Closing Argument
By: Bruce Cutler
Published:2003
Publisher:  Crown Publisher

Book mostly about John Gotti and the his defense attorney Bruce Cutler.  It is a deep and emotional factual based story as told mostly by Bruce Cutler. 

Lots of history here and lots of open ended innuendos.  If you are familiar with John Gotti and the Mafia, you should read this book.  It is an easy read, not complicated and not a book you need to research things to figure out, etc. 

If you did not know, Bruce Cutler was partners with Barry Slotnick a very famous criminal attorney in NYC.  Slotnick's clients were, Joseph Colombo, Carmine Persico and Bernard Goetz, among hundreds of other headline defendants charged with crimes.

Bruce Cutler won several acquittals for John Gotti, earning Gotti the nickname, The Teflon Don".  Bruce Cutler was not allowed to defend John Gotti in his last trail, the one that sent Gotti to prison where he past away. 

Here is what Wiki wrote about Cutler:

"His father, Murray Cutler, was a New York City detective who later became a criminal defense attorney. While being interviewed on the radio program Conversations With Allan Wolper on WBGO 88.3 FM, Cutler said that he was inspired by his father's pro-labor, pro-union loyalties to a FDR-style Social Democratic position.

Cutler gained notoriety in the 1980s when he won three acquittals for Gambino Crime Family boss John Gotti (including one where at least one juror accepted a bribe in return for voting to find Gotti not guilty).

When Gotti was indicted in 1990 for the 1985 murder of Paul Castellano and several other crimes, presiding judge I. Leo Glasser disqualified Cutler and two associates from representing Gotti. Citing evidence from wiretaps at Gotti's Ravenite club, prosecutors contended that Cutler and his colleagues may have known about criminal activity. Since the attorney-client privilege doesn't apply in these circumstances, prosecutors argued that Cutler was "part of the evidence" and thus liable to be called as a witness. They also argued that Cutler had represented other potential witnesses and thus had a conflict of interest. Glasser sided with the prosecutors, contending that Cutler was the "in-house counsel" for the Gambino family.

Cutler appeared in the Robert De Niro and Ed Burns film, 15 Minutes, playing himself. He also appeared on Court TV, with attorney Ed Hayes, discussing criminal cases and current events on Cutler and Hayes, and on the CW network has his own TV show, Jury Duty. He also made two guest star appearances in the episodes "Drawing Dead" and "Open Secrets" of the 4th season of the CBS show Blue Bloods. He is godfather to Hayes' daughter, Avery.

Cutler had served as the lead defense attorney for Phil Spector until August 27, 2007, when he announced that he was leaving Spector's defense due to "a difference of opinion between Mr. Spector and me on strategy."

Between October 2014 and February 2017, the law office of Bruce Cutler maintained an Of Counsel relationship with The Law Firm of Dmitriy Shakhnevich."

I highly recommend this book if you are interested in the subject or the people. 

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