Gotti held without bail

Gotti held without bail

NEW YORK — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered John A. “Junior” Gotti held without bail after the man who insisted he had retired from a life of crime was arrested on charges linking him to three killings and large-scale cocaine trafficking.

Earlier Tuesday, federal prosecutor Robert O’Neill announced the indictment in Tampa, Fla., of the 44-year-old Gotti and five other men, saying they were “trying to gain a foothold” in the area.

Gotti — son of the late Gambino family crime boss John Gotti — was arrested at his home on Long Island. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

The conspiracy indictment against Gotti accuses him of being involved in the slayings of George Grosso in Queens, N.Y., in 1988; Louis DiBono, who was killed in the parking garage of the World Trade Center in Manhattan in 1990; and Bruce John Gotterup, killed in 1991 at the boardwalk at the Rockaways in Queens.

2 window washers killed

NEW YORK — A cherry picker holding two window washers at a downtown Manhattan building tipped over early Tuesday, killing both men.

Police spokesman Detective John Sweeney said the accident happened at the World Financial Center, just across the street from ground zero.

Police said the men were about 40 feet in the air when the cherry picker crashed to the ground. They were pronounced dead at a hospital.

The victims were identified as cousins Robert Fabrizio, 35, of Las Vegas, and Garin Fabrizio, 37, of Milford, Pa.

A spokesman for the Buildings Department said the agency was investigating what caused the machine to fall.

Freebie for car drivers

HARRISBURG — Planners say they have developed a plan to dramatically reduce the percentage of passenger cars that will have to pay tolls on Interstate 80.

Under the plan, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, which would oversee the new tolls, wants to let passenger cars that have E-ZPass transponders pass through the first toll plaza for free.

Not charging until a car passes through a second tollbooth would reduce the number of local drivers who have to pay tolls from about two-thirds to less than a third, and divert less traffic onto other roads.

The commission plans to announce today 20 possible locations along the northern Pennsylvania interstate where it could locate nine cashless tolling gantries.

Guantanamo jury still out

BASE, Cuba — Jurors in the first Guantanamo war crimes trial are ending another day of deliberations without a verdict.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. military tribunals said Tuesday that the jury of six American military officers will return again Wednesday.

Salim Hamdan is charged with conspiracy and aiding terrorism. He is a former driver for Osama bin and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

K2 survivor back in camp

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The last survivor of the deadliest mountaineering disaster to hit K2 limped into base camp with frostbitten feet Tuesday, but thick clouds threatened to keep him on the mountain for at least another night.

“Now I really realize that everyone here has died,” said Italian climber Marco Confortola, 37, who was stranded on the world’s second highest peak after an avalanche of falling ice blocked climbers descending from the summit nearly four days ago.

As many as 30 mountaineers began their ascent of K2 on Friday. Eleven died in the avalanche that swept some climbers away and left others stranded in frigid conditions just below the 28,250-foot summit: three South Koreans, two Nepalis, two Pakistanis and mountaineers from France, Ireland, Serbia and Norway.

Iraq to have $79B surplus

WASHINGTON — The Iraqi government could end this year with as much as a $79 billion cumulative budget surplus, based largely on ever-increasing oil revenues, congressional auditors say.

A report by the Government Accountability Office made public Tuesday prompted renewed calls from senators that Baghdad pay more of the bill for its own reconstruction, which has been heavily supported with U.S. funds.

The projected Iraq surplus, including unspent money from 2005 through 2008, has been building because of rising world oil prices, increasing Iraqi oil production, the government’s inability to execute budgets for spending its money and persistent violence in the country, the GAO said.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said. “It is inexcusable for U.S. taxpayers to continue to foot the bill for projects the Iraqis are fully capable of funding themselves.”

Associated Press