A witness to a mob slaying testified that he saw one of reputed Mafia boss John Gotti's associates - a man he called "The Skeleton" - appear to hide a gun in his coat and walk away after the shooting.
Gotti, 51, is accused of orchestrating the December 1985 slaying of Mafia boss Paul Castellano and his bodyguard, Thomas Bilotti, in order to take over the Gambino crime family.Witness Angel Rodriguez testified Thursday that the man he called "The Skeleton" - Anthony "Tony Roach" Rampino - walked right by him after the killing and appeared to be putting a gun in his coat.
"His eyes were big" and he had pale skin, sunken cheeks and pushed-back black hair, Rodriguez said.
Moments before, Rodriguez told jurors, he had heard gunfire "like the Fourth of July" coming from the street near the mid-Manhattan photo-processing store where he worked. He said he turned to see Castellano's car being peppered with bullets.
"There were two men in the car and two men outside the car," he said. "I saw the man on the sidewalk aim at the car, at the man sitting in the passenger seat. I heard shots."
At the same time, Rodriguez said, a gunman in the street opened fire on the driver's side.
Rampino and Carneglia, who prosecutors say were Gotti's close associates, are both serving lengthy prison terms for drug dealing.
By placing them at the murder scene, the prosecution sought to link Gotti to the slayings.