It appears John "Junior Gotti" will not have to stand trial in a fifth racketeering case against him.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a one-paragraph statement: "In light of the circumstances, the government has decided not to proceed with the prosecution of John A. Gotti." The prosecutor said the request had been approved by the trial judge.
Gotti has been free on $2 million bail sine a jury deadlocked on Dec. 1 after deliberating for 11 days. It was the fourth mistrial in five years for Gotti. Three previous trials ended in hung juries.
Family members claim "Junior" Gotti — who took control of the Gambino crimes family in the 90's after his father was sent to jail — has been a government target because of his last name.
Seth Ginsberg, one of his lawyers, called it the "right decision."
"I hope that they stick to it this time and let John and his family be at peace," Ginsberg added.
The younger Gotti was accused of ordering a kidnapping and attempted murder plot against Curtis Sliwa, founder of an anti-crime group called the Guardian Angels who had criticized the elder Gotti on his radio talk show. Sliwa was first beaten with a baseball bat in 1992 and was later kidnapped, shot and nearly killed.
Federal prosecutors in Tampa, Fla., brought the latest Gotti case in 2008, but it was returned to Manhattan by a judge who said he was left with the "unmistakable and disquieting impression" that the government had shopped for a trial location where it might finally win.
Prosecutors for the first time also attempted to tie Gotti to multiple murders besides the claims about Sliwa.
Gotti, the son of the notorious Gambino crime family boss, has insisted he left organized crime in the late 1990s.
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