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| September 2, 1999 |
| By Jerry Capeci |
| Pinstripes & Prison Bars |
 When Bonanno capo Frank
(Curly) Lino, 61, (left) was told to report to prison Sept. 10, he fidgeted, shuffled his
feet, swallowed a few times and looked around the courtroom staring at no one and nothing.
He looked like a little boy who had just lost his new ball.He and two other Bonanno bulls from Brooklyn and a Genovese bear from Callicoon, N.Y., had pleaded guilty earlier this year to extortion and other charges stemming from a "pump and dump" Wall Street stock fraud scheme and were in court to be told when to report to prisons designated by the federal Bureau of Prisons. Lino, 61, finally got enough courage to speak. "Uh, Your Honor," Lino said sheepishly, "I, uh, have tickets to uh, a baseball game that night. Could you, uh...." "A baseball game?" Manhattan Federal Judge Denny Chin said incredulously as chuckles and giggles swept through the courtroom. "Uh, yes, Your Honor, a Yankee game." More chuckles and giggles. Chin smiled the smile of a knowing baseball fan.
"Sept. 14 then," he said
His buddies -- all assigned surrender dates from Sept. 10 through Sept. 17 -- wished they had a ballgame to attend. His close associate and key operative in the scheme, Eugene Lombardo, (right) received eight years, was dunned $200,000 in restitution and agreed to forfeit an additional $400,000 seized from him in 1997.
Some 20 mobsters, brokers and officials of HealthTech International Inc., an Arizona company that ran fitness centers, were charged in the case. In a 12-month, $3 million scam, the mobsters bought securities at rock bottom prices and sold them at huge profits after brokers helped raise the price of the stock artificially high by overpitching it to unsuspecting investors. So far, 16 defendants have pleaded guilty, two were
convicted at trial and More about the food and table banter next week. |
| Christmas Party Probe |
| Federal prison officials,
investigating a guard for allegedly bringing Italian food into a special unit for
cooperating witnesses in Phoenix so turncoat wiseguys could have a little Christmas
cheer, have collected a strange piece of evidence -- a salami skin. An inmate, a supposed wiseguy from Detroit, told investigators that he attended the gala holiday festivities and gave them a dried out salami skin he had squirreled away in his cell for months. Bureau of Prisons spokesman Scott Wolfson declined to comment about the salami wrapping or any other evidence officials had seized, but confirmed that the matter was the subject of a continuing investigation. If warranted, added Wolfson, the case would be referred to the U.S. Attorney's office for prosecution. Gang Land reported last week that a bunch of turncoat mob figures -- Salvatore (Fat Sal) Miciotta, Joseph DeLuca and John Napoli -- threw the party for selected members of the unit last year. The correctional officer in question, Linda Dorn, who has been fingered by the trio, other inmates and several guards to officials investigating reported breaches of security at the unit, is also suspected of smuggling a tape recorder into the unit, sources said. Dorn, who is also an official of the guards' union,
"was written up by her supervisors in October 1998 for bringing" a tape recorder
into the prison for Napoli, a New York area mob associate who has conned gangsters,
businessmen and federal law enforcement officials for decades. |
| Junior Gotti's Day |
 John A. (Junior)
Gotti has paid most of the $1 million in fines required as part of his plea deal and
his sentencing is set for tomorrow before White Plains Federal Judge Barrington
Parker.In a deal struck on the eve of trial, Gotti, 35, pleaded guilty last April to racketeering charges that include loansharking and lying on a mortgage application. He faces 70 to 87 months. Gotti will get credit for the nine months he was held without bail following his arrest. It is unclear whether Gotti, who is currently trying to unload his Long Island mansion before he goes to jail, will begin his sentence immediately or be allowed to surrender later as some codefendants have arranged. Whatever, he won't be attending any baseball games. He's confined to his home, under strict house arrest restrictions. We'll explain what this all means in a full report next week. |
What's a day or two when you're sending a man to prison for the next
57 months and relieving him of $120,000 in restitution. After he watches the Yankees play
their Eastern Division rivals, the Boston Red Sox, Lino, with any luck, good time off and
the continued success by the Bronx Bombers, might be home in time to see his team play in
another post-season series -- in 2003.
Bonanno soldier John 
The lead defendant in the case, Genovese capo Rosario Gangi, began
serving his time -- eight years and one month -- earlier this year. Gangi (right)
was also ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution. 
