A mob turncoat who claims he still loves John “Junior” Gotti fingered him yesterday for orchestrating the sensational kidnapping of radio host Curtis Sliwa – but claimed his former pal was angry when the victim was unexpectedly shot.
“He was upset about it. Excuse my language, he called it a ‘cluster f- – -,’ ” Michael “Mikey Scars” DiLeonardo testified in Manhattan federal court. “A mess, something that wasn’t supposed to happen that way.”
DiLeonardo said Junior Gotti, who’s on trial for conspiracy against Sliwa, wanted revenge on the radio star for bad-mouthing his father John Gotti.
“He was somebody that was trashing the Gottis and our family. For some reason, he took the Gottis personally,” DiLeonardo testified.
The infamous Gambino boss had just been convicted on racketeering charges and Sliwa rubbed salt in the younger Gotti’s wounds by applauding the outcome on the air.
“He was devastated. He idolized his father,” DiLeonardo, 50, told Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael McGovern. “He said he wanted to give [Sliwa] a beating,” DiLeonardo testified, adding that he learned Sliwa was beaten by baseball bats in April 1992, two months before the kidnapping and shooting.
“John had told me he sent his ‘kids’ to do it,” the witness said.
A couple of months later, Gotti called a meeting at a Queens restaurant to discuss further retaliation against Sliwa.
“John says, ‘You guys are going to have to do a piece of work for the family,’ ” DiLeonardo said.
“I thought we were going to kill somebody. He named Sliwa as the target and said he was going to give him a severe hospital beating, because he didn’t learn his lesson the first time,” DiLeonardo said.
DiLeonardo’s testimony came one week after jurors heard mob turncoat Joseph D’Angelo – the alleged kidnap driver – describe how the June 19, 1992 plot went awry when accused cohort Michael Yannotti started shooting.
DiLeonardo said he sought an explanation from D’Angelo following the botched kidnapping and was told Sliwa climbed into their stolen cab as planned, but then Yannotti started firing.
During questioning by Gotti lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman, DiLeonardo revealed he scanned newspapers over the past couple of months and “was hoping John Jr. may have flipped [become a federal witness].”
Even after fingering his former friend for racketeering crimes, DiLeonardo claimed he still loves Gotti.
“You love this guy, right?” Lichtman asked during a heated cross-examination.
“I do love this guy . . . Are you mocking me?” DiLeonardo replied.
“How would you treat him if you hated him?” Lichtman asked.
“That’s not a fair question,” DiLeonardo responded.