Mobsters Talked Of Murdering Witness's Family, Indictment Says

NEW YORK - Two members of New York's Genovese crime family discussed killing Gambino mob turncoat Salvatore Gravano's wife and two children, according to a wide-ranging racketeering indictment that was unsealed yesterday in Newark, N.J.

Gravano, 47, recently completed nine days of testifying as the government's star witness against alleged Gambino boss John Gotti, who is being tried on murder and racketeering charges.

Gravano agreed to cooperate with the government in November, 11 months after he was jailed with Gotti and Gotti's co-defendant, Frank Locascio.

On the stand, Gravano admitted to being Gotti's right-hand man, confessed to participating in 19 murders and named Gotti as the man who ordered the killing of reputed former Gambino boss Paul Castellano in December 1985.

The unsealed indictment charges that on Jan. 22, while meeting in Boston, reputed Genovese members John Marrone and Ralph Marino discussed killing Gravano's wife, Debra, and their two teenage children. James Martorano, allegedly a captain in the Patriarca family, was to be the hitman, the indictment said.