the fourth time in five years - for ordering the murder of Gotterup and the slaying of George Grosso, shot in the head by Gambino family hit man John Alite in December 1988.
Gotterup's angry sister released her letter before Alite took the stand Wednesday for a second day. He has accused Gotti - the man who was the best man at his wedding - of being a merciless killer with the blood of seven men on his hands.
In her letter, which she entitled "My Brother of Mine," Gotterup-Stratton said she doesn't fear Gotti. She also wrote that she wasn't intimidated when a crank who has been following the trial in Manhattan Federal Court tried to rattle her.
"A man came up to me, asked if I was press and when I said 'None of your business,' he said 'Boom,'" she wrote. "My response was to say, 'Bang' to him."
Prosecutors said Gotterup, 36, was gunned down Nov. 20, 1991, in Rockaway Beach after he fell behind on making payments to the mob to sell cocaine and marijuana in Queens.
Gotterup-Stratton conceded her brother was no "saint" but insisted he was more of a man than Gotti, Alite or Burke.
"My brother never had to work for someone to be seen as a true man, he was born one," she wrote.
Gotterup's sister said her brother tried to keep drug dealers out of the bar he worked at and protected "innocent patrons such a Blind Man Jim" from gangster bullies.
Once, Gotterup gave the "punk" nephew of Gambino crime family capo Ronald "Ronnie One Arm" Trucchio a taste of his medicine by holding an AK-47 to his head and asking him, "How does it feel to feel fear and humiliation?"
"This kid peed his pants and ran out the door yelling, 'I'm going to get my uncle! You're dead! You don't know who I am!'" she wrote. "But my brother did know who he was."
Gotterup-Stratton also took aim at a claim Victoria Gotti makes in her new book that the Gottis were more like Robin Hood than hoodlums.
"Victoria said they robbed from the rich to give to the poor," she wrote. "Is she speaking of the crumbs they threw the neighborhood when they gave a fireworks show with free hot dogs and sodas while they wore the best of clothing and ate at the best of restaurants and lived a lavish life?"
Ivyann Gotterup-Stratton said Gotti sent "his dog" John Burke to kill her brother, Bruce Gotterup, in 1991.
"I guess killing my brother seemed like a way to move up the food chain to Burke," she wrote. "A lot of good people were killed just so some gangsters could keep their reputations."
Gotti, the former head of the Gambino crime family, belongs in jail "with his so called 'family,'" she wrote.
The son of the infamous Teflon Don, John Gotti Sr., Junior Gotti is on trial - for the fourth time in five years - for ordering the murder of Gotterup and the slaying of George Grosso, shot in the head by Gambino family hit man John Alite in December 1988.
Gotterup's angry sister released her letter before Alite took the stand Wednesday for a second day. He has accused Gotti - the man who was the best man at his wedding - of being a merciless killer with the blood of seven men on his hands.
In her letter, which she entitled "My Brother of Mine," Gotterup-Stratton said she doesn't fear Gotti. She also wrote that she wasn't intimidated when a crank who has been following the trial in Manhattan Federal Court tried to rattle her.
"A man came up to me, asked if I was press and when I said 'None of your business,' he said 'Boom,'" she wrote. "My response was to say, 'Bang' to him."
Prosecutors said Gotterup, 36, was gunned down Nov. 20, 1991, in Rockaway Beach after he fell behind on making payments to the mob to sell cocaine and marijuana in Queens.
Gotterup-Stratton conceded her brother was no "saint" but insisted he was more of a man than Gotti, Alite or Burke.
"My brother never had to work for someone to be seen as a true man, he was born one," she wrote.
Gotterup's sister said her brother tried to keep drug dealers out of the bar he worked at and protected "innocent patrons such a Blind Man Jim" from gangster bullies.
Once, Gotterup gave the "punk" nephew of Gambino crime family capo Ronald "Ronnie One Arm" Trucchio a taste of his medicine by holding an AK-47 to his head and asking him, "How does it feel to feel fear and humiliation?"
"This kid peed his pants and ran out the door yelling, 'I'm going to get my uncle! You're dead! You don't know who I am!'" she wrote. "But my brother did know who he was."
Gotterup-Stratton also took aim at a claim Victoria Gotti makes in her new book that the Gottis were more like Robin Hood than hoodlums.
"Victoria said they robbed from the rich to give to the poor," she wrote. "Is she speaking of the crumbs they threw the neighborhood when they gave a fireworks show with free hot dogs and sodas while they wore the best of clothing and ate at the best of restaurants and lived a lavish life?"
0 comments:
Post a Comment