The government Saturday showcased almost three years of video surveillance of the Little Italy hangout of reputed mobster John Gotti.
The tape played at the trial in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn was a compilation of tapes taken from April 26, 1988, to July 31, 1990, FBI Agent George Gabriel testified.The tape, approximately 50 minutes long, was played for the jury and represented only 35 separate days during that period.
But Gabriel testified that agents had cameras trained on the Ravenite Social Club in Little Italy for as many as five days a week during nearly three years of snooping on the reputed godfather of the Gambino crime family.
In addition, he testified, the Manhattan district attorney's office would keep watch on the Ravenite on Wednesday nights during that period.
The cameras were turned on from 4 p.m., when Gotti usually arrived at his Manhattan haunt, until the social club closed each weeknight, he said.
The videotape played for jurors in an unusual weekend session to make up for an earlier missed session showed a number of reputed associates of the accused mob leader greeting him in front of the club, entering or leaving the club with Gotti for what the FBI describes as "walk-talks."
Mafia turncoat Salvatore Gravano's appearances on the tapes underlined his testimony from the past nine court sessions, in which he described a close relationship with Gotti and chronicled 11 underworld murders.