#251 - John Gleeson on THE GOTTI WARS - a podcast by Books on Pod

from 2022-06-01T13:29:59

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John Gleeson was lead counsel in the successful racketeering-murder trials of John Gotti and Vic Orena, which he talks about with Trey Elling, as detailed in the new book, THE GOTTI WARS: TAKING DOWN AMERICA'S MOST NOTORIOUS MOBSTER. Topics include:



  • The allure of working for the Eastern District of New York in the mid-1980s (1:28)

  • How he became involved in the first Gotti case (3:15)

  • Why his office didn't get along with the FBI's Gambino squad (6:42)

  • Gotti's 'allure' in person (10:15)

  • The special treatment Gotti received, despite being a defendant (13:17)

  • Losing that first trial (15:24)

  • The massive evidence obtained by bugging an apartment about the Ravenite club in Little Italy (18:57)

  • How Gleeson took the lead on the second case (22:08)

  • Nearly losing the case to the Southern District of NY (23:40)

  • What they charged Gotti with (24:51)

  • Using the bugged recordings to keep the defendants in detention (26:00)

  • Getting two attorneys removed from Gotti's legal team (27:38)

  • His initial response when learning Sammy "The Bull" Gravano wanted to flip on Gotti (30:10)

  • Meeting with Sammy The Bull about flipping for the first time (31:44)

  • Having to keep this a secret from his bosses (33:24)

  • Learning from Sammy why they lost that first Gotti case (34:49)

  • What worried Gleeson, leading into the second Gotti trial (35:45)

  • Whether Gotti putting a contract out on his head during the trial worried Gleeson (37:44)

  • Earning 'guilty' verdicts the second time around (39:06)

  • His emotional response when finding out Gotti had died in the early 2000s (40:50)

Further episodes of Books on Pod with Trey Elling

Further podcasts by Books on Pod

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