A 10-Year Term Given by Judge To Crime Figure

A 10-Year Term Given by Judge To Crime Figure


By LEONARD BUDER

Published: February 10, 1988



A 76-year-old former leader of the Gambino organized-crime family was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in Federal prison and ordered to pay fines totaling $380,000.

''It is not easy to sentence an old man,'' Judge Jack B. Weinstein told the defendant, Joseph N. Gallo, in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. ''But you have to be sentenced for the things you have done and so that you will not be used as a role model for others.''

The judge said the prison term, under the circumstances, was ''essentially a life sentence.''

Mr. Gallo would technically be eligible for parole after serving a third of his sentence, but organized-crime figures are often required to serve at least two-thirds of their prison terms. Racketeering Charges

The white-haired, slightly built defendant, who had been consiglieri, or counselor, of the crime group now reputedly headed by John Gotti, showed no emotion as he heard the sentence.

Mr. Gallo was convicted of racketeering charges on Dec. 22, the first time he had ever stood trial on criminal charges. He was found guily of two bribery counts and illegal interstate travel to commit bribery but was acquitted of loan sharking. Although he was given the maximum fines, he could have received up to 20 years in prison.

Mr. Gallo's lawyer, Dominic F. Amorosa, urged Judge Weinstein to take into consideration his client's age and heart condition and the poor health of Mr. Gallo's wife. He also asked that ''the crimes of others'' not be held against Mr. Gallo. Virtual House Arrest

The judge said Mr. Gallo, as a Gambino leader, was responsible for crimes committed by others in the organization. ''Without leadership,'' he added, ''there would be no organization.'' He allowed Mr. Gallo to remain free but under virtual house arrest, pending his appeal of his conviction.

One of the bribery charges of which Mr. Gallo was convicted accused him and a co-defendant, Joseph Armone, of plotting in 1981 and 1982 to give a $20,000 bribe so that Mr. Gallo's son, Joseph C. Gallo, would be transferred from a state prison, where he was then being held, to a Federal prison, where presumably he would receive better treatment. The senior Mr. Gallo is not related to Joseph (Crazy Joey) Gallo, who was slain in 1972 in a restaurant in the Little Italy section of Manhattan.

Mr. Armone, who is said to be the underboss of the Gambino family, is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 22.