The reputed boss of the Gambino crime family stood behind the defense table, his arms folded across his chest.

Fourteen suspected gang members were indicted on racketeering charges last week, including their reputed boss, 31-year-old Robin Scott Tellier.

And a reputed boss, Victor Orena of the Colombo family, is scheduled for trial in the courthouse in September.

John Gotti, the reputed boss of the family, was not named in the indictment.

Law-enforcement officials have three times tried and failed to convict Mr. Gotti, who they say is the reputed boss of the Gambino family.

Geneva prosecutors tried Sergei Mikhailov, reputed boss of a major Moscow mafia family, on charges that he belonged to a criminal organization.

John Gotti, the reputed boss of the nation's largest organized-crime group, was charged in January with ordering the shooting of a union official.

Joseph Ferriola, the reputed boss of organized crime in Chicago, died Saturday after his second heart transplant in recent weeks.

With six other mobsters "ratting out," in tabloidese, the reputed boss, the trial is firm evidence that betrayal has overtaken the storied vow of silence.

Mr. Gotti, whose brother John is the reputed boss of the Gambino organized-crime family, is now free on $200,000 bail.