Jurors scarce for Gotti trial

NEW YORK, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Numerous prospective jurors for the upcoming trial of alleged New York mobster John A. "Junior" Gotti have been dismissed, court officials said Thursday.

Gotti, 45, son of the late mob boss John Gotti, will go on trial Monday for murder in the slayings of alleged drug traffickers George Grosso in 1988 and Bruce Gotterup in 1991.

If convicted, he faces a maximum life sentence with a mandatory minimum of 20 years for each killing.

Gotti has said he is no longer in the mob. Several people in the jury pool aren't buying that, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

"Once a member of the mob, always a member," one prospective juror said.

"I have set in my mind that he is guilty. How could he not be?" another said.

Defense lawyers and prosecutors together dismissed around 92 jurors who showed a lack of impartiality toward Gotti. Judge Kevin Castel of the Manhattan Federal Court, where the trial is expected to go on for around eight weeks, cut an additional 183 jurors.