Gotti's defense paints mob turncoat Alite as a lying, conniving, murdering freak
Mob snitch John Alite readily admitted Tuesday he "wasn't a good guy" - but said John A. (Junior) Gotti was worse because he pulled the strings.
"I'm a prostitute; he's a pimp," Alite said, pointing at Gotti.
If Gotti said "go service this person, I serviced this person," he said, explaining why he killed coke dealer George Grosso.
There were gasps from Gotti's family and supporters in the courtroom, but Junior did not look up from the defense table.
After two weeks of prosecution hammering, Gotti's lawyers began his defense Tuesday by ripping star witness Alite as a conniving, murdering freak.
Alite admitted he betrayed both of his families - the Gambinos and his own wife and kids.
"I cheated on her every day," he said of his ex-wife Carol.
Defense lawyer Charles Carnesi stressed Alite's bizarre family life to show he is steeped in deception: his first and third child were with his wife, while his second and fourth were with gal pal Claudia DiPippa.
He admitted lying to his family, children, wife and friends.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes," he said. "Whatever was necessary."
Carnesi said Alite paid his ex-wife $137.50 a week for each of their two kids. He was trying to portray Alite as a small-time hood, not the wealthy, powerful mafioso prosecutors claimed.
When Alite, 47, claimed he made as much as $10 million from the drug business he ran with Junior Gotti between 1984 and 1994, Gotti relatives in court snorted in disbelief.
Carnesi also noted that while Alite admitted to shooting 30 people at an earlier trial, he now says it was 35.
"I didn't keep a scorecard," he said.
Carnesi painted Alite as a hair-trigger thug who reacted violently whenever his image was threatened.
"You deal in fear. You want people to be afraid of you," Carnesi said.
"Of course," Alite said.
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