You Don't Toy Around With `Junior' Gotti

THE SON OF jailed crime-family boss John Gotti, his friends and their wives spent two hours at a Toys R Us store, buying toys that filled 10 shopping carts. -----------------------------------------------------------------

NEW YORK - Yes, Virginia, Santa does have helpers - and sometimes they wear double-breasted suits and pinkie rings.

In a megabucks Christmas shopping spree last Friday, John "Junior" Gotti, the son of jailed Gambino crime-family boss John Gotti, and his friends turned a Toys R Us store into their own private Santa's workshop.

Joined by their wives, who wore black dresses and diamonds, the men, in double-breasted suits, arrived 15 minutes before closing and spent two hours buying hundreds of toys - including a case of hard-to-find Tickle Me Elmo dolls.

The final bill: $8,000. It was paid in cash.

As the group strolled out, Gotti stripped $20 and $100 bills from a thick wad of cash. He handed them out to store workers as he wished all a Merry Christmas, astonished workers said. Some workers refused to take the money.

Toys R Us officials rushed to explain that Gotti and his group weren't given any special treatment when they were allowed to linger long past closing. And they said it was just luck that the Tickle Me Elmo dolls - this year's most sought-after gift - suddenly appeared, even though employees stopped handing out rain checks for the dolls two weeks ago because they didn't expect another shipment.

"He was just fortunate to be in the right place at the right time," manager Les Morris said.

But another manager, Alan Gaspin, told The New York Times that Gotti could not have bought Elmo dolls there. "We didn't have any in the building," he said.

A spokeswoman for the Paramus, N.J.-based toy chain, Carol Fuller, insisted Gotti did not get special treatment and also said she doubted the store had Elmo dolls in stock.

Sources close to Gotti said the toys, including more than 100 Barbie dolls, were for charity. But Gotti's attorney indicated that they were for children of Gotti and his associates.

After Gotti's group arrived in two limousines, Gotti asked for the manager and handed him a toy list. The women waited as the men led clerks down the aisles, picking out armloads of toys.

"They were clearing off the shelves," said one clerk.