New York City

Documents: Gotti tried to buy one last juror

Mob boss John Gotti, in his final criminal acts as a free man, desperately plotted to bribe jurors and intimidate witnesses at the 1992 Brooklyn trial that put him behind bars for the rest of his life, according to allegations in long-buried FBI documents.

The last-ditch efforts by the Dapper Don included the hiring of two or three private investigators “to aid in witness/juror identification” while the trial was under way, according to the documents, released to The Associated Press in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

A juror at his first federal racketeering trial in 1987 was convicted of taking $60,000 to successfully convince fellow panelists of Gotti’s innocence.

Gotti was convicted of racketeering and murder in April 1992. He died 10 years later in a federal prison.

Denver

University of Colorado to review tenure system

The University of Colorado on Thursday ordered a review of its tenure system after one of its professors created a furor by likening the World Trade Center victims to Nazi bureaucrats.

The university’s Board of Regents voted to form a panel to examine how the school awards tenure and how professors are evaluated after they get it.

University President Elizabeth Hoffman said some changes were likely at the conclusion of the review.

Tenure, which protects faculty members from being fired except for blatant misconduct, was thrust into the spotlight by the controversy surrounding an essay by professor Ward Churchill in which he called the Sept. 11, 2001, victims “little Eichmanns” — a reference to Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi bureaucrat who helped carry out the Holocaust.

Atlanta

Shooter’s hostage receives rewards

The woman who led authorities to suspected courthouse gunman Brian Nichols was presented with $70,000 in reward money Thursday.

Ashley Smith, a 26-year-old widowed mother of one, was held hostage for seven hours March 12 by Nichols at her suburban Atlanta home before he let her go. She then made the 911 call that led to his arrest.

Nichols is accused of overpowering a courthouse deputy March 11, taking her gun from a lockbox and fatally shooting Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes and his court reporter, Julie Brandau, on the day Barnes was to resume Nichols’ rape trial.

Washington, D.C.

Reservists may get extended health care

The more than 400,000 National Guard and Reserve members mobilized since September 2001 for the fight against terrorism will be offered the choice of military health care coverage for as long as eight years after they return to civilian life, officials said Thursday.

Only those who remain in the Reserves after they are demobilized will be eligible, said Thomas Hall, the assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs.

Until now, Guard and Reserve members could retain health care coverage under the Defense Department’s Tricare system for no more than six months after they left active duty. Under the new arrangement they could retain coverage for at least one year and as long as eight years, depending on the length of their mobilization.

Washington, D.C.

Tax shelter crackdown nets IRS $3.2 billion

The IRS has collected more than $3.2 billion, mainly from wealthy people, in its most ambitious effort ever to crack down on improper tax shelters, the agency said Thursday.

There’s been “some real pain” among the 1,165 taxpayers who are participating in the “Son of Boss” tax shelter settlement, IRS Commissioner Mark Everson said. “Some people have had to sell their villas and yachts” to come up with the money.

Everson said there were still some 400 people who had chosen not to participate and another 200 involved in the tax shelter who didn’t qualify for the settlement plan. The agency should garner some $3.5 billion before the project concludes in the coming months, he said.

A spin-off of an older shelter called “Boss,” the scheme known as “Son of Boss” was a complex, no-risk strategy where promoters such as accounting firms and investment banks sold financial products that generated losses to offset large gains, often from selling a business or exercising stock options.