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Gotti funeral mass denied by church

NEW YORK, June 12 (UPI) -- Crime boss John Gotti was denied a Roman Catholic funeral mass but he cab be buried in a Catholic cemetery next to his son, church officials said Wednesday.

"There can be a mass for the dead sometime after the burial of John Gotti," the Rev. Andrew Vaccari, diocesan chancellor for the Diocese of Brooklyn said in one-sentence statement. That means that a mass inside a church with Gotti's body present will not be permitted.

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The Gotti family had requested a funeral mass burial for Gotti, the 61-year-old head of the Gambino crime family who was considered the country's top mobster. He was serving a life sentence for murder, racketeering and conspiracy when he died Monday in a maximum -security hospital in Springfield, Mo.

He died from complications from cancer.

Gotti may be buried in the family mausoleum where his son, Frank, was interred. Frank Gotti was killed when he was hit by a neighbor's car when he was 12 years old in 1979. Police ruled that it was accident but the neighbor, 51-year-old John Favara, disappeared four months after Frank Gotti died and it was believed that Gotti ordered the neighbor killed.

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While Catholic tradition limits who can receive the church's funeral rites, the general practice has been to interpret these prohibitions as mildly as possible. Ordinarily the parish priest is directed to refer doubtful cases to the bishop, and the bishop, if any favorable construction can be found, allows the burial to proceed.

"The church does not judge the deceased lifestyle because the church believes that only God can know what in a person's heart right up to the minute of death," Brooklyn Diocese spokesman Frank DeRosa told United Press International.

Gotti had expressed the desire to be buried along side his son in St. John's Cemetery in Middle Village where a who's who of mobsters are buried including: Carlo Gambino, Carmine Galante, Joseph Profaci, Vito Genovese, Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Aniello Dellacroce.

Mounds of flowers and cards have been left at the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club, Gotti's old haunt as well as his home in Queens, but it's uncertain whether many of Gotti's relatives will be able to attend the burial, because many are in prison.

Gotti's brother, Peter, was among 17 Gambino family members indicted last week in New York City and he is being held without bail, however, his attorney, Peter Cutler, said he would seek another bail application to attend the wake.

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Gotti's brother Gene and his son John A. "Junior" Gotti as well as a

son-in-law are in prison on organized crime-related convictions.

Gotti was known as "Dapper Don" because of his impeccably tailored $2,000 designer suits and the "Teflon Don" because of his ability to beat every case federal prosecutors brought against him as crime boss, until his underboss, Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, testified against him and in 19 other organized crime trials.

It was known he was responsible for five killings. Law enforcement estimated Gotti took over an empire that grossed at least $500 million a year from illegal enterprises.

To launch himself through the mob echelon, Gotti killed bartender John McBratney, the Irish mobster who kidnapped and killed a Gambino kin. The favor was never forgotten and, after Gotti finished a 2-year prison stint on a reduced charge of manslaughter, his star rose quickly.

Gotti was an obscure, middle-level captain in the crime family when it's believed he arranged hit on Paul "Big Paul" Castellano. His coronation as don came a few days later at a Christmas party in the Ravenite Social Club when men who were now his underlings kissed him on the cheek.

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Gotti was convicted in 1992 on all 14 counts against him including murder, conspiracy, racketeering and tax evasion and was imprisoned at the federal penitentiary in Marion, Ill.

He is survived by his wife Victoria, their four children and four brothers Gene, Vincent, Peter and Richard.

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