ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 21, 1997 TAG: 9704210151
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: LARRY McSHANE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Gravano is one of the biggest mass murderers in U.S. history, says a lawyer representing his victims' families.
Salvatore ``Sammy The Bull'' Gravano wanted to set things straight when he told his life story to author Peter Maas. But is the gospel according to Sammy true, or just the self-serving story of a Mafia spin doctor?
Gravano's biography, ``Underboss,'' presents the killer of 19 people as a man of honor, a loyal mobster driven to the government by John Gotti's treachery - a romanticized image contradicted by government tapes, his own actions and the families of his victims.
``Sammy Gravano is one of the largest mass murderers in U.S. history,'' said Ron Kuby, the lawyer representing the families who want to deny Gravano any profits from his misdeeds. ``He killed for greed. He killed out of hatred. And now he wraps himself in the American flag.''
That's not how Sammy sees it. His book asserts it was Gotti who betrayed Gravano; it was Gravano who twice tried to save a friend and business partner from a mob hit, then helped the dead man's family once it was done.
The veteran hit man - his face tanned by the sun and tightened by plastic surgery - reiterated his story to Diane Sawyer on national television.
``I was a hero,'' bragged Gravano, the highest-ranking Mafioso ever to turn government witness.
The other version of Gravano's well-chronicled crime career is culled from surveillance tapes that indicate ``The Bull'' could be more than Gravano's nickname.
You could ask Louie Milito - if he were alive.
Gravano and Milito were friends, business partners, kindred spirits. Gravano helped Milito become a made man. When he visited the Milito home, Gravano was welcomed by the children as Uncle Sammy.
Gravano, now 52, claims he was twice able to deflect contracts on Milito's life. When Gotti ordered a third hit, ``I was sick, but I had to agree with John,'' Gravano says in Maas' book.
Gotti's version, recorded by a government bug Dec. 12, 1989, contradicts that. Gotti - unaware he was being taped - says Milito was killed on Gravano's say-so.
Gravano watched as Milito was shot point-blank in the back of the head.
There's a similar discrepancy in the slaying of family pornographer Robert ``DiB'' DiBernardo.
Gravano's version of the hit: ``John sent out an order to kill DiB. ... He said DiB was talking behind his back, and there were other reasons. ... What was I going to do? What can I do? It's an order from the boss.''
Gotti's taped version: ``I took Sammy's word that he talked about me behind my back.'' DiBernardo was murdered in Gravano's Brooklyn office.
Gravano's book never mentions the slaying of 16-year-old Alan Kaiser, an innocent bystander killed in a botched 1977 drive-by shooting. But it does blame Gotti for driving Gravano out of the mob and into the arms of the government, where his testimony helped jail 36 ex-associates - including Gotti, the no-longer Teflon Don, who is serving life in prison.
Gravano says the Dec. 12 tape first changed his opinion of Gotti. On the recording, the Gambino family boss complains that Gravano was expanding his construction empire too quickly - and without the boss's approval.
Gotti's message, delivered to consigliere Frank Locascio: ``Sammy, slow it down. Pull it in a [expletive] notch. ... You're creating an army within an army.''
But other parts of the tape show Gotti's admiration for Gravano; the mobster speaks of his underboss as he would of an incorrigible kid brother.
``I don't like Sammy - I love him,'' Gotti says. At another point, the brutal mob boss announces: ``I'm proud for the guy. I don't wish the guy no bad.''
One last contradiction: While Gravano presents himself as loyal to both his family and The Family, he turned his back on both to join the witness protection program. Gravano left a wife, a son and a daughter behind. He is now divorced.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. ``Sammy the Bull'' Gravano during anby CNBinterview by ABC News Wednesday.