By CONNIE FARROW
Associated Press Writer

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Former New York mob boss John Gotti was in stable condition at a hospital undergoing treatment for a blood clot, a family friend said Thursday.

Gotti, who is in the advanced stages of cancer, was believed to have been moved sometime Tuesday from solitary confinement at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, said the friend, Lewis Kasman.

``We haven't been officially told by the bureau of prisons, but unofficially we've been told by an outside source that he is being treated at a local community hospital,'' Kasman said, refusing to identify the source. Kasman spoke by telephone from his home in New York City.

Diane Smith, spokeswoman for the U.S. Medical Center, would not say whether Gotti had been taken to St. John's Regional Health Center in Springfield.

``Mr. Gotti is still under our custody and care,'' she said.

St. John's officials did not immediately return a call Thursday from The Associated Press.

Smith said she could not discuss Gotti's condition or care because he has not authorized the release of any information.

Gotti was receiving a blood-thinning medication that requires careful monitoring, Kasman said. He said he did not know where the blood clot is.

Gotti, once the most notorious Mafia don in the United States, was treated at St. John's for two weeks in August as his cancer worsened.