Junior Gotti turncoat John Alite names NYPD's storied Bo Dietl on list of crooked cops
Celebrity private eye Bo Dietl, one of the NYPD's most decorated detectives, fed inside information to the Gambino family, a Mafia snitch told the FBI.
The bearded, bombastic Dietl was one of 11 allegedly crooked cops named by mob turncoat John Alite, a key government witness in next week's trial against ex-Gambino boss John A. (Junior) Gotti.
Lawyers for Gotti - along with several of the cops - ripped the lurid litany of corrupt lawmen as the lies of a desperate witness seeking a lighter sentence.
Dietl, a regular on the Don Imus radio program and cable news channels, angrily denounced Alite as a "f------ liar" and insisted they had never met.
"On the job or retired, I never took a dime from anyone," Dietl snapped. "I was not some corrupt cop."
In addition to naming Dietl, the mob killer claimed the Gambinos did business with a former driver for Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, a drug-dealing NYPD sergeant and a murderous Midtown South detective.
Retired NYPD Officer John Hamburger, accused by Alite of feeding information to John Gotti Sr., said he once busted the mob turncoat for stealing a Cadillac.
"He was a good liar then," Hamburger said. "Sounds like he still is."
The stunning charges appeared in a confidential five-page FBI document on police corruption prepared last month.
Alite previously had identified two of the purported rogue cops in a March mob trial, saying they participated in the December 1988 gangland murder of a drug dealer.
The family of Suffolk County Police Officer Nicholas Tobia, named by Alite, blasted the gangster as an outright liar. Tobia - a one-time cop of the month after busting a rapist - was placed on desk duty.
The second was retired NYPD Detective Phil Barrone, who Alite claimed had once loaned out his badge for an armed robbery.
The drug dealer slaying is one of the racketeering charges against Gotti, accused of involvement in three murders.
Dietl, head of a private eye business, fed information to the Gambinos from the mid- to late 1980s, Alite told the FBI.
He identified informants for the brutal crime family and leaked information on pending cases, the report stated. Dietl collected several cash payments from reputed Gambino capo Richard Gotti, 67, the younger brother of the late "Teflon Don" John Gotti.
The pair would meet at an Ozone Park car wash, the report said.
Dietl's stellar career as a cop was made into a movie, "One Tough Cop," starring Stephen Baldwin. He retired from the NYPD in 1985.
Alite claimed Dietl hired Barrone after the latter left the department - although the private eye called that a lie, too.
"Never hired the people he says I hired," Dietl said. "It's very offensive to have him use my name like this."
Alite also asserted Barrone received information from legendary NYPD Detective Joe Coffey, who flatly dismissed that claim as "bulls---."
"I've never heard of Barrone," said Coffey, who solved more than 80 mob murders in his career. "Absolutely unbelievable. We're going to discredit this guy."
Alite - who claimed he had an affair with Junior's sister Victoria - was best friends with the younger Gotti for a decade before a 2003 falling-out.
Alite's information could shave years off his prison sentence - as Gotti's lawyer noted.
"This is evidence of the government's willingness to accept liars in order to maliciously prosecute Mr. Gotti," defense lawyer John Meringolo said.
The Manhattan DA's office found a one-time driver with a name similar to the one provided by Alite.
But the NYPD veteran, who was assigned to the DA's detective squad, was "a loyal employee of the highest integrity," Morgenthau's office said.
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