John Burke, Gambino Organized Crime Family Associate, Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Racketeering and Murder

John Burke, a longtime associate of the Gambino organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra (the “Gambino family”), was sentenced today to life imprisonment without parole plus 10 years for the murder of a rival drug dealer in aid of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, and other charges. On June 8, 2012, following a four-week trial before United States District Judge Sterling Johnson, Jr. in Brooklyn federal court, Burke was convicted of all charges in the superseding indictment. The sentence was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

As established at trial, Burke was a trusted Gambino family enforcer and drug dealer for nearly three decades. As part of the racketeering conspiracy, Burke participated in numerous acts of violence, including fatal shootings and home-invasion robberies, as well as drug trafficking involving cocaine and marijuana. Burke was convicted of two murder predicate acts, including the 1991 murder of Bruce Gotterup, who was shot in the back of the head on the boardwalk in the Rockaways, and the 1996 murder of John Gebert, who was slain under a pool table in a Woodhaven bar. The jury also found Burke guilty of the murder of John Gebert in aid of racketeering, murdering John Gebert as part of a continuing criminal enterprise, and a firearms charge.

Ms. Lynch expressed her appreciation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, the Queens County District Attorney’s Office, the United States Marshals Service, and the other members of the law enforcement community for their efforts in the investigation and prosecution of this case.

The government’s case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, Evan M. Norris, and Whitman G.S. Knapp.

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Tampa Gambino Case to be Tried in New York

Five men who were arrested last year at the same time as John "Junior" Gotti will join him in New York after a judge today ordered their trial to take place there.

The men, including Tampa resident James Cadicamo, had asked that their racketeering case be moved to New York because the majority of the crimes they are accused of happened in or near that city.

The other defendants in the case, all from the New York area, are John A. Burke, David D'Arpino, Michael D. Finnerty and Guy T. Peden.

The prosecution argued that the case should be tried in Tampa because important aspects of the conspiracy were centered in Florida.

The prosecution contends the defendants were a faction of the Gambino organized crime family that tried to gain a foothold in Florida. The indictment, however, also detailed murders, robberies and drug crimes in New York and New Jersey.

U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday, who previously ordered Gotti's trial be transferred to New York, again sided with the defense and ordered the related case also be transferred.

In a 19-page order, Merryday wrote that New York and the surrounding areas are "the undoubted 'nerve center' of the enterprise and the locus of the enterprise's malefactions."

Thanks to Elaine Silvestrini

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