NEW YORK -- Famed civil rights attorney William Kunstler says he will go to bat for John Gotti in a gratis attempt to restore the reputed mob boss's battered defense team for his trial on murder, extortion and gambling charges.
U.S. District Court Judge Leo Glasser in Brooklyn Tuesday disqualified a fourth defense lawyer in the case. That prompted Kunstler to announce he would lend his support to the 'Dapper Don' and co- defendant Frank Locascio.
'It's a plot by the government to get rid of the lawyers. It's a fraud,' Kunstler said Wednesday outside the Manhattan federal courthouse, where he said he would petition to have four attorneys in the Gotti case restored.
Kunstler, whose clients have included Black Panthers, anti-war protesters and Native American militants at Wounded Knee, said he would defend the alleged mob boss's Sixth Amendment right to a lawyer of his choice.
'I am interested in the civil liberties aspect' of the case, he said, adding he was going to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on Gotti's behalf for free.
Glasser, in disqualifying George Santangelo as a defense lawyer for Locascio, agreed with the government that Santangelo was 'answerable to Gotti' rather than Locascio, who nonetheless, objected furiously to the ruling.
An enraged Locascio pointed at the flag behind the judge and exclaimed, 'That's the American flag there -- not a swastika.'
Selection of a jury, which will be sequestered throughout the trial, began Tuesday and was to continue Friday.
Shortly after Glasser's ruling, Kunstler called New York Civil Liberties head Norman Siegel to persuade him to support the petition, saying, 'It's a very high-profile case.'
Officials at the NYCLU were not immediately available for comment.
Kunstler at first said he hoped to make oral arguments to the appeals court Thursday, which would put him and his case before a three-judge bench that was scheduled to include visiting retired Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
But he later said the judges scheduled for other days during the week also would provide the advantage of being more liberal than the panel that sat when Glasser ruled this summer against three other defense lawyers in the case.
Among those disqualified was lawyer Bruce Cutler, who has won three previous acquittals for Gotti.
'They want to get rid of good lawyers because they've won three times,' Kunstler said of government prosecutors, terming the judge in the case 'dead wrong.'
Kunstler said he visited Gotti in jail Sunday and has been friendly with him over the past two decades.
'He's an American citizen who is being deprived of a fundamental right,' he said.
Kunstler, who does not represent Gotti in the pending criminal case, said he wanted Santangelo, Cutler, John Pollack and Bettina Shine allowed to defend the alleged organized crime figures.
Gotti, 51, and Locascio are charged with engaging in a pattern of racketeering that includes extortion, illegal gambling, and five murders -- including that of Paul Castellano, former head of the Gambino organized crime family which Gotti now allegedly heads.
