The top witness against John “Junior” Gotti, former confidant Michael “Mikey Scars” DiLeonardo, testified yesterday that John Gotti Sr. set off a Colombo family civil war as part of a power play.
“John Sr. instigated the war,” DiLeonardo told a Brooklyn jury about the early-1990s war between Carmine Persico, the current family boss, and Victor Orena, who headed a rival faction.
“John made some statement that Carmine was a rat,” said DiLeonardo, adding that he felt that “wasn’t right” but that he was in no position to contest it since Gotti was running the show.
The ex-Gambino capo told the jury deciding the fate of Carmine’s son, Alphonse “Allie Boy” Persico, 52, that Gotti favored Orena, but he made it clear that Gotti’s goal was a power grab.
“He figured if he could get ‘Junior’ Persico out as boss and Vic Orena in, he would have another vote on the Commission [the ruling body of Mafia families],” he said.
Allie Boy is accused of ordering the murder of Orena loyalist William “Wild Bill” Cutolo in 1999 to ensure that he’d retain control of the family while doing time on a gun rap.
Fifteen people were killed in the civil war, said DiLeonardo, who tried to broker a peace and persuaded then-boss Peter Gotti – after John Sr. went to prison in 1992 – “to meet with Allie to patch things up.”
“I loved the guy,” DiLeonardo said of Alphonse Persico. “He was a good guy.”
Earlier in the day, Chris Paciello, who started working for the feds after pleading guilty to murder, recalled a sit-down in which he shunned the Gambino clan for the Persicos.
“Look, you’re not under any pressure,” DiLeonardo told Paciello at the decisive meeting in a Brooklyn bakery in 1996, according to Paciello, former owner of a Miami celebrity hot spot called Liquid.
“Whatever you decide is up to you, but you gotta make a decision where you feel you belong,” DiLeonardo allegedly told Paciello, who said Persico was present.