by Dr031718 » Thu Sep 05, 2024 4:15 am
Bobby Blossner, A Colorful Lawyer, And Great Mentor, Takes Down His Shingle. For Good
He was a colorful lawyer who once cited Abbot & Costello in an effort to win bail for an acting mob boss. Robert Blossner, a quick-witted barrister who won the only acquittal at the federal murder trial of eight members and associates of the Westies after he jumped up onto the defense table to make a point to the jury during his summation, has lost a battle with the Grim Reaper.
Blossner, who was co-counsel of high-powered defense attorneys in several major mob trials during the 1980s, and who represented two acting mob bosses during this millennium, has died following a brief battle with brain cancer. He was laid to rest in Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing last month. He was 82.
In the historic Commission case, Blossner defended Bonanno soldier Anthony (Bruno) Indelicato, the one mobster who was not sentenced to 100 years. "It wasn't because of any great work that I did for him," he told Gang Land years later. On sentencing day in 1987, he said, 40 years was the longest prison term Indelicato could have gotten for being found guilty of two predicate acts involving the 1979 murder of Carmine (Lilo) Galante.
On appeal, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his racketeering conspiracy conviction for the Galante execution that was ordered by the Commission. But it threw out the conviction for the predicate act of killing Galante for statute of limitations reasons since it was more than five years before the indictment was filed in 1985, and reduced Bruno's sentence to 20 years.
It was in February of 1988, at the end of a lengthy trial with much gruesome testimony at which Westies boss Jimmy Coonan and five underlings in the Irish-American gang from Hells Kitchen were charged with eight murders that Blossner made his dramatic courtroom move to get the jury's attention.
After placing a chair atop the defense table, he sat there and leaned towards jurors as he argued that his client, John Halo, was innocent of the charges against him. The scene was captured by New York Daily News sketch artist Joe Papin.
Making his point from his eye-level posture, Blossner argued emphatically that the government's own ballistics evidence showed that it was physically impossible for his client to have fired the fatal shot at one of the murder victims from his seat in the car in which the pair were riding at the time.
After Blossner had concluded his point about the trajectory of the killing bullet, and moved onto other racketeering acts against his client, Judge Whitman Knapp told the attorney to deliver the balance of his closing argument standing at the lectern. He did, and eight days later, the jury pronounced the jubilant 36-year-old Halo innocent of all charges.
Two decades later, in February of 2008, Blossner cited an Abbot & Costello bit when a U.S. magistrate seemed ready to detain John (Jackie Nose) D'Amico as a danger to the community, not for any acts of violence he had committed or threatened. The prosecutor stated that D'Amico was the acting boss of the Gambino family, and he did not need to present any evidence to back that up: His say so about the mob rank of Jackie Nose was all the judge needed to know.
The frustrated Blossner argued that the prosecutor's refusal to cite any evidence to "indicate that he's the boss of anything," was a scary situation that reminded him of an old Abbot & Costello movie, "where the sergeant says, 'You're nothing and I'm the sergeant. I'm the boss. You understand that?' And Costello says, 'Yes. You're the boss over nothing.'"
The judge agreed that the government proffer of D'Amico's mob rank was sufficient to detain him as a danger to the community.
After the proceeding, Blossner told Gang Land that he was "distressed" by the similarities between the plight of Jackie Nose that day with the fate of legendary Genovese mobster Anthony (Fat Tony) Salerno following his conviction in the Commission trial.
"Twenty years ago," he said, "I heard a federal judge sentence another gambler to 100 years in prison and hope that he never got out of prison because he was the boss of a crime family. Well, Judge (Richard) Owen got his wish. Fat Tony died in prison. And then the government said, 'Oops. Sorry about that. Fat Tony wasn't really the boss. Some other guy named Chin was the real boss.'"
Brooklyn Federal Judge Jack Weinstein ordered D'Amico's release on bail a few months later, but before that could happen, Jackie Nose pleaded guilty to extortion, a violent crime, and he remained behind bars until he completed his sentence.
A year later, Blossner was able to win the release on bail of acting Luchese boss Matthew (Matty) Madonna on state racketeering charges of running a huge illegal gambling scheme when Manhattan prosecutors also accused him of overseeing wiseguys and mob associates involved in extortion, bribery, and trafficking in drugs and guns.
"He's charged with being the czar of an internet gambling network," he told Gang Land. "What kind of czar? My eight-year-old granddaughter is constantly beating him at rummy. And he had to go to the graveyard to dig up a has-been lawyer like me."
As it turned out, neither Madonna, 88, who is now serving a life sentence following a 2019 conviction for murder, nor Bobby Blossner, who started practicing law in 1969, were anywhere near the graveyard in 2009.
"He was my law partner for the last 14 years," said Manhattan attorney Vik Pawar. "He will be missed," the lawyer continued. "He was a great mentor and an even greater person." That was evident from the numerous tributes to Blossner on the website of the Parkside Memorial Chapels of Flushing, where a funeral service was held on August 4.
Blossner is survived by his wife Karen, his daughter Amanda, a granddaughter Chloe and grandson Max.
Did He Or Didn't He? Wiseguy's Lawyer Says His Client Never Snitched; Gang Land's Sources Insist He Did
His lawyer still insists he "never" cooperated. But law enforcement and other sources tell Gang Land that Colombo capo Richard Ferrara wore a wire for the government and tape recorded a Russian gangster who had been a former business partner. His undercover work helped the feds convict his ex-partner of lying to the FBI about the suspicious death of a patron at a Brooklyn bar back in 2009.
The sources say that Ferrara began cooperating two years ago, tape recording talks with Russian gangster Dimitri Bediner. That was long before Ferrara broke the ice and became the first mobster in the blockbuster case that snared the Colombo family hierarchy and three capos on racketeering charges to plead guilty in December of 2022.
Ferrara signed a plea agreement calling for a recommended prison term between 46 and 57 months in prison back then. Last week, Brooklyn Federal Judge Hector Gonzalez gave the capo the kind of sentence that a cooperator might well merit: The four months he had already served behind bars back in 2021 and six months of home detention.
Sources say Ferrara used a pretext to get his former business buddy talking about the death of a Russian businessman in a Sheepshead Bay nightclub. The body was buried in a wooded area in Sullivan County near a home that Bediner owned in Fallsburg, NY. Ferrara told Bediner, the sources say, that the FBI was investigating him and he wanted to make sure that his old friend hadn't somehow linked Ferrara to the killing.
Back in 2009, the sources say, Bediner and Ferrara were "business partners." That happened after the Russian gangster, who owned a thriving car service sought Ferrara out and obtained his protection, as well as that of the Colombo crime family, from rival Russian gangsters who had been trying to shake him down.
Bediner, the sources say, was officially "on record" with Ferrara during that time frame, and had no further trouble with his Russian rivals from then on.
It was that former relationship that Ferrara used to get Bediner to implicate himself in driving the body of Ildar Gazizouline to his makeshift grave in Sullivan County. The 39-year-old Russian immigrant died in June, 2009, allegedly after a fight at the Fusion Night Club with the bouncer, Dmtri Prus, sources say.
Bediner, 62, and Prus, 46, have each copped guilty pleas to lying to the FBI about their actions regarding the death of Gazizouline in Brooklyn and his burial in Fallsburg NY. They await sentencing by Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Vitaliano. Each face recommended prison terms between 10 and 16 months.
In a "cease and desist" letter, Ferrara's attorney David Kirby wrote that Gang Land's prior columns in which his client is referred to as a "snitch" or "cooperating witness" as "scurrilous claims." He demanded us to "retract" them, stating that he will "seek damages" for our "irresponsible reporting" if "any harm should come should come to Mr. Ferrara or his family."
In an interview following the receipt of his letter, the attorney insisted that his client "had not cooperated" with the feds. He stated that our report that Ferrara had cooperated was "incorrect."
Told by Gang Land that sources maintain that Ferrara had cooperated and that it led to guilty pleas by Prus and Bediner, the lawyer repeated his claim: "He never cooperated," said Kirby.
Gang Land's sources, as well as the attorney of one of the defendants, insist that he did.
The sources say Ferrara, who was also receiving protection money from several Sheepshead Bay restaurant owners at the time and had known about Gazizouline's post mortem trip to his burial ground, told Bediner he wanted to make sure that he hadn't been implicated in the caper, when he spoke to him shortly after his release from the Metropolitan Detention Center.
During several conversations, sources say that Bediner assured Ferrara that neither he nor any of his cohorts who knew about, or took part in the death or burial of Gazizouline had implicated the mobster in any aspect of the crime. The remains of the dead man were found a year later and positively identified in 2012.
Bediner assured the wired-up cooperating witness that he hadn't used any of the car service vehicles that were in Ferrara's name, or any that could be linked to him in any other way, to drive the corpse upstate. He also assured the wiseguy that he didn't go through any toll booths, and as if that would have mattered, told Ferrara that instead of going through the Battery Tunnel, took the Brooklyn Bridge to get to Manhattan.
During his discussions with Ferrara, according to law enforcement sources, Bediner implicated himself in criminal activity by insisting that the wiseguy had nothing to do with any of his actions back in 2009 regarding the death of the patron who died at the Fusion Night Club on June 20, 2009, and his burial.
In a discussion with Gang Land this week, here's what Dimitri Bediner's lawyer had to say.
"Richie Ferrara is another example," said attorney Barry Levin, "of how the government allows the most heinous informers get away with serious crimes without any real repercussions to them, or any detriment to their family's finances."
Ferrara, the lawyer continued, "came out of the woodwork 12 years after he allegedly robbed $1.5 million from my client's car service business, and tried to implicate him in a homicide he had nothing to do with, if it in fact was a homicide."
Levin declined to provide any specific details about how Ferrara allegedly ripped off Bediner. "He put one over on my client a dozen years ago when he helped him, and then he robbed him blind. And I'm sure he failed to disclose the $1.5 million my client says he embezzled from his business, which then went belly up."
It Was A Peaceful And Enjoyable Labor Day Weekend In Gang Land
Unlike last year, when a drunk and disorderly Gambino capo Joseph (Joe Brooklyn) Lanni allegedly assaulted the husband and wife owners of a Jersey Shore restaurant and threatened to burn the place down on the Friday night of Labor Day weekend, the holiday weekend that honors the working men and women of the country was a relatively quiet one in Gang Land.
Lanni, like the eight wiseguys and mob associates who have been released on bonds that assure their various house arrest conditions as they await trial on racketeering charges, spent the unofficial end of summer holiday weekend at home. The gangster’s last trips away from his Brooklyn home were in early June, to attend birthday parties for two daughters.
Like his nine co-defendants — one, James LaForte is detained without bail — Lanni rejected the plea deals that the feds offered and they are slated for a status conference before Brooklyn Federal Judge Frederic Block later this month.
There was one wiseguy who had a jam-packed holiday weekend. Yes. It was Luchese capo Anthony (Little Anthony) Pipitone. The 51-year-old wiseguy added to his impressive record as the mobster with the most furloughs from home detention while charged with racketeering. He had three trips away from home over the holiday weekend.
On Saturday, according to his request that was approved by Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Vitaliano, Pipitone was permitted to leave his home with his wife at 7:30 in the evening to enjoy dinner at an undisclosed restaurant and return home no later than 12:30 AM.
On Sunday, Little Anthony was allowed to leave his home at noon to enjoy a daylong visit with his parents and return home no later than 10:30 in the evening. And on Monday, Pipitone left his home at 1 PM to attend a Labor Day family function at an undisclosed location, and return home no later than 10:30 that evening.
Judge Vitaliano denied requests by Pipitone to attend two six-hour long birthday parties for two nephews two weeks apart last month, agreeing with pre-trial service to deny permission because the parties were not for immediate family members, which are usually approved.
In July, Little Anthony and his wife attended a birthday party for a daughter, a day after they attended a gala surprise engagement party for her, or perhaps another daughter, on July 19. Two weeks earlier, on July 6, Pipitone attended the 50th birthday party of a cousin, and two days before that, he celebrated Independence Day at the home of his brother-in-law.
In June, Pipitone and his wife enjoyed two Father’s Day celebrations. They left their home at 12:30 on Saturday June 15 to celebrate with his dad, and the following day at 2 PM to celebrate the holiday with his family at a restaurant. He arrived home both evenings by 9:30, according to the court filings.
[size=150]Bobby Blossner, A Colorful Lawyer, And Great Mentor, Takes Down His Shingle. For Good[/size]
He was a colorful lawyer who once cited Abbot & Costello in an effort to win bail for an acting mob boss. Robert Blossner, a quick-witted barrister who won the only acquittal at the federal murder trial of eight members and associates of the Westies after he jumped up onto the defense table to make a point to the jury during his summation, has lost a battle with the Grim Reaper.
Blossner, who was co-counsel of high-powered defense attorneys in several major mob trials during the 1980s, and who represented two acting mob bosses during this millennium, has died following a brief battle with brain cancer. He was laid to rest in Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing last month. He was 82.
In the historic Commission case, Blossner defended Bonanno soldier Anthony (Bruno) Indelicato, the one mobster who was not sentenced to 100 years. "It wasn't because of any great work that I did for him," he told Gang Land years later. On sentencing day in 1987, he said, 40 years was the longest prison term Indelicato could have gotten for being found guilty of two predicate acts involving the 1979 murder of Carmine (Lilo) Galante.
On appeal, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his racketeering conspiracy conviction for the Galante execution that was ordered by the Commission. But it threw out the conviction for the predicate act of killing Galante for statute of limitations reasons since it was more than five years before the indictment was filed in 1985, and reduced Bruno's sentence to 20 years.
It was in February of 1988, at the end of a lengthy trial with much gruesome testimony at which Westies boss Jimmy Coonan and five underlings in the Irish-American gang from Hells Kitchen were charged with eight murders that Blossner made his dramatic courtroom move to get the jury's attention.
After placing a chair atop the defense table, he sat there and leaned towards jurors as he argued that his client, John Halo, was innocent of the charges against him. The scene was captured by New York Daily News sketch artist Joe Papin.
Making his point from his eye-level posture, Blossner argued emphatically that the government's own ballistics evidence showed that it was physically impossible for his client to have fired the fatal shot at one of the murder victims from his seat in the car in which the pair were riding at the time.
After Blossner had concluded his point about the trajectory of the killing bullet, and moved onto other racketeering acts against his client, Judge Whitman Knapp told the attorney to deliver the balance of his closing argument standing at the lectern. He did, and eight days later, the jury pronounced the jubilant 36-year-old Halo innocent of all charges.
Two decades later, in February of 2008, Blossner cited an Abbot & Costello bit when a U.S. magistrate seemed ready to detain John (Jackie Nose) D'Amico as a danger to the community, not for any acts of violence he had committed or threatened. The prosecutor stated that D'Amico was the acting boss of the Gambino family, and he did not need to present any evidence to back that up: His say so about the mob rank of Jackie Nose was all the judge needed to know.
The frustrated Blossner argued that the prosecutor's refusal to cite any evidence to "indicate that he's the boss of anything," was a scary situation that reminded him of an old Abbot & Costello movie, "where the sergeant says, 'You're nothing and I'm the sergeant. I'm the boss. You understand that?' And Costello says, 'Yes. You're the boss over nothing.'"
The judge agreed that the government proffer of D'Amico's mob rank was sufficient to detain him as a danger to the community.
After the proceeding, Blossner told Gang Land that he was "distressed" by the similarities between the plight of Jackie Nose that day with the fate of legendary Genovese mobster Anthony (Fat Tony) Salerno following his conviction in the Commission trial.
"Twenty years ago," he said, "I heard a federal judge sentence another gambler to 100 years in prison and hope that he never got out of prison because he was the boss of a crime family. Well, Judge (Richard) Owen got his wish. Fat Tony died in prison. And then the government said, 'Oops. Sorry about that. Fat Tony wasn't really the boss. Some other guy named Chin was the real boss.'"
Brooklyn Federal Judge Jack Weinstein ordered D'Amico's release on bail a few months later, but before that could happen, Jackie Nose pleaded guilty to extortion, a violent crime, and he remained behind bars until he completed his sentence.
A year later, Blossner was able to win the release on bail of acting Luchese boss Matthew (Matty) Madonna on state racketeering charges of running a huge illegal gambling scheme when Manhattan prosecutors also accused him of overseeing wiseguys and mob associates involved in extortion, bribery, and trafficking in drugs and guns.
"He's charged with being the czar of an internet gambling network," he told Gang Land. "What kind of czar? My eight-year-old granddaughter is constantly beating him at rummy. And he had to go to the graveyard to dig up a has-been lawyer like me."
As it turned out, neither Madonna, 88, who is now serving a life sentence following a 2019 conviction for murder, nor Bobby Blossner, who started practicing law in 1969, were anywhere near the graveyard in 2009.
"He was my law partner for the last 14 years," said Manhattan attorney Vik Pawar. "He will be missed," the lawyer continued. "He was a great mentor and an even greater person." That was evident from the numerous tributes to Blossner on the website of the Parkside Memorial Chapels of Flushing, where a funeral service was held on August 4.
Blossner is survived by his wife Karen, his daughter Amanda, a granddaughter Chloe and grandson Max.
[size=150]Did He Or Didn't He? Wiseguy's Lawyer Says His Client Never Snitched; Gang Land's Sources Insist He Did[/size]
His lawyer still insists he "never" cooperated. But law enforcement and other sources tell Gang Land that Colombo capo Richard Ferrara wore a wire for the government and tape recorded a Russian gangster who had been a former business partner. His undercover work helped the feds convict his ex-partner of lying to the FBI about the suspicious death of a patron at a Brooklyn bar back in 2009.
The sources say that Ferrara began cooperating two years ago, tape recording talks with Russian gangster Dimitri Bediner. That was long before Ferrara broke the ice and became the first mobster in the blockbuster case that snared the Colombo family hierarchy and three capos on racketeering charges to plead guilty in December of 2022.
Ferrara signed a plea agreement calling for a recommended prison term between 46 and 57 months in prison back then. Last week, Brooklyn Federal Judge Hector Gonzalez gave the capo the kind of sentence that a cooperator might well merit: The four months he had already served behind bars back in 2021 and six months of home detention.
Sources say Ferrara used a pretext to get his former business buddy talking about the death of a Russian businessman in a Sheepshead Bay nightclub. The body was buried in a wooded area in Sullivan County near a home that Bediner owned in Fallsburg, NY. Ferrara told Bediner, the sources say, that the FBI was investigating him and he wanted to make sure that his old friend hadn't somehow linked Ferrara to the killing.
Back in 2009, the sources say, Bediner and Ferrara were "business partners." That happened after the Russian gangster, who owned a thriving car service sought Ferrara out and obtained his protection, as well as that of the Colombo crime family, from rival Russian gangsters who had been trying to shake him down.
Bediner, the sources say, was officially "on record" with Ferrara during that time frame, and had no further trouble with his Russian rivals from then on.
It was that former relationship that Ferrara used to get Bediner to implicate himself in driving the body of Ildar Gazizouline to his makeshift grave in Sullivan County. The 39-year-old Russian immigrant died in June, 2009, allegedly after a fight at the Fusion Night Club with the bouncer, Dmtri Prus, sources say.
Bediner, 62, and Prus, 46, have each copped guilty pleas to lying to the FBI about their actions regarding the death of Gazizouline in Brooklyn and his burial in Fallsburg NY. They await sentencing by Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Vitaliano. Each face recommended prison terms between 10 and 16 months.
In a "cease and desist" letter, Ferrara's attorney David Kirby wrote that Gang Land's prior columns in which his client is referred to as a "snitch" or "cooperating witness" as "scurrilous claims." He demanded us to "retract" them, stating that he will "seek damages" for our "irresponsible reporting" if "any harm should come should come to Mr. Ferrara or his family."
In an interview following the receipt of his letter, the attorney insisted that his client "had not cooperated" with the feds. He stated that our report that Ferrara had cooperated was "incorrect."
Told by Gang Land that sources maintain that Ferrara had cooperated and that it led to guilty pleas by Prus and Bediner, the lawyer repeated his claim: "He never cooperated," said Kirby.
Gang Land's sources, as well as the attorney of one of the defendants, insist that he did.
The sources say Ferrara, who was also receiving protection money from several Sheepshead Bay restaurant owners at the time and had known about Gazizouline's post mortem trip to his burial ground, told Bediner he wanted to make sure that he hadn't been implicated in the caper, when he spoke to him shortly after his release from the Metropolitan Detention Center.
During several conversations, sources say that Bediner assured Ferrara that neither he nor any of his cohorts who knew about, or took part in the death or burial of Gazizouline had implicated the mobster in any aspect of the crime. The remains of the dead man were found a year later and positively identified in 2012.
Bediner assured the wired-up cooperating witness that he hadn't used any of the car service vehicles that were in Ferrara's name, or any that could be linked to him in any other way, to drive the corpse upstate. He also assured the wiseguy that he didn't go through any toll booths, and as if that would have mattered, told Ferrara that instead of going through the Battery Tunnel, took the Brooklyn Bridge to get to Manhattan.
During his discussions with Ferrara, according to law enforcement sources, Bediner implicated himself in criminal activity by insisting that the wiseguy had nothing to do with any of his actions back in 2009 regarding the death of the patron who died at the Fusion Night Club on June 20, 2009, and his burial.
In a discussion with Gang Land this week, here's what Dimitri Bediner's lawyer had to say.
"Richie Ferrara is another example," said attorney Barry Levin, "of how the government allows the most heinous informers get away with serious crimes without any real repercussions to them, or any detriment to their family's finances."
Ferrara, the lawyer continued, "came out of the woodwork 12 years after he allegedly robbed $1.5 million from my client's car service business, and tried to implicate him in a homicide he had nothing to do with, if it in fact was a homicide."
Levin declined to provide any specific details about how Ferrara allegedly ripped off Bediner. "He put one over on my client a dozen years ago when he helped him, and then he robbed him blind. And I'm sure he failed to disclose the $1.5 million my client says he embezzled from his business, which then went belly up."
[size=150]It Was A Peaceful And Enjoyable Labor Day Weekend In Gang Land[/size]
Unlike last year, when a drunk and disorderly Gambino capo Joseph (Joe Brooklyn) Lanni allegedly assaulted the husband and wife owners of a Jersey Shore restaurant and threatened to burn the place down on the Friday night of Labor Day weekend, the holiday weekend that honors the working men and women of the country was a relatively quiet one in Gang Land.
Lanni, like the eight wiseguys and mob associates who have been released on bonds that assure their various house arrest conditions as they await trial on racketeering charges, spent the unofficial end of summer holiday weekend at home. The gangster’s last trips away from his Brooklyn home were in early June, to attend birthday parties for two daughters.
Like his nine co-defendants — one, James LaForte is detained without bail — Lanni rejected the plea deals that the feds offered and they are slated for a status conference before Brooklyn Federal Judge Frederic Block later this month.
There was one wiseguy who had a jam-packed holiday weekend. Yes. It was Luchese capo Anthony (Little Anthony) Pipitone. The 51-year-old wiseguy added to his impressive record as the mobster with the most furloughs from home detention while charged with racketeering. He had three trips away from home over the holiday weekend.
On Saturday, according to his request that was approved by Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Vitaliano, Pipitone was permitted to leave his home with his wife at 7:30 in the evening to enjoy dinner at an undisclosed restaurant and return home no later than 12:30 AM.
On Sunday, Little Anthony was allowed to leave his home at noon to enjoy a daylong visit with his parents and return home no later than 10:30 in the evening. And on Monday, Pipitone left his home at 1 PM to attend a Labor Day family function at an undisclosed location, and return home no later than 10:30 that evening.
Judge Vitaliano denied requests by Pipitone to attend two six-hour long birthday parties for two nephews two weeks apart last month, agreeing with pre-trial service to deny permission because the parties were not for immediate family members, which are usually approved.
In July, Little Anthony and his wife attended a birthday party for a daughter, a day after they attended a gala surprise engagement party for her, or perhaps another daughter, on July 19. Two weeks earlier, on July 6, Pipitone attended the 50th birthday party of a cousin, and two days before that, he celebrated Independence Day at the home of his brother-in-law.
In June, Pipitone and his wife enjoyed two Father’s Day celebrations. They left their home at 12:30 on Saturday June 15 to celebrate with his dad, and the following day at 2 PM to celebrate the holiday with his family at a restaurant. He arrived home both evenings by 9:30, according to the court filings.