Gotti's Girl

Sandy Grillo, yesterday on Staten Island, denies being the late John Gotti's paramour.

A woman who was one of the late mob don John Gotti's mistresses - and allegedly the mother of a secret love child - lives on Staten Island with her three daughters. Meet Shannon "Sandy" Grillo, the estranged wife of reputed Gambino associate Ernesto Grillo - and the woman who had an affair with the Dapper Don, according to several sources. She's now the center of speculation that she has a child by the dashing don.

Mrs. Grillo lives modestly with her mother, Rosemary - described as the companion of the late Gambino underboss Aniello Dellacroce - and three kids. She is separated from her husband, purported mobster Ernesto Grillo. Dellacroce was Gotti's mentor.

The bombshell secret love life of one of America's most notorious gangsters was first revealed in court Friday during the racketeering trial of Gotti's son John "Junior" Gotti.

Mob rat and star prosecution witness Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo claimed the younger Gotti told him "his father had a secret second family and a daughter he had fathered out of wedlock."

As The Post reported yesterday, sources said the older Gotti had two mistresses who both bore him children. Both secret families live on Staten Island. The second mistress had a daughter who is older than the one Gotti is purported to have had with Grillo, according to a knowledgeable source. And it was that second alleged Gotti paramour to whom Mikey Scars was referring at Junior's trial on Friday - an affair Scars knew about both from Junior and from another mobster, according to the source. The second woman's identity has not been disclosed.

As for the Grillo affair, Dellacroce, who was not Sandy Grillo's biological father, strongly disapproved of her relationship with Gotti, the source said. Dellacroce, then the No. 2 Gambino boss and Gotti's mentor, died in 1985.

"John Gotti became much more free-wheeling after Neil [Aniello] passed away in his personal and professional life," the source said. It was after Dellacroce's death that Gotti assassinated Gambino boss Paul Castellano, a move Dellacroce - who didn't like Castellano - would nonetheless have disapproved of, and prevented, if he were alive.

When approached at her home yesterday, the attractive, 50-year-old Grillo was asked: "Are you denying you had a relationship with John Gotti?" "Yes," she said politely, yet firmly.

Later, when one of Grillo's daughters was approached, she acknowledged her mom was Sandy Grillo. Asked if she had seen news accounts of Gotti's secret love life, she said: "No." "I don't know anything about this," she said, adding, "That's not true at all," when asked about an illicit affair and out-of-wedlock child involving her mom and Gotti.

The young woman said she lives with her mom, grandmother Rosemary and two other sisters. There's no hint any of the children in the household were treated as anything other than part of the Grillo household.

It's not the first time Sandy Grillo's name has been bandied about in connection with one of the most well-known members of New York's underworld. The salacious 2004 book "Il Dottore: The Double Life of a Mafia Doctor" recounts a mob doctor's first encounter with the Dapper Don Juan and Sandy Grillo: a house call to tend to an ulcer that hampered the couple's lovemaking.

In the book, the dutiful mob doc is summoned to Manhattan's Barbizon Plaza Hotel on June 15, 1984, to examine Gotti, who complained of stomach pain. "Beautiful broad like Sandy here . . . but a goddamned stomach turns itself inside out right when I'm about to make love to her like Rudolph Valentino," Gotti allegedly told the doctor.

A week later, a fellow mob doctor told the author: "An unspoken La Cosa Nostra rule is that a 'made' man, especially a capo like Gotti, is not supposed to violate another man's wife or children.

"In sleeping with Shannon Grillo, Gotti seems to be violating two sacred oaths with the same woman."

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Mob Wife on Scar's Betrayal

Toni Marie Ricci knows all about husbands with secret families. Ricci says her ex - mob rat Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo, who told a jury last week that Mafia don John Gotti had a secret family and that "Junior" Gotti had a mistress - had secrets about everything. The secrets included his jobs, friends, mistress, out-of-wedlock son - even his phone number.

In an explosive interview in the upcoming issue of New York magazine, Ricci, detailed the turncoat's trail of lies and obsessions - calling him a "sicko" for dragging their college-age son into the middle of the high-profile mob trial, and railing at her ex-husband's secret family. "Michael was my life," Ricci told the magazine. "I did anything and everything possible to make the man happy. I never stopped and said to myself, 'You know, my husband is a gangster.' "Did I think anything? Yeah, I did. But did I talk to him about it? No. I guess I blocked it out."

Ricci, 19 when she married a 29-year-old DiLeonardo in 1985, was easily seduced by the perks of marrying into the mob. There were parties at "Sammy Bull's" house, Junior Gotti's wedding at the Helmsley Palace and an army of hangers-on. The glamour wore off. "I never had proof he was cheating, but I knew," she said.

"The first confrontation occurred in '95, '96. I got a job in a school in Mill Basin as an aide. I wanted to go to work; he never wanted me to. I came home one day and heard him upstairs on the phone in the bedroom, saying, 'I'll pick you up tonight. Just get dressed.' I ran up. 'Who were you talking to?' " He told her it was a male friend.

She said she started to think about leaving. Ricci said she tried without success for 12 years to have a second child, hoping it would patch up the couple's fraying marriage. In vitro failed her, but it worked fine for Scars' mistress, Madelina Fischetti.

"Right after that, he took the girl to get pregnant with the same procedures," she complained. Proof of its success came in December 2002. "We get a Christmas card: 'Congratulations to Michael and Madelina on their new baby boy - more to come.'

"I read this not even realizing what I am reading. Two seconds later it hits me, and I fell on the floor. This is a year after I tried to have another child with him. And I learn that he has a 6-month-old son. "He turned beet red: 'Someone's making up lies.' But I knew it was true as soon as I looked in his face."

She said she made her husband call his mistress at the apartment DiLeonardo rented for her on well-heeled Shore Road in Brooklyn. "He handed me the phone, and I said to her, 'Where do you come off having this child? I'm married to this guy for 17 years.' She didn't answer. I said, 'What's the matter? You're not woman enough to answer?' . . . He took the phone and hung it up. "So I took the phone and hit him over the head with it."

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Chicago Mob Time Line: January 1, 1985

Friends of ours: Sal DeLaurentis, Chuckie English, Sam Giancana, Joe Ferriola, Fifi Buccieri, Turk Torello, Paul Ricca, Tony Accardo, Fat Tony Salerno, Genovese Crime Family, Dominic Palermo, Tony Spilotro, Rocco Infelise, John "No Nose" DiFronzo, Sam "Wings" Carlisi, Michael Carracci, Jackie Cerone
Friends of mine: Hal Smith, Dom Angelini, Chris Petti

IN THE YEAR 1985: Sal DeLaurentis was strongly suspected of playing a role in the torture murder of a bookmaker named Hal Smith. A few months before federal investigators caught Solly D on tape telling Smith that he would be "trunk music" unless he made a $6,000 a month street tax payment to him.

- Chuckie English, Sam Giancana's top aide, died with vast interests in the Phoenix area, real estate and construction.

- Joe Ferriola, AKA Joe Negall, was now the boss over the Chicago mob. He had been with Fifi Buccieri's crew until Buccieri died, and Turk Torello took over. When he died, Ferriola took over and eventually assumed control of all the gambling in Chicago.

It was widely assumed that Tony Accardo was still in charge of the organization, just as Paul Ricca had been in charge when Accardo and Giancana were running things.

- Tony Accardo sold his condo on Harlem avenue and moved into affluent Barrington Hills, to live on the estate with his daughter Marie, Mrs. Ernie Kumerow. Mr. Kumerow is a union official.

- Fortune magazine declares that Tony Accardo is the second ranked boss in the country behind Fat Tony Salerno in New York of the Genovese family.

- According to Dominic Palermo's wife, who was an FBI informant, her husband Dominic got the order to kill the Spilotro brothers at a meeting he attended at the Czech Restaurant in Chicago. Palermo said that Joe Ferriola ordered the hit and Rocco Infelise gave it his okay.

Palermo, who worked for the very mobbed up Chicago Laborers local 5, was left behind in the cornfield by the other killers after they took the Spilotro's out. Palermo walked five miles to a phone both and called his wife, told her what happened and had her pick him up.

From that information, the FBI was able to locate the Spilotro bodies. The corpses were not, as the story so often goes, discovered when a farmer plowed them up. Rather, the Chicago office of the FBI probably spread that story to cover its informants.

- The Chicago mob's new boss, John "No Nose" DiFronzo decided to try and skim money out of legalized gambling at the Rincon Indian resort, on a federal reservation in San Diego County, California. It was a last ditch attempt to keep their grip on the Nevada gambling scene but the entire scam was a disaster.

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The first time the reservation scam was discussed was in July of 1985, between DiFronzo, Dom Angelini, who, at the time was Chicago's man in Vegas, and underboss, Sam "Wings" Carlisi at a meeting held at Rocky's Restaurant in suburban Melrose Park, Illinois.

The plan was to finance the tribe's venture into gambling, take over the operations, skim money from the casinos as well as use it to launder money from narcotics sales. Dom Angelini placed Chris Petti, the outfit's man in San Diego, in charge of the takeover. Petti was ordered to deal directly with Angelini's brother-in-law, Michael Caracci, a soldier in the DiFronzo crew.

To work the scam, Caracci called Petti at the same San Diego pay phone they had been using for years, which, unknown to them the FBI had tapped years before. They decided that although the Rincon deal looked good, Chicago didn't want to sink any money into it.

But that they would, however, get involved if an outside source wanted to put up the financing to take over the Indian gambling resort. Petti made contact with Peter Carmassi, whom he had been told was a money launderer for a Columbian drug cartel.

Carmassi, who was actually an undercover FBI agent, showed interest in the Rincon casino deal. In several tape recorded and filmed meetings with undercover agent Carmassi, Petti laid out the entire scam to take over the Rincon reservation gambling concession.

On January 9, 1992, the government indicted Petti, DiFronzo, Carlisi and the reservation's lawyer, on 15 counts of criminal conspiracy. DiFronzo and Angelini were convicted and got a 37-month sentence, with fines approaching one million dollars.

- Corbitt joined the Cook County Sheriff's Department, and was assigned to the Clerk of the Circuit Court. However, he was indicted and convicted for racketeering and obstructing justice in 1988.

- Jackie Cerone got nailed on federal charges for skimming $2,000,000 from the Stardust Casino in Vegas and was sent to prison in Texas.

Thanks to Mob Magazine

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Mafia Influence on the Oscars

In a departure from past Oscar shows featuring syrupy Disney tunes and soundtrack ballads, this year's telecast will give audiences country music, alternative rock and a super-sanitized version of a racy rap song.

The song, called "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," is from the movie "Hustle & Flow," the story of a pimp who aspires to a singing career. In the Oscars' first performance by a rap group, the group Three 6 Mafia will perform the song, one of three nominated in the best original song category, at the March 5 Academy Awards ceremony.

The pimp movie won't be the only aspect of the Oscars show that could make social conservatives cringe. The gay-themed cowboy movie "Brokeback Mountain" leads the nominee pack and the show is being hosted by Jon Stewart, who fills his news satire "Daily Show" on the Comedy Central cable channel with George W. Bush jokes.

"The Academy (of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences) is really to be commended," said Aaron Rosenberg, lawyer for Three 6 Mafia. "It's admirable that voters are recognizing the hip-hop generation and its influence on American culture."

While rapper Eminem won the best song Oscar in 2003 for "Lose Yourself" from the film "8 Mile," he skipped the ceremony and the song was not performed.

With decency concerns in high gear in the aftermath of the notorious baring of Janet Jackson's breast during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, Three 6 Mafia worked to make their lyrics meet ABC's broadcast standards.

"We took out all the cuss words and made it squeaky clean," rapper Paul "DJ Paul" Beauregard, who co-wrote the song with Jordan "Juicy J" Houston and Cedric "Frayser Boy" Coleman, said in a telephone interview.

The writers substituted new lyrics where necessary in the song, which portrays the life of a hustler in the inner city of their hometown, Memphis, Tennessee.

For instance, Beauregard said they substituted "It's messed up where I live but that's just how it is," for the lyrics: "It's f---ed up where I live but that's just how it is."

"The song will be FCC friendly," Rosenberg said.

Just in case, ABC is also expected to use a five-second delay to aid network censors.

While Beauregard is thrilled with the chance to perform during the Oscars, he sees a double standard in the media.

"Some stuff should definitely not be heard by younger kids but what they're able to watch on television, like people stealing cars, is sometimes a lot worse than what we're singing about," he said.

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Dapper Don Juan's Double Life Exposed

Friends of ours: John "Dapper Don" Gotti, Gambino Crime Family, Junior Gotti, Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo

The tale of John Gotti's two other "families" infuriated widow Victoria. The late Gambino boss John "Dapper Don" Gotti led a stunning secret life - fathering a pair of illegitimate daughters with two different girlfriends, according to sources and bombshell testimony from a mob turncoat.

Few knew of Gotti's double life, but the infamous Mafia don confided in his son John "Junior" Gotti about the existence of one of his illegitimate daughters, according to star witness Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo. Recounting a conversation with his ex-pal, DiLeonardo said the younger Gotti told him "his father had a secret second family and a daughter he had fathered out of wedlock."

A source close to the case said the elder Gotti had more than one skeleton in his closet - he had a second illegitimate daughter with yet another girlfriend. Two sources said at least one of Gotti's extramarital families still lives on Staten Island.

DiLeonardo testified that the younger Gotti, a father of five with a sixth child on the way, admired and emulated his infamous father, and followed in his footsteps as both a mob leader - and a philanderer.

The stunning revelations emerged on the third day of DiLeonardo's testimony against the younger Gotti - the witness' former best friend - who is on trial for racketeering crimes he allegedly committed while his infamous father was behind bars. Although this is a retrial, none of the reported dalliances surfaced in previous testimony.

The late Mafia don's widow, Victoria Gotti, and daughter Angel reacted audibly in their seats in Manhattan federal court yesterday as the mob turncoat made his stunning revelation. "Oh boy, oh boy," exclaimed Angel, who is one of four surviving children that John and Victoria Gotti raised in Howard Beach, Queens.

The younger Gotti also gasped at the defense table yesterday as DiLeonardo described how both he and Junior both brought girlfriends to the witness' 40th-birthday celebration 10 years ago. "John, for a surprise, he got a yacht in Battery Park City," DiLeonardo testified. DiLeonardo, who was also married at the time, said a woman named Carla came as his date. "John had been going with this girlfriend named Mindy ... he knew from Howard Beach," DiLeonardo said. Gotti, 42, would have been married for between five and six years at the time.

Asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael McGovern whether Gotti's wife, Kim, knew the woman, DiLeonardo said: "Kim knew Mindy. John had told me they grew up together." But DiLeonardo said Kim - who currently lives in an Oyster Bay, L.I., mansion with her husband and kids - did not know her husband was having an affair with her friend.

Outside of court, Victoria Gotti blasted the feds for hitting below the belt. "It's dirty politics as usual. It's nothing that we wouldn't expect," she said. Reacting to allegations about her late husband's secret life, Victoria said, "John Gotti was the most highly surveilled man in the country. "Does anyone think he could pull that off?"

The widow then sarcastically suggested a reunion between the legitimate and illegitimate kids. "Maybe the siblings have all the cash the government's talking about. I'd like my kids to meet them," Victoria said.

Gotti told reporters outside the courtroom he hasn't dated Mindy since about 20 years ago, when he was dating his wife but not yet married. "He's pulling names from the '80s," Gotti said.

McGovern was permitted to question the witness about Gotti's alleged transgressions after defense lawyer Charles Carnesi opened the door during cross-examination on Thursday. Carnesi had asked the witness if he and Gotti had a falling out in 1997 because Gotti disapproved of DiLeonardo's womanizing - an allegation the turncoat denied.

Gotti's defense hinges on the claim that he left the mob as early as 1998 to become a devoted husband and father - and wants nothing more than a fresh start with his wife and kids.

In cross-examination Thursday, Carnesi asked DiLeonardo, "You never had any conversations with [Gotti] prior to 1997 about the way you were acting out in the street - with regard to your relationships with other women?" "Never. He was with me all the time," said DiLeonardo, who claims his falling out with Gotti was over business. In earlier testimony, DiLeonardo admitted that he had secretly started a second family in 2000 after years of cheating on his first wife, Toni Marie, with whom he had a son, Michael. The witness said he made a conscious decision to get his girlfriend, Madeline, pregnant and bought her and her mother attached houses eight miles from his wife's Staten Island home. The double life was exposed in 2000, when DiLeonardo's wife received an anonymous card announcing the birth of DiLeonardo's son with his girlfriend. DiLeonardo subsequently divorced his wife and married Madeline. The two are now living together in the witness-protection program with their son, Anthony.

Under cross-examination, DiLeonardo described his bitterness when he went to prison and learned he had been "put on the shelf" by the mob. This meant he no longer was included in decision-making, was no longer getting money from his crew and wasn't given the respect in jail that is normally due a "wiseguy." "I felt no good deed goes unpunished," he said. "I was befuddled that I was stripped. I was upset about it."

Meanwhile, Victoria also threatened to sue anyone who claims that the Gotti family is attempting to tamper with the jury. On Monday, a woman was asked by a court officer to leave the courtroom after he noticed her writing notes that described one of the jurors as balding and in his 50s. The U.S. Marshals Service said it was looking into the matter. But the Gotti family identified the woman as Raquel, the best friend of Angel Gotti, Junior's sister - and said she was taking notes because she's a psychic. They said the woman correctly predicted the outcome of the previous trial. Victoria Gotti was outraged at the suggestion of jury tampering. "I will sue anyone who says those things about my family," she said.

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