Gambino associate shows thank you letters from politicians in bid for leniency
This mobster is the scam artist-in-chief.
A longtime Gambino crime-family associate tried to convince a judge he’s politically connected to avoid a harsh sentence — claiming a mass-mailing from President Obama proves he has pals in the Oval Office.
Anthony “Tony O” O’Donnell is awaiting sentencing on Dec. 18 on federal charges of shaking down owners of Sitt Asset Management, a Manhattan real-estate investment firm.
His lawyer yesterday filed 17 pages of cookie-cutter thank-you letters from politicians as part of the mobster’s sentencing memorandum, which usually includes notes from well-meaning acquaintances.
“Anthony, I’m about to go to speak to the crowd here in Chicago, but I wanted to thank you first,” read an election night e-mail from the president’s campaign headquarters, which was also sent to millions of other supporters.
Another, from former President Bill Clinton, read, “Anthony, Thank you so very much for your message on my 66th birthday.
“Hearing from you made a special day even more memorable,” said the Aug. 23 letter, complete with a letterhead from the Clinton Foundation and a note thanking O’Donnell for his support.
In his impersonal letter, Sen. Chuck Schumer wrote, “Anthony, thank you, thank you, thank you!
“Because of your support, we re-elected president Obama, expanded our democratic majority in the Senate, and picked up seats in the House,” the Democratic senator from New York said.
O’Donnell also filed thank-you letters from US senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and senator-elect Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
The mobster was arrested by the FBI in January 2011 alongside 126 other wiseguys in the largest single-day operation against organized crime in US history.
The raid took down members of every one of the notorious Five Families of New York for crimes including murder, racketeering, drug-dealing, union extortion, robbery and loan-sharking.
Other criminals in the federal indictment included members of New Jersey’s DeCavalcante crew and New England’s Patriarca clan.
O’Donnell has previously been convicted for the armed robbery of a UPS truck and a mob-related extortion, federal records show.
Assistant US Attorney Whitman Knapp said O’Donnell has served as the right-hand man to a powerful Gambino capo, “has a significant criminal history” and “poses a danger to the community.”
He faces up to 37 months behind bars under a plea agreement.
http://m.nypost.com/p/news/national/obama_backing_mobster_0D5y5hWOdi8c19xfSQeN3I
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