FILES-US-CRIME-JOHN GOTTI

TO GO WITH AFP STORY US-MAFIA-CRIME-SOCIETY-JUSTICE By Sebastian Smith (FILE PHOTO) This picture taken 24 January 1990 in New York shows Gambino crime family boss John Gotti during a break in his trial. As an alleged mafia hitman, Charles Carneglia excelled at making people vanish. Now he and the rest of New York's once mighty Cosa Nostra could be the ones disappearing. Carneglia, 62, is on trial for five murders and other crimes, including kidnapping, allegedly committed as a soldier for the Gambinos -- one of the five historic mafia families based in the New York area. Forget the glamour of "The Godfather" movies. Today's wiseguys are scrambling to survive a wave of arrests, the death or imprisonment of experienced hands, and, most crippling, the shattering of the "omerta," their code of silence. AFP PHOTO/Mark CARDWELL