Mafia chief sends out his calling card

Mafia godfather John Gotti may be banged up for about 55,000 years in a top security US jail, but he’s a lot closer to you than you think. Almost touching distance, in fact.

The head of the New York mafia family has set up about 24 Websites in his name, so he can chatter online with well-wishers around the globe.

A friend of the Diary logged on to one particular Internet site, and asked Gotti to send a birthday card to his sister, Jilly.

The card, bearing an attractive flower motif, dutifully arrived this week on his sister’s doormat in Forest Hill, south London.

Gotti had written inside: “Just a card to wish you a very happy birthday. Hopefully this will help to make it special.”

The Diary, who has never met Mr Gotti, would just like to make it clear, in case he is reading this on Marketing Week’s Website, that he is a very nice man with nothing whatsoever to do with organised crime.