Gotti's Rules

John Alite

Big Trial's George Anastasia was a headliner on the PhillyVoice website today with a story about his new book, Gotti's Rules, The Story of John Alite, Junior Gotti and the Demise of the American Mafia.

Anastasia will be discussing the book at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Feb. 24th at the Philadelphia Free Library.

Gotti's Rules got a favorable review in the Inquirer from veteran crime writer Paul Davis who called it a "fast-paced and compelling story that reads like a crime thriller."

Alite, a South Jersey resident who is the grandson of Albanian immigrants, said he was "more than Junior Gotti's best-friend; he was his baby-sitter," Davis writes. "The elder Gotti told Alite to look out for and work with his son," dubbed "Urkel" by wiseguys.

Here's the way Anastasia introduces his main character in the book:

"John Alite was a murder, drug dealer and thug," Anastasia writes. For 25 years he brutalized people. He stabbed them, shot them, and beat them with pipes, blackjacks and baseball bats.

"He's not proud of that, but he doesn't try to hide from it either," Anastasia writes. "It's who he was. But not who he is."

Alite wound up testifying against Junior in federal court. Anastasia's book has been big news in New York, where Alite told the New York Daily News that Junior Gotti was a "spoiled brat." It prompted Junior to write his own memoir.

Anastasia was also on Fox radio today discussing the book.