Yet again!

Another hung jury for John Gotti Jr. If you're keeping score, it now stands at Gotti Jr --- 4 wins, the government --- 0, in the government's latest attempts to jail the younger Gotti for life. And don't kid yourself, my friends, a deadlocked jury is a victory for the defendant, especially when it has happened 3 times prior. I should know, I had 3 hangers myself when the state of New York tried me in the early 70's. Unlike Judge Castel, however, the judge in my case disposed of the charges against me rather than having to preside over yet another courtroom debacle. I have to believe Judge Castel will do the same at this point. The thought of having to sit through another round of testimony from the less than desirable (and obviously not credible) parade of informants who testified against Gotti has got to be too much to take, even for his honor. Sure hope so, I believe the feds in Manhattan have a lot more to be concerned about with the upcoming terrorist trial, than wasting more resources on a former mobster. Even if his last name is Gotti.

For those of you who might be thinking Junior got away with murder because he was charged with it, let me impart some of my hard learned wisdom on you. In order to protect the citizens of our great country against government oppression and tyranny, the prosecution in a criminal proceeding MUST prove it's case beyond a reasonable doubt. That is their burden. If the prosecution does not meet that burden, than a defendant must be found innocent, even if he is guilty. I know, it doesn't sound right. And the system doesn't always work perfectly. But it goes both ways. I believe in excess of 70 defendants convicted in our courts of first degree murder and sentenced to die were later proven by DNA testing to be wrongly convicted. They were innocent.

And by the way, there was no real rivalry between the Colombo family and the Gotti's, as has been rumored of late. I was there throughout most of the senior Gotti's time with the Gambino's. True, John wasn't the most well liked guy around. He was a hard guy to like. But no bullets were flying between the two families. You can trust me on that one.

In recent years, the wealth of Dubai was talked about as if it rivaled that of the ancient King Solomon. However, it's recent financial woes have shown that the Sheik is no Solomon and that his Dubai World is not recession proof. His global island paradise is sinking in a sea of red ink. Another example of a government's failure to succeed in private business. Governments need to learn they are not capitalists. They just don't do business well. We Americans realize that. Our government has learned valuable lessons from the sea of red ink that is flowing from government run medicare, medicaid, social security and the US Postal Service. They plan to get it right this time with the new government run Healthcare Reform Corporation. It's going to be a well run, efficient, financially viable super company owned and operated by uncle Sam. And if you believe that, there's a bridge I'd like to sell you in Brooklyn.

I'm out!