‘Junior’ Gotti faces new charges

NEW YORK – John Gotti’s son tried to silence radio host Curtis Sliwa permanently in an infamous 1992 rubout attempt – all because the Guardian Angel gave his father the devil, prosecutors charged yesterday.

For John “Junior” Gotti, set to finish up a prison term for racketeering on Sept. 7, the new charges mean he could face a sentence of 130 more years if convicted.

For Sliwa, the indictment was a “vindication” of a 12-year struggle for justice in an attack that left him with wounds to both legs.

“I hope to live long enough to see him go straight to hell,” said Sliwa, a morning host on WABC radio.

The sweeping indictment, handed up in Manhattan Federal Court, also charges Gotti with two other attempted murder conspiracies, extortion, loan sharking and securities fraud.

Gotti’s attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, declined to discuss the charges except to say, “Simply put, we want John brought down from Raybrook (Federal Prison in upstate New York). We want a speedy trial.”

The indictment contends Junior Gotti, 40, was fed up with Sliwa constantly using the airwaves as a bully pulpit to call for a life sentence for his father, the late Gambino boss John Gotti.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney David Kelley said that in the spring of 1992, Junior gave the order to “snuff out the voice of Sliwa.”

On June 19, 1992, four days before the elder Gotti was sentenced to life in prison, Sliwa was standing outside his East Village pad in Manhattan, flagging down a cab at 5 a.m. to take him to work.

“Unknown to Sliwa at the time, the cab he hailed was intended to serve as a hearse,” Kelley said.

Prosecutors said the driver of the stolen taxi was Gambino henchman Joseph “Little Joey” D’Angelo. Little Joey’s partner Michael “Mikey Y” Yannotti was ducking down in the front passenger seat wearing a mask and toting a gun, prosecutors said.

When Sliwa got in the backseat, Yannotti came up blasting, the indictment says. Sliwa was wounded but escaped by jumping out the window.

New York FBI boss Pasquale D’Amuro said it may have been “divine intervention” that spared the Guardian Angel founder’s life.

D’Angelo, a reputed protege of Gotti turncoat Salvatore “Sammy Bull” Gravano, and Yannotti both pleaded not guilty Wednesday.

The case against Gotti came together after Gambino capo Michael “Mikey Scars” DiLeonardo became a government informant in 2002.

Although Sliwa said he’s pleased with the indictment, he fears for his life more than ever and has hired a bodyguard.

“I know I’ve got a huge target on me now,” Sliwa said. “This guy’s indicted and he’s facing the rest of his life in prison.”