This Week In Gang Land
Convicted Purple Gang Killer Eyeing His Freedom
Joseph
Meldish, the convicted Purple Gang assassin suspected of whacking dozens of
rival drug dealers and other victims during the heyday of the East
Harlem-based gang of drug merchants and Luchese and Genovese wiseguys in the
1970s and '80s, may be back on the streets soon if his court appointed
lawyer has her way, Gang Land has learned.
And the attorney's plan isn't a pipe dream. She plans to file a motion, she told Gang Land, that mirrors one by Meldish codefendant Kimberly Hanzlik, whose conviction for the 1999 murder of Joseph Brown was vacated last month after the Bronx District Attorney's Conviction Integrity Bureau (CIB) determined that it was "based on an unreliable identification" of her by Brown's wife.
The special conviction review unit found that the account of prosecution witness Eileen Brown that she saw Hanzlik in Frenchy's Bar in the Throggs Neck section on March 21, 1999 minutes before a masked gunman walked in and pumped eight bullets into Brown was coaxed by a now deceased NYPD detective, Kevin Tracy.
30 Months For Carmine Pizza, A Jekyll & Hyde Wiseguy Loyal To Two Families
The
feds pulled out all the stops in a failed effort last week to give Carmelo
(Carmine Pizza) Polito some extra time behind bars. They wanted the
Genovese wiseguy to serve more than three years — the high end of his
sentencing guidelines — for racketeering charges that included threats to
send a 300 pound mobster known as "Vegan" to assault a down-and-out gambler
who owed $6500 to Polito's sports betting business.
Jo Jo Corozzo Checks Out At 82
Joseph
(Jo Jo) Corozzo, a close pal and bodyguard-chauffeur for Mafia boss John
Gotti, has succumbed to a spate of ailments that have dogged him in recent
years. He was 82.
