U.S.

Dapper Don's Health Declining

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 29, 2000 / 4:47 PM EDT / CBS

Imprisoned mobster John Gotti's throat cancer has returned and is spreading aggressively, the New York Daily News reported Friday.

Gotti was transferred from the maximum-security federal prison in Marion, Ill., to the federal prison hospital in Springfield, Mo., on Sept. 13, Tracy Billingsley, spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, said Friday.

Nearly two years ago, doctors at the prison hospital performed surgery on Gotti to remove a cancerous tumor from his neck. Billingsley would not comment Friday on his condition, but the Daily News said Gotti, 59, returned to the hospital for a routine checkup and tests showed his cancer was no longer in remission.

Gotti's attorney Bruce Cutler could not be reached for comment.

The newspaper quoted a source familiar with Gotti's health as saying tests by prison doctors showed that the cancer was spreading. It said the gangster's health was in decline.

Once the nation's most powerful gangster as head of New York's Gambino crime family, he was convicted of racketeering and murder in 1992 after beating the law in three previous trials, earning him the nickname "Teflon Don." He is serving a life sentence.

Gotti, who turns 60 next month, first hit the headlines by ordering the assassination of Gambino crime family boss Paul Castellano at a Manhattan steak house in 1985. Authorities said Gotti, known as the "Dapper Don" for the smart suits he wore before he was jailed in 1992, still holds the rank of Gambino family boss.

The FBI suspected that his son, John "Junior" Gotti, ran day-to-day operations after the elder Gotti's imprisonment and pressed charges against him. "Junior" Gotti pleaded guilty to racketeering, extortion and tax evasion charges last year. He is serving a 6½-year prison sentence.

Victoria Gotti declined to discuss her father's health, but Daily News reported that she said, "It's been too crazy these last two weeks. I don't want to give any comment ... I have too much on my plate right now.".