Gangland April 25th 2024

[Dr031718]

Teenaged Mob Hitman Seeks Compassionate Release At Age 49

Can John Pappa, a healthy 49-year-old gangster serving a life sentence for four mob murders possibly deserve a compassionate release under the First Step Act of 2018 after spending 26 years in prison when judges have rejected motions from ailing wiseguys in their 80s and 90s who've been behind bars longer than him for a single gangland-style-slaying?

Pappa, who was a teenaged mob associate when he killed the 12th and last victim in the bloody Colombo family war 31 years ago as well as three other gangsters before his 20th birthday, says he does. And so do 20 Bureau of Prison employees, including an associate warden, who submitted letters to the Brooklyn Federal Judge who sentenced him back in 1997.

Absolutely not, say the feds, and relatives of Pappa's victims. "He has no remorse" for his crimes, says assistant U.S attorney Raffaela Belizaire. He's a "coward" and a "savage killer" who deserves to spend the rest of his life behind bars and die there, say relatives of two of his victims.

Pappa filed his motion with sentencing Judge Raymond Dearie and asked him to decide his motion after having countless "one-sided conversations" with the judge in his prison bunk during which he told the judge how he'd changed his ways. But Dearie has retired and Judge Pamela Chen, who took over the case, reserved a decision on the motion following a hearing on Tuesday.

"My son John was mutilated," Rosemary Sparacino told Judge Chen. "He was 24 years old when he was executed by the defendant," she said. "He savagely mutilated his body."

In Pappa's filing, lawyers Shon Hopwood and Felix Singhal cited four important factors why Pappa, an "impressionable youth caught trying to impress members of the Colombo organized crime family" when he killed four victims, deserves a compassionate release despite the admittedly terrible crimes he committed.

Despite having no hope of ever getting out of prison when he was sentenced to life in prison in 1999, two decades before the First Step Act made his release possible, the attorneys assert that Pappa "committed himself to a life of rehabilitation in prison," has a "spotless prison record" and now teaches and mentors "other prisoners to overcome their past."

"Pappa's upbringing and youth at the time he committed the crimes, when his immaturity and susceptibility to influence from organized crime members was at its zenith," they wrote, "makes him less culpable." They argued that the genesis of their client's evil ways was the murder of his gangster father Gerard Pappa, by the Colombo crime family, when John was five years old.

Citing accounts from Pappa, his older sister and their mom, the lawyers wrote that Pappa was told that his dad was killed in a convenience store when armed robbers shot him thinking he was a cop. His mom then moved the family to New Jersey, away from his friends, the kids of other gangsters, and their moms and dads, whom he knew as "aunts" and "uncles."

Things went from bad to worse, they wrote, when he learned the truth about his father's life and death, in school from classmates who shied away from him under orders from their parents, and from the children of his new neighbors. He often "got into fights with kids who said cruel things to him or his sister, Kristina, about their father," the lawyers wrote.

Things deteriorated completely about nine years later when his stepfather was arrested for drug dealing and jailed, and his sister Kristina went off to college. That's when Pappa returned to his Staten Island roots where his "uncles" and his father's friends in "the Colombo crime family took advantage of a lost kid" who became "aligned with the Persico faction" of the family, they wrote.

During that time frame, "Pappa was in a setting in which he was expected to obey orders, even orders to murder," attorneys Hopwood and Singhal wrote. "If he did not follow orders," they continued, "he himself faced potential death" because he "knew his father was killed for operating outside of orders."

"That powerful disincentive to disobeying an order means he has lower culpability than those who commit murder without having to follow the orders of organized crime members," they wrote, noting that Pappa was convicted of killing Orena faction mobster Joseph Scopo under orders from the leaders of the Persico faction.

But in 1999, as Gang Land reported, Pappa was also convicted of three other murders, including the killings of John Sparacino, and Rolando Rivera. They stemmed from personal disputes that Pappa had with them, and were not committed under orders from his Colombo family leaders.

Pappa's age when he was committing crimes, from aged 17 to 22, "makes his sentence of life imprisonment unusually long and creates a sentencing disparity" since he will serve some 56 years behind bars — more than twice the average length for federal murder convictions, the lawyers wrote — if he lives to the age of 79, as actuarial tables predict for a man his age.

In 1999, Dearie, who later granted compassionate release under the First Step Act to other defendants, "could not consider Pappa's mitigating circumstances of youth and his upbringing," the lawyers wrote, because a "life sentence was required under the then-mandatory Sentencing Guidelines, which have now been declared advisory by the Supreme Court."

The documented rehabilitation of Pappa, who was "permitted to transfer to a medium-security facility" in South Carolina from the maximum security prison where he had been, and where convicted mob killers are generally housed, "is unmatched," the lawyers assert.

In her written response to Pappa's motion, prosecutor Belizaire conceded that Pappa "made good use of his incarceration with programming, mentoring, (and) certifications," but she stated that those efforts were not extraordinary and compelling reasons to warrant a release from prison for the "heinous" crimes he had committed.

During Tuesday's session, Belizaire told Judge Chen that despite the assertions of so many Bureau of Prisons employees, Pappa has exhibited "no remorse" for his crimes and still maintains contact with numerous mobsters and associates from several crime families, and he has been gifted thousands of dollars from organized crime figures in recent years.

Carmella Sessa, the wife of Colombo soldier Ilario (Fat Larry) Sessa sent $1000 to his commissary account in 2023, and Genovese associate Frank Schwamborn and his wife sent him $2200, she said. Wiseguys Anthony (Tony Bones) LoFreddo, Joseph (Joe Dinga) Savarese and Joseph Chilli are all on his mailing list, the prosecutor said.

Pappa also has had numerous contacts with Luchese wiseguy George (Georgie Neck) Zappola, a convicted mob killer, and with Francis (B.F.) Guerra, a longtime Colombo associate who was acquitted of murder but found guilty of selling his prescription pain meds, who was inducted into the crime family when he was released from prison in 2021, Belizaire said.

During the session, Pappa, who was carrying a loaded .38 caliber handgun into a Staten Island church for the wedding rehearsal of Salvatore Sparacino in September of 1997 when he was arrested for the murder of Sparacino's brother John, was seated between his two lawyers at a table across from the prosecution table where Salvatore Sparacino was seated.

Suddenly, Sparacino angrily called Pappa a "piece of shit" and the "biggest coward" he had ever met in his life, jumped up out of his seat and began moving towards the inmate. He was quickly restrained by deputy marshals in the courtroom.

Michele Gedz, who was five months pregnant when Pappa killed Rolando Rivera, her partner, and the father of her unborn child, looked at Pappa and said: "Anyone who thinks you deserve compassionate release is just as sick and evil as you are."

Feds Cite 'Media Interest' In Seeking 'Serious Sentences' In One-Punch Extortion Case

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn want 86-year-old Genovese mobster Anthony (Rom) Romanello to celebrate his 91st birthday behind bars for his extortion conviction of restaurant owner Bruno Selimaj who suffered a one punch assault in his Manhattan steakhouse in May of 2017.

The feds have asked Judge Eric Komitee to give Romanello 71-months for instilling fear of real beatings, and worse in Selimaj whose relatives forked over $86,000 they owed a Queens bookmaker after the assault. They are also seeking a heavy duty 51-month term for codefendant and fellow wiseguy, Joseph Celso, 51, for allegedly threatening Selimaj's brother Nino, the owner of Nino's Ristorante, the same night that Rom punched Bruno.

In court filings, prosecutors noted they were seeking the maximum prison terms recommended for both Romanello, and for Celso, whose sentencings are slated for Monday. Rom was found guilty of extortion. Both gangsters were convicted of conspiring to collect a debt through extortionate means.

The feds are also seeking a "serious sentence" of up to two years in prison for Luan (Lou) Bexheti, a runner for the Queens bookie who took bets from the two deadbeat gamblers. Bexheti faces the music for his conviction today.

In all three sentencing memos, prosecutors cited "media interest" as a reason to give the defendants the toughest sentences allowed. Here's how they phrased it: "In light of the media interest surrounding this case, others seeking to engage in the same conduct … surely will notice what repercussions follow a conviction for extortionate collection of credit…a serious sentence here is needed to deter others from such harmful, illegal conduct."

In Gang Land, this is known as chutzpah, major league variety. For one thing, the prosecutors twice kept court exhibits under seal and away from the media until Gang Land filed lawsuits to have them unsealed. That kind of obstruction of the media is all too common these days in the city's federal courts. The attitude seems to be, "Ignore the media until you need it to help your case."

For another, the feds are seeking a lengthy prison term for Bexheti, an Albanian immigrant who copped a plea deal before trial and who has been a hard-working New Yorker since pleading guilty to felony state bookmaking charges in 2019.

In their filing, prosecutors Dana Rehnquist, Irisa Chen and Rebecca Schuman do not challenge the above info, or the assertions by Bexheti's lawyer that his client works two jobs, manages a kosher steakhouse and is a real estate salesman, that "his criminal activity (is) behind him," and that "he had no idea this case was coming, more than five years after the events."

The prosecutors wrote that Bexheti told two Selimaj relatives "it's going to get ugly" if they didn't come up with the $86,000 they lost that week since they'd been paid $100,000 in winnings a week or two earlier. Then he made an "unannounced" visit to the home of one in a failed effort to collect the cash. Then he told his boss Michael Regan, that the duo were deadbeats.

"Even further," they wrote, "Bexheti went with Romanello and Regan to Bruno’s restaurant" in an effort to collect the debt during the visit before the infamous knuckle sandwich visit, arguing that "each of these actions alone, and certainly together, demonstrate that Bexheti was not a passive member of the conspiracy."

Bexheti was an invisible — let alone passive — member of the conspiracy on the videotape, where jurors saw Regan, standing very close to Rom when he hit Bruno in the kisser with a right hand jab and then can be seen moving towards Bruno along with Rom for a second or two before they, and Celso, leave the restaurant.

In seeking probation for Bexheti, attorney Kevin Faga conceded that his client "believed that force could be threatened or used and he knowingly and willingly participated." But the lawyer noted that "the Court" was "fully aware" that "Bexheti was not present when the assault took place" and there was no allegation that he "personally engaged in violence or threats."

"There is no risk of future crimes," the lawyer stated. "He has been a loving and loyal husband," and a "devoted and supportive father to his young children. Incarceration after all these years of positivity and change is unnecessary and, indeed, unjust," he wrote. "Bexheti was previously convicted and sentenced for related conduct," he continued. "He has abandoned the people he previously associated with," and has "led a law-abiding life" for the last five years.

A prison term will have a devastating impact on his client's family, Faga wrote. "It will force Mrs. Bexheti to move back to Europe, taking two infant children, who have never known any other home," the lawyer wrote. "I respectfully submit such familial devastation is a form of punishment not contemplated by the Guidelines and a factor to be considered," the lawyer wrote.

As for Romanello, his attorney "repeatedly derided this prosecution as a one-punch case," the prosecutors wrote. But they argued that the Genovese family duo deserved the high end of their individual sentencing guidelines in order to deter them and "others from such harmful, illegal conduct" in the future.

Bruno suffered no injuries from the punch but the message that he received was ominous, the prosecutors stated. As Bruno testified, they wrote, "This Mafia guy, they're going to hurt me or my family. Me, I don't care. I'm 72 years old, I lived my life. But my family, my children, my grandchildren, my nephew, my nieces that's what I was worried about."

Romanello was "responsible for instilling fear and terror in a business owner," the prosecutors stated, noting that Bruno had testified he "was afraid because nobody jokes with Mafia," and that he said: "I know that if they don't pay the debts, they get killed."

The prison term they're seeking for his extortion conviction, they noted, is nearly twice the three years that Rom has spent behind bars during a 60-year-long criminal career. They argued that keeping him behind bars, even at his advanced age, is the only thing that will stop the wiseguy from working for the Genovese crime family in the coming years.

Attorney Gerald McMahon, who has ripped the case as a vendetta by the feds to send Rom to prison after failing to do so in three prior tries, has asked Komitee to impose a time served sentence of the five months he has spent under awful conditions in the Metropolitan Detention Center. The lawyer cited his client's age, chronic health issues, including the onset of dementia, his close family ties, and the Good Conduct Medal he earned in three years of military service.

Celso, the prosecutors wrote, deserved the 51-month high end of his guidelines behind bars and a $15,000 fine, they wrote, for telling Nino that his brother Bruno "better drop the charges" that he filed with police the night that Rom punched him because "otherwise it's going to be ugly."

The jury acquitted Celso of obstruction of justice charges involving his discussions he had with Nino, but prosecutors argued that the jury's verdict was wrong on that count and asked Komitee to find by a "preponderance of the evidence" that Celso obstructed justice and to sentence him for that conduct.

As we wrote last week, attorney Gerard Marrone cited Komitee's finding that Celso had a "minimal participation" in the case in seeking a sentence below the 33-month low end of his client's sentencing guidelines.

Wiseguy's 'Girlfriend' Gets A No-Jail Sentence For Their Labor Racketeering Scam

In the old days, Erin Thompkins, a very close associate of Colombo capo Vincent (Vinny Unions) Ricciardo, might have been dubbed a "moll." But prosecutors, who probably never heard that term, just called the 56-year-old grandmother the "girlfriend" of the mobster who orchestrated his crime family's 20-year extortion of a construction workers union.

At any rate, despite her own role in an an embezzlement scheme, Thompkins fared much better than her longtime wiseguy boyfriend did for conspiring with crime family members to steal $10,000 a month from the union's benefit funds.

Thompkins, who worked as an administrator at the Dickinson Group, a Garden City firm which handles investments of union funds, received a non-custodial term of two years probation at her sentencing last week. She is also barred from working with labor unions for 13 years.

Prosecutors had sought a prison term of four to 10 months. They cited taped talks Thompkins had with Ricciardo and Albert Alimena, her boss at the Dickinson Group, on how they planned to embezzle the cash from Local 621 of the United Construction Trades & Industrial Employees Union by getting his company selected as an administrator of the union's benefit funds.

Between January and June of 2021, Thompkins, who "was knowledgeable about funds, employee benefit plans, and the vendor selection process utilized by labor unions and their associated funds," wrote prosecutors Devon Lash, Michael Gibaldi, and Andrew Reich, "counseled Ricciardo" on the "best (ways) to expand the money laundering scheme."

In one taped calI, they wrote, Thompkins told Ricciardo that Alimena, a financial whiz whom the feds have long asserted is an associate of the Genovese crime family, was so wary of being implicated in a crime that he had given her a list of "figures and everything" that he "now wants me to retype 'cause he doesn't want it in his fucking handwriting."

In seeking a no-jail sentence, her lawyers argued that government filings describing Thompkins as the "girlfriend" of Vinny Unions and "Alimena's administrative assistant" established that she played a "subordinate" role in the scheme. Probation, therefore, was "just punishment" for the notoriety she endured for 30 months for her arrest in a "serious racketeering case."

Brooklyn Federal Judge Hector Gonzalez was a lot tougher on her boyfriend: He sentenced the 78-year-old Ricciardo to 51 months in prison and also ordered him to forfeit $350,000, and pay restitution of $280,000 to the extorted union president Andrew Talamo. But the judge agreed with the request by lawyers Yusuf El Ashmawy, and Margaret Shalley not to send Thompkins to prison.

Gonzalez ordered Thompkins to perform 100 hours of community service under the direction of the Probation Department, but he rejected the defense request to reduce her prohibition for having any dealings with labor unions or their benefit funds from 13 to three years.

Alimena, 69, also caught a slide: He was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to perform 250 hours of community service. But ike Thompkins, Alimena, is barred from having any dealings with labor unions or their health and welfare funds for 13 years because of his labor racketeering conviction. All on its own, that bar is likely a tough sentence for a man who has been working with union health and benefit funds for multiple labor organizations for decades.

Editor's Note: Gang Land is a taking a slide next week. We'll be back with more real stuff about organized crime in two weeks, on May 9.

[DonPeppino386]

Thanks for posting!

[OcSleeper]

Thanks for posting

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for the post.

Scotts the best! I mean Jerry!

[Browniety86]

I thought BF turned down the button?

[aray22]

I thought BF turned down the button?

A long time ago. I wonder if Joe Petillo ever ended up taking it.

[Blunts]

Thanks for posting. This Romanello case has looked like a vendetta from the start. They couldn't nail him on previous attempts and have gone all out to make sure he dies in the can this time. It is such a flimsy case that certainly hasn't warranted the amount of time spent on it when you consider all the other stuff that is getting ignored to nail this guy. Hope the judge sees it for what it is and lets him off time served.

Fuck these feds in particular wasting all this time and money on a guy who has at least one foot in the grave already. Hope you don't get your bonuses this year you lazy fucks.

[Dapper_Don]

I thought BF turned down the button?

A long time ago. I wonder if Joe Petillo ever ended up taking it.

BF did turn it down, well documented, but winds up back in the can anyway. At that point, might as well get made when you come out cause the feds go after you as if your made anyway



thanks for posting, good story on pappa this week

[AntComello]

Thanks for posting. Interesting Pappa still talks to all these guys. Sucks for him tho it’s all documented and he can’t say that he’s out of the life and going to stay away when he gets out. Which he prob will never get out any way. Anyone got a recent pic of him? Only ones I’ve ever seen he was like in his 20’s.

[Pogo The Clown]

Guerra was actually on his way to his making ceremony in 2010/1 but it was cancelled due to LE surveillance. Then they were all indicted before it could be rescheduled.


Pogo

[slimshady_007]

Great post. Pappa seemed like a psychopath. Regardless of what his diagnosis, he shouldn’t be let free. I read into his case a while ago, he was wild, fucked up kid who loved the violence. Several of the murders he committed weren’t even sanctioned & they were over minor transgressions.

[B.]

Guerra and Anthony Russo were originally proposed together in the 1990s but Guerra turned it down as he felt being on record w/ Allie Persico was as good as being made. Persico however was extremely offended that "they" turned down his offer of membership which delayed Russo's induction. Apparently Guerra had second thoughts and decided to seek a button after all.

[gohnjotti]

When Big Anthony Russo first asked Petillo if he wanted to be a member, Petillo said no but later clarified to another Colombo associate (perhaps a wired-up Tommy McLaughlin or one of the other handful of Colombo informants from the late 2000s) that he only turned it down because he was concerned that Andy Mush Russo wanted to retaliate against him because of some beef or disagreement while the pair were in prison together.

I believe Petillo's first federal stint was in 2001, so he would've had to have served time with Andy Mush sometime between 2001-2007.

[bluehouse]

Pappa has more bodies than the 4 he was convicted of.Theres no way he stopped killing in 1994 when he was on the streets for 3 years after his final murder he was convicted of

[mafiastudent]

Pappa has more bodies than the 4 he was convicted of.Theres no way he stopped killing in 1994 when he was on the streets for 3 years after his final murder he was convicted of

One thing I will say about Pappa is that he has a whole volume full of (I can't think right now of what it's called) but all of the things he's done while in prison - teaching classes, helping prepare other inmates for release....a lot of positive stuff (sheets worth) which he didn't have to do. Some guys who are locked up don't do anything the entire time they're jailed.

Not offering an opinion either way on his current court proceedings, but there is a good reason why prison personnel are supporting this move.