Gotti Mafia insider to testify

NEW YORK, March 26 (UPI) -- The man known as former Gambino crime boss John Gotti's so-called adopted son has been secretly taping conversations with mobsters, authorities said.

Federal prosecutors said Lewis Kasman has been secretly taping conversations with gangsters since late 2005, The New York Daily News reported Wednesday.

He is expected to testify Thursday in Brooklyn Federal Court at a hearing to determine whether reputed mob lawyer Joseph Corozzo Jr. should be disqualified from representing his father, Joseph Sr., in his upcoming racketeering trial.

The New York Daily News reported that Kasman will tell the court of Corozzo's "participation in the conspiracy to extort Hudson & McCoy," a popular seafood restaurant on Long Island

Kasaman, 51, who could not be sworn member of organized crime because he was not Italian, was nonetheless close to the Gotti family. He was a family spokesman during Gotti's prison cancer battle, and gave the eulogy at his 2002 funeral, the Post said.

"He was very close to John and John truly cared about him," said a knowledgeable source. "He occupied a position like a son."