Mob boss Peter Gotti dies in pen
Monahan leaves NYPD to aid city virus fight
One-time Gambino crime family boss Peter Gotti, the successor and older brother to John “Dapper Don” Gotti, died behind bars Thursday after losing two bids for early release, his lawyer confirmed. He was 81.
The former sanitation workerturned-mob don was convicted in 2004 of racketeering conspiracy, including charges of placing a $70,000 bounty on the head of Gambino family turncoat Sammy (The Bull) Gravano — whose devastating testimony landed John Gotti in federal prison.
Peter Gotti’s younger, sibling died behind bars as well in June 2002.
“I had a call [Thursday] morning that he died,” said attorney James Craven III. “That’s all I know. I liked him ... may he rest in peace.”
Peter Gotti spent his final two months in the FMC-Butner in North Carolina after a Manhattan federal judge flatly rejected his compassionate release application. Gotti (inset) was suffering from heart problems, dementia, blindness and cancer, according to court papers.
Craven said the elderly and ailing gangster was merely “as dangerous as he looked” in his final days. Gotti’s prison release date on federal convictions in both Manhattan and Brooklyn was set for 2032.
Manhattan Federal Judge Colleen McMahon shot down the elderly mobster’s most recent appeal for early release in a December decision noting that “Gotti headed one of the most vicious and violent organized crime organizations in New York for a number of years.”
Peter Gotti was almost an accidental mobster, living as a retired sanitation worker and collecting a disability pension until taking over as acting Gambino boss in 1997 and as boss in 2001, authorities said. He lacked the flair and ambition of kid brother John, the flashy Mafioso known for his pricey suits, hand-painted ties and larger-thanlife persona.
His nephew John A. (Junior) Gotti pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in 1999, further elevating Peter Gotti’s standing in the family. Peter Gotti’s 2004 Manhattan conviction came as he was already behind bars for a separate Brooklyn federal conviction. spotlight-loving
The NYPD’s top uniformed officer, Chief of Department Terence Monahan, will retire and take on a role in the city’s COVID-19 recovery effort, Mayor de Blasio announced Thursday.
Monahan, an NYPD veteran of 39 years, was named senior adviser for recovery safety planning and will work with the city’s recovery czar Lorraine Grillo.
He will be replaced in the NYPD by Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison.
De Blasio thanked Monahan for his long service. “Terry is one of the great architects of community policing,” the mayor said. “Terry has been passionate in that work because he feels it and he loves it and the city.”
Over the past year Monahan’s oversight of the NYPD response to the George Floyd protests and police enforcement of pandemic mask rules have come under fire. Critics say cops often over-reacted and used excessive force.
But Monahan also knelt in solidarity with Floyd protesters outside Washington Square Park, embracing some of them and decrying the killing of Floyd by a Minneapolis cop.
Earlier Thursday, de Blasio denied that the lawsuit filed by state Attorney General Letitia James over police actions during the protests had anything to do with Monahan’s move.
The mayor said Monahan will still testify before the Civilian Complaint Review Board about his role in the policing of the protests. The testimony is scheduled for March 3 and March 8, sources said.
The CCRB wants to find out if Monahan gave the order to clear the streets during protests outside Barclays Center in Brooklyn and Mott Haven in the Bronx, sources said.
“The CCRB has scheduled interviews with commanding officers on scene during the protests last summer,” a CCRB spokesman said in a statement Thursday. “This includes Chief Monahan, who intends to cooperate with our investigations. The CCRB expects to interview Chief Monahan and other senior personnel regardless of whether they are still actively employed with the NYPD or not.”
De Blasio batted aside a question of why Monahan would be allowed to retire when he could face possible internal discipline for his handling of the protests. “The message this sends is we’re moving the recovery forward,” the mayor said.
Monahan called the decision to step down “one of the toughest decisions I’ve made in my entire life.”
“I was looking to get to the private sector. I had spoken to a few companies,” he said.
“Just recently the mayor called me in,” he said of his new position. “It’s great for me, great for my family, and great for the City of New York.”
The Daily News reported Monahan would be leaving the NYPD, citing sources, early Thursday.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea called it a “bittersweet day.”
“Terry and I have been through the battles together,” he said, thanking Monahan for his long service.
Harrison becomes the department’s highest-ranking uniformed cop after a long career as an undercover detective, a detective squad commander, a precinct commander, a borough commander — and the NYPD’s first African-American chief of detectives.
“I grew up in Rochdale Village (in Queens) and we had negative interactions with law enforcement,” Harrison said Thursday. “There were struggles. There was a time I was stopped by a police officer who was extremely unprofessional. I said all cops can’t be like this. That’s why I came on this job — to make change.”
“Rodney is the right man for the job,” de Blasio said of Harrison’s promotion.
ALBANY — The Cuomo administration is taking a shot at Mount Sinai Health System for allowing New Yorkers to sign up for coronavirus vaccinations before ensuring adequate supplies.
Former top Cuomo secretary Larry Schwartz, who’s leading the state’s immunization program, slammed the Manhattan hospital system in a Thursday letter that came on the heels of reports that it was forced to turn away thousands in line for COVID-19 shots earlier this month because of the supply hiccups.
“These reports and allegations made by Mt. Sinai staff are de facto evidence that Mt. Sinai has failed to adhere to the terms of the vaccine program and this failure has jeopardized public health,” Schwartz wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Daily News.
Last month, The News reported that Mount Sinai canceled all vaccination appointments over a four-day stretch because of supply shortages. Adding to that, Gothamist reported that the hospital again had to cancel thousands of more appointments last week for the same reason.
Schwartz said the state has made clear to Mount Sinai and other health care providers that they should not open up appointments until they get confirmation for how many doses they can expect each week. The state makes the allotment data available every Tuesday, and Schwartz said that’s meant as a backstop against cancellations.
“Pre-booking appointments in advance of an allocation is reckless due to the fluctuating supply from the federal government,” Schwartz wrote in the letter, which was addressed to Mount Sinai President and CEO Kenneth Davis. “Mt. Sinai’s disregard, whether intentional or unintentional, of the state’s guidance, after being repeatedly informed of the scheduling policy, is a disservice to its patients and to the state’s vaccine program.”
Schwartz said other vaccine providers have not had the same issue and demanded an explanation from Mount Sinai.
Lucia Lee, a spokeswoman for Mount Sinai, blamed an unspecified “misunderstanding” for the back-to-back cancellations, but said the hospital believed it was “in compliance with all state guidance.”
“We deeply regret that we had to cancel vaccination appointments and have apologized to our patients,” Lee said in an email.