GL NEWS 5/7/2020

[Bklyn21]

This Week in Gang Land
By Jerry Capeci

Yoga Meister Mobster Gets Out Of Prison Eight Years Early
Gang Land Exclusive!Michael SpinelliAfter spending nearly 28 years behind bars, Luchese mobster Michael (Baldy Mike) Spinelli was released from prison eight years ahead of time Monday by the same judge who called the plot to kill a Brooklyn mother of three "an unthinkable act of cowardice" when he sentenced the gangster for the heinous crime.

In a surprise ruling following an emergency motion for bail based on the COVID-19 pandemic, Brooklyn Federal Judge Raymond Dearie ordered Spinelli, 66, released on a secured $250,000 bond and confined to his sister's home to await resentencing for the attempted murder of the sister of a turncoat mobster in front of her home back on March 10, 1992.

The judge acted after Spinelli's trial attorney pushed for his "compassionate release" in a moving letter that praised Baldy Mike's growth as a human being during the decades he's been behind bars. Like the "old man" in the Shawshank Redemption played by Morgan Freeman, the lawyer wrote, Spinelli wishes he could "talk some sense" into that "young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime."

"Michael has demonstrated that he had forsaken his criminal past and instead turned his life around," attorney Ephraim Savitt wrote in asking Dearie to grant the request that his former client had submitted to the judge in March. In his letter asking the judge to convert his sentence to "time served," Spinelli wrote: "I'm asking to come home a few years early to build a peaceful life as an old man that I did not do as a young man.".

3-11-92 Daily News WoodAs Gang Land reported a month ago, Spinelli admitted in his letter he had been a violent criminal. But he asserted that after discovering yoga 10 years ago, he had become a "changed" and "better man." That claim was backed up by letters from Baldy Mike's longtime Bureau of Prisons counselor and several inmates who praised Spinelli's role behind bars.

Spinelli is not home free, however: The government is still requesting that he receive the same prison term when he is re-sentenced on May 18 for gunning down Patricia Capozzalo.

In a memo to the judge, prosecutor Joshua Hafetz pointed out that the sentencing guidelines that sent Spinelli away remain the same. He also reminded Dearie of his own words during the 1999 sentencing. On that day, Dearie stated that the shooting of the innocent woman broke one of the Mafia "rules that just aren't broken" and would be a "black indelible mark (on the Luchese family) that will never be washed away."

But having now released Spinelli on bail after serving 28 years behind bars, it's difficult to fathom the judge sending Baldy Mike back to prison, even for a crime that is arguably the low point in the history of the American Mafia. His current prison term is slated to end in March of 2028.

Michael SpinelliSavitt, who was Spinelli's court-assigned trial counsel, hasn't seen him since his sentencing. He stated that he was writing his first letter seeking leniency for a former client not as his "former attorney, which I am, or as a social friend, which I'm not," but because "I believe it is the right thing for me to do."

The lawyer wrote that many years before he learned about "Spinelli's complete transformation from the person who he had been three decades ago to the person who he has become," he had "grown to respect Michael, despite his obviously serious criminal past" as an inducted member of the Luchese crime family.

Spinelli was different than many of his other "gangster" clients and some of his "white-collar" clients who tended to "badmouth" the federal agents, prosecutors, as well as "the victims who testified against them" and "the judges who sentenced them," Savitt wrote.

"Michael never once spoke ill in personal terms of either the FBI agents who investigated his case and/or testified against him or of the prosecutors at his trial," he wrote. "Demonstrating his readiness to accept that they were 'just doing their job' and it was 'nothing personal' left an indelible impression on me," the lawyer wrote.

Judge Raymond Dearie"Truth be told," Savitt continued, "I fully expected that he would have developed ad hominem bitterness against the Court who sentenced him and subsequently dismissed his habeas petition; to his credit, Michael never once uttered a word to me that would have evinced such a feeling."

"Instead," the lawyer wrote, "although he couldn't have been pleased with the outcome of either proceeding, he never stooped, as many of my other clients over the decades have, to even criticize the judge who made those decisions, in any, much less personal, terms."

Savitt argued that Spinelli's medical illnesses "have worsened" and become "life-threatening" since his transfer to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. Given the spread of the deadly pandemic, Savitt asked Dearie for an immediate release of a "sick, old and totally harmless man with no desire, motive or even ability to recidivate."

Frank GioiaThe attorney also went to some lengths to contrast Spinelli's current contrite and productive attitude to that of Frank Gioia Jr., the turncoat Luchese mobster who testified against Baldy Mike at trial. Gioia was later released from federal prison and relocated to Arizona with a new identity under the federal Witness Security Program. When Gioia faced the music for his crimes, Savitt noted, the cooperating witness "was virtually lionized at his sentencing proceeding by federal prosecutors and FBI agents."

But, as Gang Land has reported, Gioia, under his new name, Frank Capri, has since been arrested and charged with ripping off investors of restaurants and other enterprises to the tune of some $64 million. As Savitt noted in his letter, the ripoffs were also accompanied by threats of physical harm to the victims.

"In his resurrected life," the lawyer wrote, "Gioia preyed on unsuspecting citizens who were taken in by his criminal schemes for many years." Gioia's shenanigans continued, said Savitt, until he was arrested and jailed without bail on federal fraud and money laundering charges in January. That was the same month that Spinelli was transferred from his prison digs in Texas to the MCC in New York.

During his own time behind bars, Spinelli has "evolved from a convicted felon into a productive and helpful person to a degree that is rare among prison populations," Savitt wrote.

"By devoting his time and efforts to helping others in his prison community during his many years of confinement, without seeking praise or compensation of any kind in return," Savitt wrote, Spinelli deserves a time served "sentence that allows him to spent the final years of his life with his sole surviving sister Denise and the remnants of his own family."

Ephraim SavittAsserting that he was "not sufficiently erudite to end with a pithy Shakespearian quote" or even a "superficially apt Biblical passage," Savitt opined that Morgan Freeman's words in Shawshank Redemption "in his role as the 'lifer' called 'Red,' during his final and successful presentation to the parole board captures Michael Spinelli's present state of mind."

"There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret," said Red. "I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left."

"After nearly three decades in prison," wrote Savitt, "Michael Spinelli has become 'this old man is all that's left,' one who is much older than his chronological years. Please allow my erstwhile client to live out his remaining years outside prison walls and to be reunited with his law-abiding and supportive family."

Feds: Our Retired Judge, John Gleeson, KOs Sammy Bull; Frankie Loc Is Still Guilty
John GleesonJohn Gleeson, the former federal prosecutor who rode his stellar work at the 1992 trial of Gambino crime family leaders John Gotti and Frank (Frankie Loc) Locascio to a seat on the Brooklyn bench, has weighed in on Locascio's pending last-gasp appeal of his murder conviction.

Not surprisingly, the ex-judge isn't buying Frankie Loc's innocence claim. But more troubling for the aging mobster, Gleeson also expresses strong skepticism about turncoat wiseguy Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano's insistence that Locascio had opposed the 1990 murder of Gambino mobster Louis DiBono.

The affidavit by Gleeson, who stepped down from the bench in 2016, comes three months after Locascio's effort to win a new trial won a favorable ruling from an appeals court granting him a new hearing on his claim. The court's ruling cited Gravano's affidavit that he would've testified to Locascio's innocence in the DiBono killing if he'd been asked at trial.

Salvatore GravanoIn his affidavit, Gleeson wrote that, in prepping for trial, and in his meetings with Sammy Bull before, during, and after the trial, Gravano never told him many of the key points in his declaration that Locascio cites as reasons why his conviction should be tossed.

"At no time prior to, during or after trial did Gravano tell me," Gleeson wrote, "(1) that he believed Locascio had opposed the decision to murder DiBono; (2) that he believed Locascio tried to convince Gotti not to kill DiBono; (3) that Gotti expressed resentment towards Locascio for opposing Gotti’s decision to murder DiBono; or (4) that he believed Gotti demoted Locascio as a result of Locascio's opposition to the DiBono murder."

Gleeson also wrote that he has spoken to Sammy Bull many times since the trial, "even after Gravano's testimonial cooperation was over" until his 2000 arrest "on narcotics charges in Arizona. Though I did not speak to Gravano while he was incarcerated on those charges, I have spoken to him by phone several times since his release from prison in 2017."

Frank LocascioThe Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's Office states that Gravano's assertions of Locascio's innocence are "directly refuted" by Gleeson's affidavit — and there's no need to dig any further into the matter. Assistant U.S. attorney Kevin Trowel asked Federal Judge I. Leo Glasser to dismiss the last ditch appeal by the 87-year-old Gambino consigliere to reverse his conviction and order him to finish out his life where he is now — behind bars.

"There is no testimonial or documentary evidence that could alter the source, quality, credibility, or relevance of the information contained in the Gravano Declaration," Trowel wrote, "and the Court therefore need not conduct a hearing or order discovery to deny Locascio's petition on the merits."

A close read of Gleeson's affidavit, however, reveals that he stops short of rebutting the main point in Sammy Bull's declaration, that is: "Frank Locascio had no role in the planning of, nor did he participate in any way in the murder or conspiracy to murder Louis DiBono."

Gleeson also never states that Gravano told him that Frankie Loc was involved in the murder, or the conspiracy to murder DiBono. That is something Gang Land expects Locascio's main lawyer, retired Boston federal judge Nancy Gertner, to focus on in her reply, and request that Glasser schedule a hearing to decide what is a life-and-death matter for her client. Her reply is due in two weeks.

In fact, in discussing the DiBono murder, Gleeson seems to skirt the issue of Locascio's role in the section of his five-page affidavit about the October 4, 1990 gangland-style slaying.

Nancy Gertner"Gravano described his involvement in the DiBono murder and murder conspiracy, crimes to which Gravano pleaded guilty," he wrote. "Gravano also described the criminal activities of Locascio, who held the role of acting underboss of the Gambino Crime Family until approximately January of 1990, when he became the acting consigliere of the family, the position he held at the time of his arrest and conviction," Gleeson wrote.

That last sentence backs up the government's main theory of Frankie Loc's conviction: that he was properly found guilty of the murder because he was part of the Gambino crime family administration, not because he played any role in the murder or conspiracy to murder DiBono.

But the 2d Circuit Court of Appeals considered that point when it ruled in February that Gravano's declaration was newly discovered evidence that entitled Locascio to an unusual second request to file "a successive" appeal of his conviction to the judge — a habeas corpus motion known as a "2255 motion" — and sent it back to Glasser to decide.

Sources say that Locascio's legal team — of four lawyers — as well as the U.S. Attorney's office, have not spoken to Sammy Bull about the DiBono murder. His affidavit was obtained by the late Charles Carnesi and given to Locascio's attorneys, according to court filings in the case.

Meanwhile, according to attorney Seth Ginsberg, who was co-counsel with Carnesi on many cases over the years, if Glasser schedules a hearing, Gravano is ready willing and able to testify about the DiBono murder, if he is subpoenaed.

Junior Gotti Chimes In, Keeping The Two-Johns Soap Opera Feud Alive
John A. GottiJohn A. (Junior) Gotti agrees with his bitter foe, John Alite, on at least one comment his former close pal and onetime partner-in-crime offered in last week's column about their long-running, soap-opera-like feud: "We're a divorced couple for the rest of our lives."

The erstwhile Junior Don himself confirmed that by sending us a letter stating that he "chased" Alite and initiated the big breakup back in 1991. As proof, he noted, "the government had no audio or video or still photographs of Alite in our company since that year."

Junior also wrote that he wanted to "correct" a "maze of misinformation" in the column. So Gang Land pored over the letter for something we'd gotten wrong. It wouldn't be the first time, and as the record shows, when we make mistakes, we fix them as soon as we can. We couldn't find any, but we're glad to give him the floor and relate some of the high — and low — lights of his letter.

His strongest point was countering Alite's assertion that he had never been an informer.

John Alite"Alite was (despite his assertion to the contrary), a government informer since at least 1991," Gotti wrote, noting that Alite "has admitted" knowing and having a "friendly relationship with FBI agents Dave Gentile and Jason Randazzo" for decades. Junior wrote that at his 2009 trial, Alite testified he had known Randazzo for 30 years, and in subsequent podcasts had stated he knew agent Gentile since the 1990s.

"To assert that he is not an informer," Gotti wrote, "strains the limits of credibility, as for what other purpose would he have an association with FBI agents for some three or more decades, while being, as he claimed, in the Life. That would have been a death sentence."

Gotti slammed Gang Land for giving Alite a platform and allowing his complaints to serve as the "structure and foundation" of the column. Actually, the column included extensive quotes from six other named sources, including Chris Kasparoza, Gotti's partner in a book and docu-series project, Witsec Mafia.

Junior GottiIn 2016, Kasparoza, whom Gotti wrote was a "relatively recent acquaintance," created a website, johnalitefacts.com, which has more details about Alite's ties to the ex-agents, and where much more Junior angst with his old pal can be found.

Junior was also angered that we let Alite offer what he called the "ridiculous assertion" that Gotti saw himself as a "crime fighter." This complaint is a bit of a head scratcher since in 2018, Junior penned a 2000-word piece for Men's Journal in which he wrote that he was going to "expose" liars like Alite in his Witsec Mafia book. This picture of him, sitting at his desk, appears above his byline, and under the headline: "How John A. Gotti Became A Crime Fighter."

"I was a criminal who deserved to go to prison, and in the end, I won," he wrote in 2018, declaring: "I'm not bitter."

In his letter, Gotti also weighed in on our April 2 column about his ongoing association with leaders of the Latin Kings. Gotti called that "journalistic garbage," and accused Gang Land of "implying" that he was "a member of the Latin Kings." Just because there are photos of him with someone who "might have been a Latin King," he stated: "I am not now, nor have I ever been a Latin King."

To underscore his point, Gotti wrote that the notion that he was a Latin King was "trashed as fiction" by Philadelphia-based crime writers Dave Schratwieser and Scott Burnstein last month. That's exactly what we'd expect them to do, since no one we know of — certainly not Gang Land — has ever stated that Junior was a Latin King.

What Gang Land did write is that Junior voiced admiration for the Latin Kings several times while he was behind bars for a 1999 racketeering conviction. We also ran two photos of him with the indicted leader of the Northeast region of the gang, Michael (King Merlin) Cecchetelli — not a picture of Gotti with a guy who "might have been a Latin King."

Although Junior questions how tough life really was for Alite in 2004-05 when he was in a Brazil jail fighting extradition to the U.S., Gotti doesn't question a key point in last week's column: Alite didn't cooperate until more than two years after Gotti fingered his then deceased dad and Gambino gangsters Daniel Marino and Joseph Watts in murders during a January 2005 proffer with the feds.

Junior's retort about his meeting with the FBI and federal prosecutors in Manhattan seems to be: So what? Noting that he never testified for the government and that no one was ever charged with a crime based on his talk with the feds, Gotti gets the last word in the feud — and for the foreseeable future, at least as far as Gang Land is concerned:

"At no time, did I provide any information against anyone that was later prosecuted by reason of this session, or inconvenienced in any way," Junior wrote, except for "my sister Victoria, my brother Peter, and those amongst my closest friends" who were subpoenaed by the feds because of "my continuing refusal to cooperate with the government."

[Bklyn21]

Nothing really interesting here , Except maybe the fact Frankie loc got screwed

[dack2001]

Never underestimate a prosecutor who wants to keep their conviction intact. Gleeson is desperate to keep Frankie Loc in prison because to let him out states to the world that he did something wrong and imprisoned an innocent man. Almost all prosecutors are the same, they can't ever look objectively on the work that they did.

[Bklyn21]

Never underestimate a prosecutor who wants to keep their conviction intact. Gleeson is desperate to keep Frankie Loc in prison because to let him out states to the world that he did something wrong and imprisoned an innocent man. Almost all prosecutors are the same, they can't ever look objectively on the work that they did.

That's horrible for Frank , I was surprised he made it to the Championship round lol. I really thought he was gonna win

[Dwalin2014]

Never underestimate a prosecutor who wants to keep their conviction intact. Gleeson is desperate to keep Frankie Loc in prison because to let him out states to the world that he did something wrong and imprisoned an innocent man. Almost all prosecutors are the same, they can't ever look objectively on the work that they did.

There aren't really "innocent" men among MADE MEMBERS of the mafia. While I agree that if Locascio opposed DiBono's murder, he didn't deserve a life sentence for that specific crime, but the fact he knew about Gotti ordering the hit before it happened and never notified the law enforcement, this makes him an accomplice to the crime. If he thought that his "I am not a rat" pride was more important than to stop the murder from happening, that's his problem imo.
However, IF he really did disagree with Gotti about the murder, then maybe the time he already spent in prison is enough, I can agree with that.

By the way, is Locascio alleged to have been involved in any other murder? He was only convicted for the DiBono one, but were there any other ones which weren't proven in court? I am asking this as a curiosity, not as part of the argument whether he should be released.

[dack2001]

I'm not following down this morality rat hole other than to state that being an accomplice requires an overt act to further the crime. Not standing silent. That's not in the federal code. There is no federal requirement to notify law enforcement. Moral requirement? Maybe, but this isn't Hammurabi times or ancient Egypt.

Regardless of that, some prosecutor shouldn't get to decide that guys should rot because they are guilty of "other" crimes that they weren't caught. Being a member of the mafia is not a crime. That is an issue that has been adjudicated in federal court. Locasio is serving a life sentence solely for his participation in the DiBono murder. Suspected in many. You don't have to feel sorry for him, because he probably doesn't deserve sympathy but an injustice is an injustice.

[Dwalin2014]

I'm not following down this morality rat hole other than to state that being an accomplice requires an overt act to further the crime. Not standing silent. That's not in the federal code. There is no federal requirement to notify law enforcement. Moral requirement? Maybe, but this isn't Hammurabi times or ancient Egypt.

Regardless of that, some prosecutor shouldn't get to decide that guys should rot because they are guilty of "other" crimes that they weren't caught. Being a member of the mafia is not a crime. That is an issue that has been adjudicated in federal court. Locasio is serving a life sentence solely for his participation in the DiBono murder. Suspected in many. You don't have to feel sorry for him, because he probably doesn't deserve sympathy but an injustice is an injustice.

I understand what you mean, but in this case, how would you consider the prosecutions in trials like the Commission case in the 80s, when a group of bosses put a crime on vote (like the Galante + 2 bodyguards hit), and some vote "yes" and others vote "no", do you think only the ones who voted "yes" should be prosecuted? Persico is said to have voted "no" for the hit, but after the majority overruled him, he complied. Does this make him innocent or not? Maybe this example isn't that simple because we don't know 100% sure whether Persico was really the boss at the moment or Thomas DiBella was, but the question is whether only the ones who vote "yes" at the meeting should be prosecuted in your opinion?

Even though it's another country, I remember there was the same issue/problem in Italy, at the trials of the mafia commission for murders that have been "collectively decided", there were controversies about whether all the bosses present at the meeting where the murder was discussed should be held responsible or not.

[Extortion]

See that Kasporoza, Gotti threw you under the bus “relatively new aquaintence” no idea why hed say this but it seems like he wants people to know he hasnt known you that long

[dack2001]

That's a good question and complicated. Personally, if Persico voted no, I'd say it could be used as RICO predicate despite the vote but he couldn't be convicted of the act itself in furtherance of Rackateering. That's how the RICO statute was designed to work but prosecutors realized convicting guys of the act in furtherance of a RICO conspiracy got guys life in prison. Think about the law, it was designed to allow lesser proof to prove guys were involved in a RICO enterprise. Then guys like Gualiani drove a truck through the statute in the Commission trial. Persico had a legitimate beef on his appeal, if he voted no he shouldn't be convicted of the act.

That is a legal distinction but it also in compliance with the congressionally passed statute. 1st degree murder is a state crime, RICO wasn't designed to make it easier to get guys convicted for murder and given life just because they are in the mafia, it was designed to criminalize already criminal conduct and the burden of proof was lowered to do so. This issue will get raised again in that Crea and Madonna trial.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Never underestimate a prosecutor who wants to keep their conviction intact. Gleeson is desperate to keep Frankie Loc in prison because to let him out states to the world that he did something wrong and imprisoned an innocent man. Almost all prosecutors are the same, they can't ever look objectively on the work that they did.

I'm not following down this morality rat hole other than to state that being an accomplice requires an overt act to further the crime. Not standing silent. That's not in the federal code. There is no federal requirement to notify law enforcement. Moral requirement? Maybe, but this isn't Hammurabi times or ancient Egypt.

Regardless of that, some prosecutor shouldn't get to decide that guys should rot because they are guilty of "other" crimes that they weren't caught. Being a member of the mafia is not a crime. That is an issue that has been adjudicated in federal court. Locasio is serving a life sentence solely for his participation in the DiBono murder. Suspected in many. You don't have to feel sorry for him, because he probably doesn't deserve sympathy but an injustice is an injustice.

Both quality posts. Agree.

[bert]

John Gleeson is a prosector in judges robes. No way Locascio was going to get a fair ruling from John Gleeson.

[bert]

See that Kasporoza, Gotti threw you under the bus “relatively new aquaintence” no idea why hed say this but it seems like he wants people to know he hasnt known you that long

I don't think Gotti threw him under, I do wonder how long they are friends. Kasparoza did get a bit part in that movie, so he has to have known him for a few years. I think Kazporoza is like many others, trying to be a writer on crime, however he seems genuine on his feelings about Alite and Gotti.

[Extortion]

I think he could be a good crime reporter but hes OBSESSED with them two.

[Pogo The Clown]

Yeah what an injustice for LoCascio.


Pogo

[bronx]

how come the little gotti who opted out of the mafia dosen't put his hand up and say frankie was innocent of debono, why ? maybe sammy was right they both hated sr. and jr is letting frank rot..he is making shows about rats..but won't help a stand up guy .. that is a scumbag.. put your hand up jr