REPUTED MOB FIGURE FATALLY SHOT IN BROOKLYN CLUB

REPUTED MOB FIGURE FATALLY SHOT IN BROOKLYN CLUB


By TODD S. PURDUM

Published: January 16, 1987



A reputed organized-crime figure was killed in a Brooklyn social club late Wednesday by one of five armed men who forced several patrons to lie on the floor while they robbed them of money and jewelry, the police said yesterday.

Investigators said they were trying to determine whether the slaying might be linked to the murder of a retired city police officer, who was found shot to death an hour later in a stolen van on a street about two miles away. They said the gunmen in the first attack had reportedly fled in a van.

The first victim, Salvatore Scarpa, 56 years old, was shot at least once in the head in the club at 1275 74th Street in the Dyker Heights section about 11:50 P.M., the police said. He was taken to Maimonides Medical Center and pronounced dead shortly after 2 A.M.

Mr. Scarpa has been identified as a sworn ''soldier'' in the Colombo organized-crime family. His brother, Gregory, has been identified as a captain in the family. A Fight for Control

Local and Federal law-enforcement officials said they were investigating the possibility that he was slain as part of a fight for control of the family in the wake of the conviction last year of its leader, Carmine Persico, on racketeering charges.

Mr. Persico, 53, was sentenced Tuesday to 100 years in prison, along with several other men convicted of being the leaders of the ''commission'' that rules the Mafia in the United States.

One of the gunmen was masked, but the police said they did not know which man shot Mr. Scarpa. They said his assailant spoke with him before he fired, and that the gunmen may have robbed the other people in the club to disguise the attack on him. Mr. Scarpa's watch, a gold pendant and his wallet containing $313 in cash were found beside his body, the police said.

The four gunmen not wearing masks were all black, and investigators said one of them used the words ''Howard Beach'' before fleeing the club, a storefront with a sign identifying it as the offices of European Imports Ceramic Tiles. But the police said they did not regard the incident as racially motivated. Scarpa Was Free on Bail

At the time of his death, Mr. Scarpa, who the police said lived at 7401 Shore Road in Bay Ridge, was free on bail awaiting trial on a cocaine possession charge from last September, said a spokesman for the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, Linda Sachs.

In the other murder, Carlo Antonino, 45, a police officer who retired on a disability pension in 1977 after receiving numerous commendations in 11 years on the force, was found in a red Dodge van parked on Homecrest Avenue at the Shore Parkway in Sheepshead Bay about 12:55 A.M. He had been shot at least three times in the head.

The police said Mr. Antonino, who lived in West Islip, L.I., and worked occasionally for a construction concern in Freeport, L.I., had last been in touch with his son Wednesday afternoon by telephone. He said he was ''going to get a bite to eat,'' said Capt. John V. Ricci of the Brooklyn detective command.

Captain Ricci said Mr. Antonino was found after a man called the 61st Precinct to say he had heard shots and seen ''three males'' running away from the van, which was reported stolen on Tuesday in Brooklyn.