John J. Gotti gets five years for arson

NEW YORK—John J. Gotti was sentenced to a five-year prison term for a mob-linked arson Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court with a contingent of family looking on sadly as he followed an unhappy tradition tracing to his late grandfather and namesake, the onetime Gambino family boss who died in prison.

Gotti is already serving an eightyear state sentence on narcotics charges, but after he and his lawyers presented him as a changed man who kicked a bad drug habit and was ready to turn his life around, U.S. District Judge Allyne Ross agreed to let him serve half the federal sentence concurrent with his state sentence.

"I'm in a good place today, mentally and physically," Gotti told the judge. "I look forward to the years to come. I know when I leave here I'll be able to do something good, and give back to the world."

Gotti pleaded guilty last year to torching the car of a man in 2012 as an act of revenge after a road rage incident involving Bonanno family mobster Vincent Asaro, and then leading police on a dangerous highspeed chase. He also admitted as part of his plea to involvement in a bank robbery.

He is the son of Peter Gotti, one of five children of the former celebrity don John J. Gotti and his wife, Victoria. One of his uncles, John A. "Junior" Gotti, also did prison time and was an alleged acting boss of the family.

Victoria wrote a letter asking Ross for "compassion," telling the judge her family was "not raised in a criminal way" and her grandson was "full of love, caring and compassion" but "sadly went in the wrong direction."