Gotti saw mob life a lie and left-defence lawyer

NEW YORK, Sep 16 (Reuters) John ''Junior'' Gotti idolized his charismatic mob boss father but left behind his life in organized crime when he realized it was an illusion full of dishonor and deception, Gotti's lawyer said.

Gotti, the son of notorious late Gambino crime family mob boss John J. Gotti, 42, faces up to thirty years in prison on racketeering and other charges, including ordering the beating and kidnapping of Curtis Sliwa, founder of New York's Guardian Angels anti-crime patrols.

Defence lawyer Charles Carnesi told the jury at the end of Gotti's third racketeering trial that he rose from being a ''little boy'' fooled by the respect and power of his father and the ''glitter'' of mob life to a grown man who saw the realities of ''treachery and deceit'' once he had risen to leadership.

''He learned the whole thing was a lie. It's an illusion and he learned a different kind of strength, ... a strength that gave him the ability to walk away,'' Carnesi said in closing arguments in Manhattan federal court.

Much of the trial has centered on Gotti's defence that he withdrew from the mob before pleading to separate racketeering charges in 1999, meaning that a five-year statute of limitations on the case has expired. Jurors failed to reach a verdict in two previous trials, forcing mistrials.

Carnesi pointed to the testimony of several witnesses and a recording of a jailhouse visit the younger Gotti made to his father while he was dying of cancer as proof he ''wanted out.'' Gotti told his father he would give prosecutors ''my pound of flesh.'' He disputed the credibility of secret prison tapes from 2003 and 2004 prosecutors say prove Gotti continued to be part of the mob, including a conversation in which he threatened to beat the Gambino hierarchy with padlocks and ''crack their skulls.'' Earlier, prosecutor Miriam Rocah told the jury to focus on the recordings and listen to Gotti's words -- ''words that tell you that John A Gotti did not leave behind this life and its power.'' But Carnesi said it was hypocritical for prosecutors to ask jurors to believe Gotti told the truth in some of the newly released tapes but deliberately misled the government in others where he talks of having left behind his life of crime.

Gotti faces charges including extorting the construction industry, witness tampering, money laundering and racketeering conspiracy, including ordering the kidnapping of Sliwa after he criticized Gotti's father on his radio show.

Jury deliberations begin Monday.

REUTERS PB ND1042