January 22 – Gambino crime family acting boss John Gotti, Jr., and 22 other associates were indicted on federal racketeering charges. Gotti later pleaded guilty to racketeering and extortion, and was sentenced to six year and five months in prison.[1]
April 28 – Lucchese crime family acting boss Joseph "Little Joe" DeFede and 11 others were indicted on federal extortion and racketeering charges involving the family’s joint control of the Garment District in Manhattan with the Gambino and Genovese families.[2] Defede would plead guilty to the extortion charges in 1998.[3]
May 24 – Sicilian drug kingpin Pasquale Cuntrera is arrested on Spain’s Costa del Sol, just five days after officials in Rome admitted that he had been released from prison on a technicality. Cuntrera would be brought back to Italy to serve a 21-year prison sentence.[4]