GRAVANO, SON ADMIT DRUGS GUILT

NEW YORK -- Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, the mob turncoat who
put John Gotti away, admitted Friday that he had returned to a life of
crime by running a multimillion-dollar Ecstasy ring in Arizona with
his son.

Gravano, 55, and his son, Gerard, 24, both pleaded guilty to federal
drug charges and face up to 15 1/2 years in prison at sentencing Sept.
11.

In the courthouse where he once testified against the likes of "Dapper
Don" Gotti, the elder Gravano admitted he "lent money to people" who
dealt Ecstasy.

Prosecutors said Gravano took over his son's failing drug-dealing
operation in 1998 to teach him how to turn a profit. The case was
prosecuted in New York because Gravano was accused of buying thousands
of Ecstasy pills in Brooklyn and selling them in Arizona.

Most of the evidence against him came from drug associates who
followed in Gravano's footsteps and became government witnesses.

His attorney, Lynne Stewart, branded the case a "vendetta" pursued by
prosecutors who felt betrayed by her client.

Stewart said Gravano was seeking a similar plea agreement over pending
drug charges in Arizona. But a spokeswoman for the Arizona attorney
general said the plea would not affect plans to try Gravano Sept. 17.

Gravano was the once-feared underboss of the Gambino crime family who
later was reviled in mob circles as a rat.

The former hit man admitted killing 19 people but received leniency
for his testimony against Gotti, the former Gambino boss now serving a
life sentence. Gravano also later helped prosecutors win a conviction
against Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, boss of the Genovese family.

Gravano served five years in prison before moving to Phoenix in 1995
under the witness protection program, using the name Jimmy Moran.

In court papers, prosecutors charged that after dropping out of
witness protection in 1997, Gravano went into the Ecstasy business.

Informants told investigators Gravano boasted about his credentials as
a killer to keep his underlings in line. They "obeyed Gravano without
question: They were afraid of him," according to court papers.

Prosecutors also said Gravano admitted he had stashed away millions of
dollars from his organized crime days, plotted to knock off competing
drug dealers, collected protection money and even threatened to kill
his son