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John Alite, now star witness for the government in its case against alleged mobster Charles Carneglia, in a jail in Rio de Janeiro in 2004

NEW YORK – The murder trial of a reputed Mafia assassin has become an embarrassment for both the family of late mob boss John Gotti and police, thanks to sensational testimony by the government’s star witness.

John Alite has linked his former best friend John “Junior” Gotti to a series of gangland slayings, boasted that he slept with reality television graduate Victoria Gotti and claimed two police officers were in on another hit. The defendant, Charles Carneglia, has dismissed the testimony against him as a betrayal by “rats” and “canaries.”

Most of the singing at Carneglia’s ongoing trial in Brooklyn has been done by Alite, a Gambino organized crime family associate who grew up wanting to be a made member but wasn’t allowed to because he’s Albanian, not Italian.

New York’s Gambino family has been the subject of a steady stream of government indictments and prosecutions since John Gotti, the so-called “Dapper Don,” was sentenced to life in prison in 1992. He died behind bars in 2002.

In several hours on the witness stand, Alite, 46, explained he was breaking a sacred rule by testifying: “Don’t do what I’m doing — ratting.”

He told jurors that he grew up in the Queens borough wanting to be a mobster, and won the younger Gotti’s admiration in the 1980s — Gotti was best man at his wedding — by dealing cocaine and kicking up a cut of the profits to Gotti, even though drugs were considered taboo in the family. He also described how he and Gotti’s married sister were “seeing each other on the sneak” — an allegation that prompted an angry denial by Victoria Gotti.

“He’s an insect,” the one-time star of “Growing up Gotti” told the Daily News. “He would hump a cockroach.”

Claims two cops involved in hits
Alite also claimed that two lawmen — a current Suffolk County officer and a retired New York Police Department detective — gave him backup in the drive-by shooting of a rival drug dealer in 1988. He testified the former NYPD officer was “involved in crimes for 20 years” and made millions of dollars.

Suffolk County officials declined comment on Monday. The NYPD said it had no record of the officer named by Alite.

Alite’s testimony at the Carneglia trial also offered a preview of the murder case against Gotti, who has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he was involved in three slayings in the late 1980s and early 1990s and charges of possessing and trafficking more than 5 kilograms of cocaine.

Three previous trials in 2005 and 2006 ended in hung juries and mistrials after Gotti used the defense that he had quit the mob for good in the 1990s. His lawyers say the new allegations are based on cooperators who are lying to protect themselves.

Alite testified that a newly promoted Gotti drafted him for a hit on an associate who had dared to ignore one of his father’s orders. The younger Gotti rose through the ranks while his famous father ruled the New York mob in the 1980s and ’90s.

“It was his first job as a captain, and he wanted to get it right,” the witness said.

Alite said he tried to track the target down in Atlantic City, N.J., but was pulled off the job when Gotti changed plans. Prosecutors say Carneglia gunned down the victim in the World Trade Center Parking lot in 1990.

The result left Gotti “elated,” Alite said.

Alite also implicated Gotti in the other two killings prosecutors have charged he was involved in — the slayings of two men in Queens amid drug turf disputes in 1988 and 1991. Alite said they were carried out on Gotti’s say-so.

Carneglia was one of 62 people arrested last year in what authorities described as one of the largest roundups ever of suspected members and associates of a New York crime family. Since then, 60 have pleaded guilty to lesser charges, and one case was dropped.

Prosecutors allege Carneglia gunned down a court officer to prevent the officer’s testimony against him in a 1976 weapon possession case. They say the trail of bodies also included that of a rival mobster stabbed to death in 1977 during a fight outside a diner, a Gambino associate killed in 1983 during an argument over money and an armored car security guard shot in the back during a heist in 1990.

Gory details
The case has produced one of the gorier allegations to emerge recently in mob lore: that the body of John Favara — a neighbor killed for accidentally running over the elder Gotti’s 12-year-old son — was dissolved in a vat of acid. Jurors have been allowed to hear testimony that Carneglia was involved in disposing of bodies, but not about the acid.

On Monday, a former NYPD detective who helped arrest Carneglia testified that the suspect ranted against cooperators saying, “I can’t believe these rats and canaries,” and fretted over possibly being put behind bars for life.

“I don’t want to spend the next 30 years in jail,” the witness quoted Carneglia as saying. “I’d rather get the needle.”

Attorneys for Carneglia, 62, say the case against him hinges on flimsy, outdated evidence. They labeled cooperating gangsters such as Alite a collection of “thieves, murderers and liars.”

Amid mounting environmental concerns, TV manufacturers are racing to make energy-efficient sets, with some now launching “eco” branded TVs.

Vizio Inc., Funai Electric Co. and Sharp Corp., for instance, recently unveiled TVs that claim power savings that exceed the U.S. government’s latest “Energy Star” standards for TVs by as much as 29%. Samsung Electronics Co., Sony Corp. and Panasonic  Corp., are also launching energy-efficient TVs.

Some of the TVs, such as one model from Vizio’s “EcoHD” models, use fewer or different lamps to illuminate the screen, thereby reducing power use. Funai Electric, which manufactures and distributes Philips-branded flat-panel TVs in the U.S., has two series of eco TVs that save power through a dimming technology that adjusts the brightness of the backlight on the LCD panel based on the ambient light in the room.

Most TVs still consume a small amount of power when they are turned off — something Sony targeted when it came up with an energy-savings switch on some models that cuts off the TV’s power consumption when the set is off without interfering with other devices, such as a DVR. The TV also comes with a motion sensor that turns off the device’s backlight if no motion is detected in the room after a certain period of time.

Some Philips TVs save energy with dimming technology.

The rush for eco-friendly TVs comes as many consumers are looking for ways to save money on their utility bills. According to the California Energy Commission, TVs rank third in the amount of power used in a home, behind heating-and-cooling systems and refrigerators. When associated devices — cable boxes or game consoles — are included, TV set-ups consume [an average] 10% of the electricity in a home, the commission says.

TV makers may also be working to pre-empt new energy regulations. While the Energy Star standard is voluntary, the California Energy Commission is considering mandating specific energy standards for TVs sold in California by 2011. Under the proposed rules, a 42-inch TV sold in California must consume 183 watts or less, which translates to 183 watt-hours when it’s on for an hour, dropping to 115.5 watts by 2013. Currently, a 40- to 42-inch LCD TV consumes 200 to 250 watts of electricity, according to the LCD TV Association.

Many TV makers aren’t waiting for regulations to go into effect. Some 70% of world-wide flat-panel display shipments will have green features by 2012, up from 20% in 2008, predicts research firm DisplaySearch.

The new TVs are finding favor with some consumers. After getting a $186 electric bill in early December, Matt Walters, a Web developer in Richmond, Va., decided to look for ways to reduce his electricity use. He quickly targeted his 50-inch plasma TV, which has a digital video recorder, Blu-ray player and other devices connected to it.

“I started looking for devices that were more guilty than others,” says Mr. Walters, 29. “The plasma TV was one of the first things” he identified.

Mr. Walters bought a few power strips to connect the TV and other devices together and got in the habit of turning it off when he wasn’t using it. When his electric bill arrived the next month, he says to his surprise he saved $27. He plans to pay more attention to the power use of the electronics he buys, and adds that he would consider an energy-efficient TV for his next purchase.

Some Sony LCD TVs come with an energy-savings switch.

But consumers interested in buying the new low-power TVs may be trading power for performance. In particular, the green TVs often sacrifice screen brightness, some analysts say. TV makers counter that consumers won’t be able to tell the difference between the image quality of eco-friendly TVs and standard models if the devices sit side by side.

Many of the green TVs are also more expensive than standard machines. Vizio’s 32-inch Eco HDTV is priced at roughly $500, while a standard Vizio 32-inch TV can cost between $400 and $450. Sony hasn’t released the pricing for its eco TVs, which are scheduled to hit the market in June, but the company says it will charge a premium for the products over its standard line of TVs.

TV manufacturers say the new sets are pricier because they have added technology to lower power use. Randy Waynick, senior vice president for home products with Sony, says the company spent money in research and development to make sure the picture was as good as standard sets.

The new energy-efficient TVs may also confuse some consumers, as companies try to convince them which products save the most energy. Last month, Panasonic announced a 37-inch LCD TV panel, which it says uses the lowest power of any LCD HDTV its size. At the same time, Samsung announced new light-emitting diode TVs, which use a different technology than most standard backlit LCD TVs today, and said the machines consume 40% less power than standard backlit LCD TVs. Meanwhile, Vizio says its “EcoHD” models exceed the Energy Star standard by between 15% and 25%, while Sony cites a 40% saving over its previous models.

Paul Gagnon, a research director at DisplaySearch, says some the TV-makers’ claims, especially those that compare power usage to previous models or standard sets, can be difficult to verify. “Without knowing what they are comparing it against, then, yes, it’s difficult to substantiate,” he says. By contrast, Mr. Gagnon adds that claims made against the Energy Star guidelines are easier to verify.