Gotti family spokesman Lewis Kasman looks for big advance on tell-all book on 'Teflon Don'
Lewis Kasman, spokesman for the Gotti family, is itching to release his tell-all book.
Lewis Kasman, the "adopted son" of the late mob boss John Gotti, is creeping closer to selling a memoir that one knowledgeable source says will offer an unprecedented inside look at the workings of the Gambino crime family.
"There's a lot of stuff that is going to make news when the book is published," says the source, who adds that several major publishing houses have expressed interest.
Kasman, who just went through a messy divorce, is looking for a big advance.
The source says the mob turncoat is promising to give "real insight" into Gotti, "as opposed to what's been perpetuated by people that weren't really close to him or people who had a vested interest in painting him a certain way."
As Gotti's money man, Kasman was originally an outsider who earned the respect of the "Teflon Don" by keeping the crime family's books.
He served as a family spokesman during Gotti's incarceration and eulogized him at his funeral. But beginning in 1996, Kasman had started singing to the feds and secretly recorded conversations that helped him avoid an 11-year jail sentence last fall.
Kasman has also been accused of hiding Gotti's fortune, and the source adds that his book will also deal with "how everybody was looking for the money when [Gotti] died."
Because of his betrayal, Kasman is persona non grata with the Gottis and those still loyal to the family.
In 2010, Gotti's daughter, Victoria Gotti, who penned a tell-all about her family in 2009, told The News that if her father had lived long enough to discover that Kasman had betrayed him, "it would have killed him immediately." (She did not respond to an attempt to reach her for comment by deadline.)
While Kasman's credibility has been questioned by the Gottis and mob aficionados alike, it's not expected to be a roadblock toward finalizing a book deal.
"He's definitely not your most trustworthy person, but most people that are affiliated with that life are kind of ethically challenged," says the source.
Kasman entered the witness protection program, and his current whereabouts are unknown. The source described the aspiring author as "nervous" and "frightened."
"I don't think the people he's made unhappy are good people to make unhappy," added the source.
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