![[Imagemap]](/US/images/nav_us.gif){kind=small}
January 4, 1996
Web posted at: 11:15 p.m. EST
From Correspondent Peg Tyre
NEW YORK (CNN) -- After serving four years of his life sentence, convicted mob boss John Gotti is striking back at the infamous turncoat who put him in prison.
In papers filed in Brooklyn federal courts, Gotti and a team of high-powered lawyers claim that Gotti's former friend Sammy "the Bull" Gravano lied to the jury.
Gotti claims that Gravano or the prosecutors hid the fact that Gravano was involved in two murders: the 1972 shooting death of a car salesman and a 1976 beating death of a car dealer.
Gotti also claims, despite repeated denials, that Gravano tried to import 10,000 pounds of cocaine in 1991. But the former head of the FBI in New York, James Fox, who worked closely with Gotti, dismisses the claim. "I think these charges are motivated by two things from the Gotti team. One is revenge and hatred and the other is an effort to impeach the credibility of Gravano," Fox said.
During the 1992 Gotti trial, Gravano admitted to being involved in 19 murders, loansharking, extortion and a host of other crimes.
But in exchange for his testimony against Gotti and 36 other high-profile mobsters, Gravano got just five years in jail. He has bragged that he is now a millionaire, living under an assumed identity and planning to write a book.
But if a judge buys Gotti's claim that Gravano lied on the stand, Gravano's sweet deal could come to an end and Gravano could end up in prison. If a judge decides those lies would have effected the Gotti jury, Gotti, whose first two appeals have been rejected, could finally get a new trial.
But legal experts say that's not likely to happen. "I don't know that it really amounts to a whole hill of beans," Lawrence said. "Clearly if the jury was going to credit Gravano's testimony, having known that he committed 19 murders, I suspect they would have credited his testimony knowing that he committed 21."
Until the judge hears what the Gotti team claims is new evidence, Gotti remains one of the federal prison system's most celebrated inmates.
Copyright © 1996 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.