mr. maloney's chief assistant. when i was there, i was very actively involved in really supervising the gotti prosecution which ultimately led to his conviction. >> how many times was he tried? >> three times. he was acquitted twice. the third time he was convicted. >> were you in the courtroom? >> i was in the courtroom a lot of the time, but i was not part of the trial team. i was involved in a lot of the strategy calls. mr. maloney was in the trial himself along with mr. gleason. ironically when i became the u.s. attorney of the southern district a couple years later, we prosecuted john gotti's son, john a. gotti, also known as junior. >> was he convicted? >> he pled guilty, yes. >> so with the former head of the gambino family, cosa nostra, whatever label you want to put on it, did you ever fear for your own life? >> i did not fear for my own life. you have to be prudent about your security risks as a prosecutor. i think everybody realizes this. there are a lot of rules in the organized crime spaces and arenas

mrs. maloney, or 30 minutes. mrs. maloney: good evening and thank all of you for joining us this evening, i'm delighted to be here to speak about the importance of the national women's history museum. i'm so pleased to be joined by some of my colleagues who will speak about outstanding women from their state and the history of our country that deserve to be recognized in this museum. first, i'd like to thank my colleague in this effort to create a national museum for women on or near the mall, marsha blackburn from the great state of tennessee, who is passionate -- whose passionate and unyielding commitment to making the national women's museum a reality is unrivaled. she's a god send, an inspiration, and a great friend to women. i thank her so much for her extraordinary leadership and for the announcement i hope she'll make tonight about march 25, moving our legislation forward. women stand on historical quick sand. with each step we take forward, the steps behind us disappear. women have to recreate the wheel with ev

mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, i rise today to celebrate the 193rd anniversary of greece's declaration of independence from the ottoman empire. the ancient greeks forged the notion of democratcy. they believed in the right of self-governance, one of the foundations of our great nation. yet for centrist the greek people, the people whose ancestors inspired our own country's founding, the people whom thomas jefferson called, the light which led ourselves out of gothic darkness, the greek people were denied this right. today greeks celebrate march 25 as the day when the greeks began the long hard battle for independence. recently met with the ambassador, to cyprus, to discuss the latest on our cyprus negotiations. he was hopeful that real progress could be made in unifying the island and stopping the illegal turkish occupation. the u.s. must also continue to work to find a mutually agreeable name for the former yugoslav republic of macedonia. greece an important ally to the united states. i'm proud to stand w

mrs. maloney: thank you so much, congresswoman kaptur, for your leadership, for organizing a briefing earlier today for members of congress with head leaders from the state department on the actions that are happening and for your leadership in passing h.r. 499 today which condemned the violation of ukrainian sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity by military forces of the russian federation and we appreciate very much your making that happen and helping taos pass this that resolution. once again, the russians have rattled their sabers and tightened their grip on the ukraine and in the past 24 hours, they have seized a ukrainian naval base and even though the constitution declares crimea to be an integral part of ukraine, the pro-russian regional authorities in crimea continue to sever links to ukraine's capital today, canceling incoming flights from kiev. they have also run out of town any of the monitors that have come from the united nations or the independent free world. flights to and from turkey also have been suspended and the russians have threatened to western assets and

mrs. maloney: i thank the gentlelady for her leadership and for authoring the grimm-waters bill which i support. this bill will protect homeowners from drastic premium increases, provide relief to housing markets and put the flood insurance program on a path to long-term solvency. the bill will also put a stop to fema's reckless implementation of biggert-waters, the g.a.o. found that fema doesn't even have the information that the g.a.o. said was key to determining a property's actual flood risk. fema has gone ahead and a shocking indifference to the impact of the middle-class families that are suffering across this country because of hurricane sandy, many of whom in my district. this bill will require fema to complete the affordable study act that was required and mandated in the prior legislation so independent experts can determine the best way to successfully balance the two main goals, consumer affordability and long-term solvency. this bill would set a hard cap on rate increases at 18% a year and will protect families and businesses from the kinds of 500% increases that they are suffering

thank the gentlewoman from new york, carolyn maloney, and the gentlewoman from tennessee, arsha blackburn, for their continued efforts on this endeavor. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until noon today. religious views. you can see many reporters and people milling around waiting for attorneys to come out to address the media. sights and sounds from outside the high chamber. [cheering] [cheering] >> no birth control - pro -family [cheering] i am so honored and so proud to introduce someone who really want for you all to meet, professor dorothy roberts. [cheering] her book is out. the professor of law and sociology. she is a professor of civil rights and she is the chair of the [indiscernible] she has an acclaimed scholar at the university of pennsylvania. [indiscernible] [crowd noises] [cheering] >> did you come here with any friends? >> no. [cheering] >> we know that when access to health care is denied, it marginalizes women in this country. [cheering] [cheering] [cheering] >> live coverage outside the supreme court