by Cheech » Fri Apr 30, 2021 10:09 am
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NYC CRIME
NEW YORK
Ailing ex-Colombo family boss Victor Orena, 86, could be released from prison: lawyer
By NOAH GOLDBERG
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
APR 29, 2021 AT 8:26 PM
A murderous former gangland boss is wheelchair-bound and suffering from serious dementia — but he has a new shot at release, his lawyer said Thursday.
Victor Orena, the 86-year-old ex-acting boss of New York’s Colombo crime family, can no longer take care of himself in the federal prison he is being held at in Massachusetts, requiring a wheelchair and a full-time aide. But a tossed lower firearms charge in a 1992 case could get him one last shot at freedom because he has to be resentenced completely.
He was convicted of ordering a hit on mobster Thomas Ocera, who was suspected of skimming money off assorted capers. Orena was also convicted of conspiring to murder rivals in a warring faction of the Colombo family.
“An overriding factor here is Mr. Orena’s age and medical conditions,” said David Schoen, Orena’s lawyer, at a Monday hearing in front of Eastern District Judge Eric Komitee.
When Orena is resentenced, his lawyers will argue for his release saying he is rehabilitated and that newly discovered evidence in the case points toward the mobster’s innocence.
Victor Orena in handcuffs leaves 26 Federal Plaza with FBI agent R. Lindley DeVecchio (r) on April 1, 1992.
Victor Orena in handcuffs leaves 26 Federal Plaza with FBI agent R. Lindley DeVecchio (r) on April 1, 1992. (Jack Smith / New York Daily News)
Prosecutors, meanwhile, asked in court papers for the judge to simply resentence Orena to life in prison.
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Schoen told the Daily News that new evidence in the case includes previously unreported government misconduct related to the Ocera murder that a top-echelon confidential informant said permeated Orena’s case.
Schoen called the information “unbelievably shocking” and potentially dangerous if revealed publicly.
[More New York] ‘I cut the wire’: Brooklyn man pleads guilty to sabotaging NYPD car during George Floyd protests »
“It’s stuff we never knew about that happened back then,” he told The News.
Victor “Little Vic” Orena was the acting boss of the Colombo family in the 1980s and tried to take over as permanent boss in the early 1990s, leading to a bloody civil war between his faction and that of boss Carmine Persico, who was serving a life sentence at the time.
Orena’s son, Andrew Orena, pleaded for compassion for his father.
[More New York] Stray bullets hit two when fight erupts at iconic Peter Luger Steak House in Brooklyn »
“His heart is weak. But his spirit is strong. We’re praying we can get some time with him. He has grandchildren that really don’t know him,” Orena told The News. “He’ll never be the man he was but he’s still our father and we love him.”
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4 weeks for only 99¢
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NYC CRIME
NEW YORK
Ailing ex-Colombo family boss Victor Orena, 86, could be released from prison: lawyer
By NOAH GOLDBERG
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
APR 29, 2021 AT 8:26 PM
A murderous former gangland boss is wheelchair-bound and suffering from serious dementia — but he has a new shot at release, his lawyer said Thursday.
Victor Orena, the 86-year-old ex-acting boss of New York’s Colombo crime family, can no longer take care of himself in the federal prison he is being held at in Massachusetts, requiring a wheelchair and a full-time aide. But a tossed lower firearms charge in a 1992 case could get him one last shot at freedom because he has to be resentenced completely.
He was convicted of ordering a hit on mobster Thomas Ocera, who was suspected of skimming money off assorted capers. Orena was also convicted of conspiring to murder rivals in a warring faction of the Colombo family.
“An overriding factor here is Mr. Orena’s age and medical conditions,” said David Schoen, Orena’s lawyer, at a Monday hearing in front of Eastern District Judge Eric Komitee.
When Orena is resentenced, his lawyers will argue for his release saying he is rehabilitated and that newly discovered evidence in the case points toward the mobster’s innocence.
Victor Orena in handcuffs leaves 26 Federal Plaza with FBI agent R. Lindley DeVecchio (r) on April 1, 1992.
Victor Orena in handcuffs leaves 26 Federal Plaza with FBI agent R. Lindley DeVecchio (r) on April 1, 1992. (Jack Smith / New York Daily News)
Prosecutors, meanwhile, asked in court papers for the judge to simply resentence Orena to life in prison.
The Daily News Flash Newsletter
Weekdays
Catch up on the day’s top five stories every weekday afternoon.
ENTER YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
Schoen told the Daily News that new evidence in the case includes previously unreported government misconduct related to the Ocera murder that a top-echelon confidential informant said permeated Orena’s case.
Schoen called the information “unbelievably shocking” and potentially dangerous if revealed publicly.
[More New York] ‘I cut the wire’: Brooklyn man pleads guilty to sabotaging NYPD car during George Floyd protests »
“It’s stuff we never knew about that happened back then,” he told The News.
Victor “Little Vic” Orena was the acting boss of the Colombo family in the 1980s and tried to take over as permanent boss in the early 1990s, leading to a bloody civil war between his faction and that of boss Carmine Persico, who was serving a life sentence at the time.
Orena’s son, Andrew Orena, pleaded for compassion for his father.
[More New York] Stray bullets hit two when fight erupts at iconic Peter Luger Steak House in Brooklyn »
“His heart is weak. But his spirit is strong. We’re praying we can get some time with him. He has grandchildren that really don’t know him,” Orena told The News. “He’ll never be the man he was but he’s still our father and we love him.”