Gotti arrested in racketeering case related to Tampa FBI probe

[United States Attorney Robert O'Neill, left, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Steven Ibison answered questions during an FBI news conference. Ken Helle, Times]

TAMPA -- John A. "Junior" Gotti was arrested today in a federal racketeering case relating to a Tampa FBI investigation, the U.S. Attorney's Office says.

Officials announced the unsealing of two related indictments charging six men, including Gotti, with conspiracy to violate racketeering statutes. They charged two of those six men with other crimes, all of which they said were a criminal enterprise operating under the direction of the Gambino crime family.

"John Gotti was arrested early this morning in New York on racketeering charges, and there is a related indictment charging other individuals in New York and Tampa," said Steve Cole, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office. Gotti was also charged with possession of and trafficking in cocaine and the murders of three New York men. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

One of the other men charged is a Tampa man, James V. Cadicamo, 33. Authorities said he is charged with conspiracy to kill and or beat a man named Michael Malone to prevent him from providing information to federal law enforcement officers and from testifying as a witness in a RICO conspiracy case tried in Tampa in 2006. In that case, Ronnie "One Arm" Trucchio was found guilty of racketeering and sentenced to life in prison.

Federal officials said today the latest charges were filed in Tampa -- and that trials will be held here -- because they all stemmed from the Gambino family's attempt to get a foothold in Tampa.

"What you have is the Gambino crime family reaching out to Tampa," said Interim U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill.

Steven Ibison, special agent in charge of the FBI Tampa Division, said local agents have been involved in the investigation that led to the indictments for the past two years. He said FBI agents in Miami, New York and Philadelphia also participated, along with investigators from the Tampa Police Department, New York Police Department and Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

"What should be noted today is whether you violate the federal law today, tomorrow or 20 years ago, the FBI and its law enforcement partners will pursue the matter to its logical conclusions," Ibison said.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says that between 1983 and July 31 of this year, five defendants, Cadicamo (left) and four New York men, John A. Burke, 47; David D'Arpino, 33; Michael D. Finnerty, 43; and Guy T. Peden, 47; were involved with Malone and others in a criminal enterprise. Their crimes included murder, bribery, robbery, kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking, loan sharking, jury tampering, witness tampering, burglary and money laundering, among others, officials said.

In Tampa federal court today, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Pizzo ordered that Cadicamo be detained. Prosecutors accused him of conspiring to beat or kill Michael Malone, a Gambino crime family associated who pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in August 2006 and became a government witness that year during a trial that involved other purported Gambino crime family members.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Trezevant said in court that Cadicamo asked an unnamed individual to try assault Malone during the 2006 trial in Tampa.

Joseph Fritz, Cadicamo's attorney, called the allegations a stretch and denied that Cadicamo is a member of the Gambino crime family.

"I don't think he's a member of any crime family," Fritz said, adding that Cadicamo "does have a sordid history from New England."

He grew up in Queens, where he was childhood friends with Gotti Jr.

When the two were still underage, Gottie Jr. picked the lock off his father's liquor cabinet and shared alcohol with Cadicamo, Fritz said. The worst crime on Cadicamo's record is a conviction for grand theft in New York, for which he spent about a year in prison.

"The problem is while Jimmy does have an arrest and one year jail sentence in New York, I fail to see how that makes him a candidate for being on the Sopranos," Fritz said.

Federal prosecutors said the Cadicamo and the other men charged today were directed by Gambino associate John Alite, who was charged in the same Tampa indictment in which Trucchio went to trial in 2006. Alite, a former University of Tampa student and baseball player, was described as the bridge between the New York mobsters and crimes in Tampa. He is accused of acting as the crew's street boss and running its everyday activities in Tampa.

He also was co-owner of Prestige Valet, and authorities said he used his alleged mob ties to threaten and intimidate others in the Tampa valet business. He spent three years in a Brazilian prison fighting extradition but was eventually returned to Tampa to face charges.

The indictments were released at a news conference in Tampa this morning. Click here to download a copy of the indictment against John A. Burke, James V. Cadicamo, David D'Arpino, Michael D. Finnerty and Guy T. Peden. Click here to download a copy of the indictment against John A. "Junior" Gotti.

Click here to read more on Gotti's arrest from the Associated Press. Return to This Just In soon for more details.

Kevin Graham and Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writers