Reputed Mobster Gotti Loses Lawyer In Pretrial Battle

NEW YORK - Reputed mob boss John Gotti, without using a single expletive, spoke for himself in court yesterday and angrily charged that his chief prosecutor - whom he described as both a "bum" and "Little Lord Fauntleroy" - should be disqualified for depriving him of an attorney.

"He says he welcomes a good fight," Gotti said, pointing an accusing finger at Assistant U.S. Attorney John Gleeson. "He says he wants a fair trial. He can't handle a good fight and he can't win a fair trial."

The Dapper Don - resplendent in a dark-blue double-breasted suit, floral green, purple and red tie and a purple pocket handkerchief - appeared in Brooklyn federal court accompanied by two co-defendants, alleged Gambino underboss Frank Locascio and reputed consigliere Salvatore Gravano.

All three, charged in an 11-count racketeering indictment that specifically accuses Gotti of five murders, appeared without counsel at the pretrial hearing scheduled by U.S. District Judge I. Leo Glasser after he had disqualified three defense attorneys from participating in the trial.

The indictment is based on hundreds of hours of court-approved tapes that federal prosecutors contend prove that Gotti's attorney, Bruce Cutler, as well as Gravano's attorney, Gerald Shargel, had crossed the line from legal representatives to "house counsel" of the Gambino organized crime family. In the tape recordings, a voice said to be Gotti's curses, threatens and cajoles other men in

conversations about "family" business.

But the routine hearing escalated into a dramatic dialogue between the swashbuckling, cocky Gotti and the stern, no-nonsense Glasser, who had been expecting a new legal team to let him know whether they can be ready for the trial scheduled for Sept. 23.

At the opening of the session, Glasser asked Gotti whether Cutler planned to be in court.

Standing up, Gotti cupped his hand to his ear and said: "I can't hear you." Glasser, a scholarly former dean of the Brooklyn Law School, calmly repeated his question.

"He said you said he's not my lawyer anymore," Gotti replied.

Glasser, peering through his glasses down at Gotti, patiently explained that he had disqualified Cutler and co-counsel Shargel and John Pollok from representing Gotti at trial, but had said they could appear for pretrial matters.

"I thought the trial was on, your honor," Gotti said as he smoothed out his $2,000 suit. "If you put the TV on you can see the trial."

Although he said he has no new attorney, Gotti said he was interviewing several for the job and was prepared to go to trial Sept. 23. "I'm ready," he told Glasser. "I'll have my lawyer there," and then he added:

"I wanted to know why I couldn't have my lawyer? For seven years he defended me. He didn't do anything this guy didn't do." Gotti again pointed a finger at Gleeson, who was the second-seat prosecutor at Gotti's 1986-87 federal racketeering trial. Gotti won an acquittal in that trial.