Nov. 3, 1997

INFORMER'S DEATH COMES TOO LATE FOR CHIN

By Jerry Capeci

THROUGH a well-orchestrated crazy act, Vincent (Chin) Gigante was able to put off his trial for seven years. Alas, the delay was not long enough.

If Gigante had been able to postpone his racketeering and murder trial for just three more months, the legendary Mafia boss might still be walking around Greenwich Village in his bathrobe pretending to be crazy.

Peter Savino, unquestionably the most important witness at Gigante's trial, succumbed to cancer of his lungs, liver and pelvis on Sept. 30 somewhere in the United States. He was 55.

Savino, whose July testimony was beamed into Brooklyn Federal Court by closed circuit television because he was too ill to travel, was the only turncoat gangster with links to the Genovese family to take the witness stand against the Genovese boss.

His testimony - from a secret court room outside New York - was the most damning and the most dramatic at the month long trial.

With tape-recordings to back him up, Savino told how he was the Genovese family's man in bid-rigging and extortion schemes that earned millions in kickbacks from repacement window contracts at New York city housing projects.

Gigante was found guilty of more than 30 labor racketeering counts and also with conspiring to kill Savino after learning that Savino was cooperating with federal authorities.

Sweating profusely and constantly mopping his brow with a paper towel, the gaunt Savino was in obvious pain and granted frequent recesses by trial judge Jack Weinstein during his day and a half of testimony.

"I need to stop a minute now guys," Savino said at one point.

"I got to take a break please," he said later.

Near the end of his cross examination, Savino groaned and clutched the armrests of his chair, and a concerned Weinstein urged the lawyers to wrap up their questions.

The Gigante lawyers were unconvinced. Philip Foglia, who was in the same court room as Savino, told his colleagues that during breaks Savino was walking around unaided. "He appears to be ... exaggerating his degree of discomfort," defense lawyer Steven Kartagener told the judge.

"I'm just hoping he survives," said Weinstein.

Savino did, long enough to sink Gigante.

The same day that prosecutor Andrew Weissmann quietly announced Savino's death in a letter to Weinstein, he loudly objected to 75-year old Mario Gigante visiting 69-year-old brother Vincent at the Westchester Medical Center where he's undergoing a mental evaluation.

Citing a recent tax evasion plea by Mario, a reputed Genovese capo due to report to prison in March, Weissmann asked Weinstein to bar visits on the grounds that Mario would help Chin run the Genvovese crime family from his psychiatric ward.

Weinstein refused, saying he would reconsider if Weissmann presented some evidence to back up his claim.

At the same proceeding, Weinstein put off Gigante's sentencing until Dec. 4, rejecting a defense request to put it off until after the Christmas holidays.

"We have to dispose of this case," said Weinstein.

Gigante faces up to 27 years. Depending on Gigante's mental status at the time of sentencing, he could be sent to a federal prison or a mental institution. Judge Weinstein has ruled that Gigante was competent before and during his trial.

Call him the Doodlin' Don.

After years of saying no to autograph seekers and charities like the Canadian Red Cross, John Gotti has signed a sketch of a roaring lion he reputedly drew and donated it to a South Florida food bank for a celebrity auction.

And the sketch fetched $2,500 - more than three times the $700 paid for a self portrait of LeRoy Nieman, the next highest price for a celebrity doodle that was among 18 sold at a MIami Beach auction of the Daily Bread Food Bank of South Florida.

"It's one of the best drawings we've ever gotten," said Elizabeth Alexakis, a spokeswoman for the food bank. "It's very intricate. It looks like he used a few different types of pencils to do it, because of the shadings."

Did Gotti - serving life for murder and racketeering at Marion Federal Penitentiary in Illinois - actually draw the lion himself?

Absolutely, said Gotti's chief lawyer and friend, Bruce Cutler.

"John drew it. He did it to help needy, hungry children. And the Lion. It's one of his credos: It's better to live one day as a lion than a hundred years as a lamb."

The bidding started with a $1,000 offer from a New York collector. A Denver bidder doubled the price to $2,000; a final $2500 bid from a Miami collector took the prize.

The money obtained from the Gotti drawing will provide 7,500 meals, said Alexakis, who sought doodles from other notorious criminals, including Charles Manson and Manuel Noriega, and saw nothing wrong with "criminal art." Manson declined, but Noriega supplied a sketch of President Clinton that brought $100.

"They're paying their debt to society," Alexakis said. "This is in addition. They're taking time out of their schedule to do something for the South Florida community that's above and beyond the restitution they owe.

"I have to have a lot of respect for them," she said of Gotti and Noriega. How many people do we know who don't give back anything at all?"