Appeals court upholds conviction of former Bonanno boss "Vinny Gorgeous"
The ugly truth is that "Vinny Gorgeous" was convicted fair and square, according to a Manhattan appeals court.
Ex-mob boss Vincent Basciano failed today in a bid for a new trial on charges that got him the first of his two life sentences.
The US Second Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected claims that prosecutors improperly withheld evidence that could have cleared the former Bonanno crime-family chief in the murder of a renegade underling.
A three-judge panel said the information "suggests only that it would have been helpful to the defense to argue that others had a motive" in the 2004 rubout of Bonanno associate Randolph Pizzolo."
Among other things, Basciano alleged that Pizzolo had shot, but not killed, a reputed Gambino family associate in a failed mob hit two years earlier outside a popular Italian restaurant in Queens.
Prosecutors used evidence of the Pizzolo murder to help convict Basciano on racketeering, gambling and drug charges for which he was sentenced to life behind bars.
Basciano was later convicted of ordering Pizzolo's murder, for which he also got life after jurors spared him the death penalty.
Ex-mob boss Vincent Basciano failed today in a bid for a new trial on charges that got him the first of his two life sentences.
The US Second Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected claims that prosecutors improperly withheld evidence that could have cleared the former Bonanno crime-family chief in the murder of a renegade underling.
A three-judge panel said the information "suggests only that it would have been helpful to the defense to argue that others had a motive" in the 2004 rubout of Bonanno associate Randolph Pizzolo."
Convicted crime boss Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano.
Prosecutors used evidence of the Pizzolo murder to help convict Basciano on racketeering, gambling and drug charges for which he was sentenced to life behind bars.
Basciano was later convicted of ordering Pizzolo's murder, for which he also got life after jurors spared him the death penalty.
0 comments:
Post a Comment