A former beauty salon owner known by the Mafia as Vinny Gorgeous was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole for the 2001 killing of one of his gangland rivals, federal prosecutors said.
A jury convicted Vincent Basciano in 2006 of racketeering, attempted murder and gambling but deadlocked on a murder charge in the slaying of Frank Santoro. After a retrial, Basciano was convicted of murder in July 2007.
Basciano, who once owned a salon called Hello Gorgeous, used a 12-gauge shotgun to kill Santoro because he believed Santoro wanted to kidnap one of his sons, prosecutors said.
One of Basciano's lawyers, Ephraim Savitt, said he plans to appeal and challenge prosecutors' central trial witness, Dominick Cicale, a former Basciano protege who said he and Basciano gunned down Santoro. The defense lawyers have said prosecutors built the case on untruthful testimony from mob turncoats.
Basciano became the acting boss of the Bonanno organized crime family after the arrest of Joseph Massino.
Massino was sentenced in 2005 to life in prison for orchestrating murders, racketeering and other crimes over a 25-year period. He avoided a possible death sentence by providing to the government evidence against Basciano and other mobsters.
While imprisoned together, Massino secretly recorded Basciano discussing a plot to kill a prosecutor, resulting in new charges against Basciano, authorities said. If convicted in that upcoming trial, Basciano could face the death penalty.
Get the latest breaking current news and explore our Historic Archive of articles focusing on The Mafia, Organized Crime, The Mob and Mobsters, Gangs and Gangsters, Political Corruption, True Crime, and the Legal System at TheChicagoSyndicate.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Best of the Month!
- Mob Hit on Rudy Giuilani Discussed
- Aaron Hernandez: American Sports Story - The Truth About Aaron: My Journey to Understand My Brother
- The Chicago Syndicate AKA "The Outfit"
- Mob Boss Dies
- Mexican Drug Lord and Sinaloa Cartel Co-Founder, Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada Arrested along with Son of El Chapo, Joaquin Guzman Lopez #ElChapo #ElMayo #Sinaloa #Fentanyl
- Son of Mob Hit Man Takes Witness Stand
- Village of Stone Park Place Convicted Mob Felon on Pension Board, Trustees Hide and Sneak Out Back Door, When Asked About It
- Mob Murder Suggests Link to International Drug Ring
- Mafia Wars Move to the iPhone World
- Operation Family Secrets Mob Murder Victims
No comments:
Post a Comment