September 3, 1999
Web posted at: 4:35 p.m. EDT (2035 GMT)

In this story: To surrender on October 18 RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

WHITE PLAINS, New York (CNN) -- John "Junior" Gotti, the son of convicted mobster John Gotti, was sentenced Friday to 6 1/2 years in prison for racketeering, extortion and fraud.

Gotti, 35, had pleaded guilty in April to a federal indictment accusing him of leading the Gambino crime family for his imprisoned father, who began serving a life sentence in 1992 for racketeering convictions.

"I'm a man's man. I'm here to take my medicine," said the younger Gotti before sentencing, appearing calm and dressed in a dark suit and glasses. He received slightly less than the maximum sentence of just more than seven years.

U.S. District Judge Barrington Parker Jr., pointing out that the elder Gotti had spent time in jail while his son was growing up, seemed perplexed by the son's decision to repeat his father's mistakes.

"You know the toll that kind of behavior took on the family and children," Parker told him. "Yet the pattern, for reasons I'm unable to fathom, is duplicated."

To surrender on October 18

Parker gave the younger Gotti until October 18 to surrender and begin his federal term.

Defense attorneys had asked the court to allow the younger Gotti to turn himself in at a later date because his wife was almost due to give birth, and he was trying to sell the family's Long Island estate. Proceeds of the sale are supposed to be forfeited as part of his punishment.

The younger Gotti spent nine months in jail before posting $10 million bail in October, which will reduce the amount of time he must serve.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.