John Jr.'s sister, Victoria Jr., a petite woman with bleached blond tresses that fell below her waist, leaned against the wall. She wore a short plaid skirt and black leather boots, much as she looks in her own A&E reality show "Growing Up Gotti."

The back row was filled out by three large men in Hawaiian shirts, with jet-black hair combed straight back. They cracked knuckles, told jokes during court breaks and were not overly responsive to queries from a reporter...

In the end, Gotti took the news that he was remaining in prison until his trial in phlegmatic stride. As marshals came to take him away, he clapped his attorneys on the back and reassured them that he was fine. And in the back, two women with deep tans and diamonds encrusted on their high heels blew kisses and whispered, "Goodbye, Johnny."