- An ex-mobster called it "disgusting" that Donald Trump is facing a RICO charge like the one he pleaded guilty to.
- "I was a menace to this country. I was a criminal," former Gambino associate John Alite told Insider.
An ex-mobster defended Donald Trump and allies of the former president like Rudy Giuliani after they were indicted in Georgia on RICO charges famously used against the mafia — and even himself.
"They're being treated no different than I was," mafia turncoat and former hitman for the notorious Gambino crime family John Alite told Insider in an interview on Tuesday.
Alite — who pleaded guilty in a Florida federal court in 2008 to RICO conspiracy charges, including two murders and a slew of other crimes — called the latest indictment against Trump "disgusting."
"How can you charge these guys like you charged somebody like myself when I was a criminal?" questioned Alite. "I was a menace to this country. I was a criminal. There is no excuses for the way I lived. I made bad choices."
The 60-year-old ex-mobster enforcer says he has been involved in more than 40 shootings and has since turned his life around, becoming an author, podcast host, and youth motivational speaker to denounce crime.
Alite, a Queens, New York, native who supports Trump, told Insider, "These guys didn't make bad choices. These guys made pro-America choices."
A Georgia grand jury late Monday indicted Trump and 18 co-defendants, including ex-New York City mayor Giuliani, over their efforts to overturn Trump's Georgia loss during the 2020 presidential election.
Prosecutors using the state's version of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (known as RICO) alleged that Trump and his co-defendants operated a "criminal organization" to conspire to overturn the 2020 election results.
The 41-count indictment marks the fourth criminal case against Trump. If the former president or his co-defendants are convicted of the RICO charges in Georgia, they could face between five and 20 years behind bars.
"This is insanity," said Alite, who served three years behind bars in Brazil and 10 years in prison in the US before he was released in 2013.
"The reason why I am speaking up for Giuliani and Trump is because they're not me. They're not guys that did the wrong thing. They have no business being treated like this," Alite said.
Ironically, Giuliani pioneered the use of RICO laws to go after the mafia and mob bosses in New York while he was working as a federal prosecutor in the 1980s.
"The guy saved so many lives as a prosecutor, as a mayor," Alite said of Giuliani.
When asked whether he had any advice to offer Giuliani or Trump since he's been hit with RICO charges himself, Alite said: "What good advice can you give guys like Rudy Giuliani whose been a crime-fighter his whole life, who cleaned up our whole city."