The defection of a mafia leader was once unthinkable. But the Government prosecution were battered and weakened families crowd of New York over the past two decades, and a net of water of the defections has become a steady stream, with several "Act" or janitor patterns became turncoats.
But the decision of Mr. Massino to cooperate with federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, disclosed in January 2005, was all the more shocking because of its reputation as a brave old world, a pattern of crime which seemed to cling to values of decolorization of honor and omertà, code of silence Mafia, a reputation that has earned the tabloid dubbed "the last gift".
Now 68, its pompadour fainting and its full jowls governing tinged voice of declination of his native Queens, he turned against the Bonanno Family shortly after his conviction in July 2004 on charges of murder and racketeering. At the time, he faces life in prison for these crimes, and prosecutors said they will try to the death penalty in another case, making him the first boss of the crowd to the performance of face for decades.
Mr. Massino will testify Tuesday to the Federal murder and the trial of Vincent Basciano racket, which could also face of the death penalty if recognized guilty of killing a Bonanno associate Randolph Pizzolo. Mr. Basciano is already serving a sentence of life for a conviction of murder and racketeering in 2007.
At the time of his conviction, Mr. Massino offered government information on Mr. Basciano, a subordinate who he said was a plot to kill a Federal Prosecutor and he secretly recorded their conversations in a federal holding cell. Mr. Basciano, who prosecutors say was a captain serving Bonanno Family acting boss, was also from several acts of murder charge.
Mr. Massino also saves Mr. Basciano talk about the assassination of Mr. Pizzolo and prosecutors argued later that Mr. Basciano also conspiring to kill the judge in his case, Nicholas g. Garaufis of the United States District Court, the current trial. Under the cooperation agreement, Mr. Massino pleaded guilty to eight more murders and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms. his wife and daughter were allowed to keep their homes.
Barry Levin, who represented Mr. Basciano on trial 2006, dismissed Mr Massino as a witness, utility as a "pathological liar" and saying that the Government "had welcomed with open arms to prove that they could break a boss."
Mr. Levin has also criticized the Ministry of Justice to Mr. Basciano trial still despite his length of life in prison. The case, he said, has already taxpayers nearly 4 million $-fees for defence counsel appointed to the Court of Mr. Basciano - and the trial itself has not yet started. Mr. Levin this attributed to the efforts of the Government to win a death sentence on what the authorities have said was parcel of Mr. Basciano to kill the Prosecutor. He noted that no jury Brooklyn has imposed a sentence of death of a figure in the crowd for future generations.
Appearance by Mr. Massino Tuesday comes as law enforcement officials have been debating the force and the capacities of the families of organized crime, whose ranks have been decimated over the past two decades. But some researchers say they fear that crime families are resurgence after 10 years in which the federal authorities have been more targeted on terrorism and crime white collar, and that more focus the resources of the mob families will strengthen.
Mr. Massino, which, unlike some of his peers, avoided the spotlight, had managed to maintain discipline tight family Bonanno for years, even while other clans of crime was riven by defections. This approach - the responsibility of the penetration of the family by an agent of the FBI in the 1980s, which has been interpreted in the film "donnie brasco" - for a time he serves well.
During this time, the growing ranks of turncoats from the crowd with other families in the past two decades has helped the authorities beat down three other crime families New York, New Jersey family who became a model for the television series "The Sopranos."
Bonanno and Genovese family has managed to avoid the attack largely because some members broke ranks and became Government witnesses.
This has changed for the Bonannos after a series of investigations chipped away to the family with a few defections in the late 1990s. Displacement seemed to peak when underboss to Mr. Massino - brother of his wife - the betrayed and became a witness, a coup d ' état which was later to be left with the collaboration of Mr. Massino, the boss himself.
没有评论:
发表评论