Friday, December 22, 2006

FBI "knew all along they were not guilty"

Michael J. Albano, former Springfield MA mayor and state Parole Board member, testified this week that the FBI repeatedly withheld evidence that several men convicted of murder were actually innocent, according to a story by Dan Ring of the Springfield Republican.

"The FBI knew all along they were not guilty," Albano, 56, said in U.S. District Court in Boston on Tuesday.

Albano's testimony in the $100 million lawsuit brought against the government by Peter Limone, Joseph Salvati and the families of Louis Greco and Henry Tameleo echoed that of former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, who testified last week. The four men were convicted in 1968 of the 1965 murder of Edward "Teddy" Deegan. The conviction was based in large part on testimony that has since been proven false. Greco and Tameleo spent the remainder of their lives behind bars for a crime they did not commit. Limone and Salvati were finally released in 2001, after FBI documentation in the case was revealed.

While a new member of the Parole Board in the 1980s, the matter of commuting the sentences of Limone, Salvati and Greco came before the board. (Tameleo had died in prison in 1984.) Albano said he asked the FBI for information, but was not provided with an important report. He ultimately and unsuccessfully voted for commutation.

After leaving the witness stand, Albano told reporters that FBI agents attempted to persuade him against voting for the commutation of the sentences. "They... said it probably would not bode well for me if I wanted to remain in public life, that this would not be a good vote for me."

Related MobNews items:
Dukakis testifies in Limone lawsuit 12-14-2006
DiNunzio released on $20K cash bail 12-05-2006
Mass. police arrest DiNunzio 12-02-2006
Salvati, Limone sue FBI for 1960s frameup 08-19-2006
Attorney: FBI responsible for mob hit 06-30-2006
Agent had 'Whitey' concerns in '81 06-14-2006
FBI 'condoned' crimes, gang hits 06-07-2006

Brazil sends Alite home to U.S.

The Brazilian government turned reputed Gambino Crime Family bigshot John Edward Alite, 44, over to U.S. law enforcement agents earlier today, according to a story on CNN.

The agents immediately brought Alite back to the United States. He faces a list of racket-related charges in connection with a Gambino family branch that operated in the Tampa, Florida, region.

Four men, believed to be Alite's underworld accomplices, were convicted in November in Tampa. Alite was fighting extradition from Brazil at the time of that trial.

The four - Ronald "Ronnie One Arm" Trucchio, Steven Catalano, Kevin M. McMahon and Terry L. Scaglione - are to be sentenced in March. Trucchio and Catalano face possible life prison sentences. McMahon and Scaglione could be jailed up to 20 years.

One member of Gambino crew in Tampa, Michael Malone, earlier pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against his former associates.

Earlier this month, the November jury verdict was called into question, as one juror claimed that she was pressured into voting guilty and that she observed improper behavior by some jurors.

Related MobNews items:
Tampa jury frightened by Trucchio investigators 12-08-2006
Gambino's Tampa crew convicted 11-30-2006
Trucchio defends himself, for now 10-18-2006
Tampa Gambino crew goes on trial 10-16-2006
Gotti tapes link him & dad to Uva murders 06-23-2006

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Writer, editor, researcher, web publisher, specializing in organized crime history. (Available to assist with historical/genealogical research, writing, editing. Email at tphunt@gmail.com.)
Editor/publisher of crime history journal, Informer; publisher of American Mafia history website Mafiahistory.us; moderator of online forums; author of Wrongly Executed?; coauthor of Deep Water: Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia and DiCarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime; contributor of U.S. Mafia history to Australian-published Mafia: The Necessary Reference to Organized Crime; writer/co-writer of crime history articles for several publications.
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