I didn't kill your son, murder-for-hire mobster Joseph Meldish tells victim's mom during sentencing
Joseph Meldish was convicted of pumping nine shots into Joseph Brown.
A notorious murder-for-hire mobster swore to his victim's mother at sentencing Tuesday that he didn't gun down her son.
And he ripped into prosecutors for painting him as a cold-blooded killer.
"You painted me as a monster, but I didn't kill that man," Joseph Meldish, 54, told prosecutor Christine Scaccia during a dramatic court hearing in the Bronx.
Meldish, who was convicted of pumping nine shots into Joseph Brown, 35, then turned to Brown's mother, Bernadette.
"My heart goes out to you, but I didn't kill Joseph," Meldish told the grieving mother, explaining how his own son died in a 1993 car wreck.
"I suffered the same way you suffered. I would never harm your son," he said.
Law enforcement sources said Meldish was longtime muscle for the Purple Gang, an independent crew originally affiliated with the Lucchese, Genovese and Bonanno crime families.
Police believe the ex-enforcer carried out roughly 70 contract killings before cops nailed him for Brown's murder in 2007, sources said.
"He was the Throgs Neck Bully," Scaccia said in court.
Meldish's lawyer, Murray Richman, said the current murder case was built on lies.
"My client is not a choir boy, but he's not guilty of these charges," Richman said.
Richman also said he's uncovered new evidence showing the prosecution's star witness might have perjured himself.
Brown's mom said Meldish's sentence of 25 years to life in prison offered little solace.
"All that may have been is gone," she said.
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