The Associated Press
'Oddfather' finally faces trial
For 27 years, he fended off the law, muttering while he wandered the streets in pajamas and bathrobe, until a judge agreed that it was all a fraudulent "crazy act." This week, the man considered the last of the big-time mobsters-"The Oddfather"- goes on trial on murder and racketeering charges. The government says Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, 69, in the nation's most powerful Mafia boss and head of the Genovese crime family. His relatives and lawyers contend Gigante is too sick with Alzheimer's disease to run anything, or even to assist in his own defense. Gigante has been around since the mob's peak in the 1950's and 1960's- long before Cosa Nostra's ranks were decimated by tougher anti-racketeering laws, attrition and defections. "In terms of longevity, of having been there when, having left his imprint on the mob, there's no one else like 'Chin,' " said Ronald Goldstock, former head of the state's Organized Crime Task Force and now a private security consultant. "From the point of view of history, and the mob in its heyday- he's it." Gigante's criminal record spans a half-century, beginning in 1947 with a string of petty gambling convictions. It includes a five-year prison term for drug dealing and a 1957 acquittal in the botched assassination of Frank Costello, then New York's top crime boss. He reportedly was hired for the Costello hit by mobster Vito Genovese, who wanted to take over the crown. The shot only grazed Costello, who nevertheless took the hint and retired. At trial, Costello said he couldn't identify the hit man; Gigante walked. Gigante, who inherited John Gotti's mantle as top mobster after the former Gambino boss was jailed for life in 1992, is charge with six murders, three attempted murders, conspiracy, extortion and other misdeeds between 1980 and 1991. Gotti himself allegedly was the target of one murder attempt. Jury selection was to begin Monday before U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein, with opening statements two days later. Weinstein, known as a demanding, no-nonsense trial judge, has given prosecutors for weeks to complete their case. Defense lawyers Philip Foglia and Michael Marinaccio said they would need a week. The jury was expected to be kept anonymous, though not sequestered. Gigante is free on $1 million bond but wears an electronic bracelet for "walks around the block." The trial, delayed twice since the 1990 indictment, climaxes years of legal haggling over Gigante's sanity the began when he first raised claims of mental illness in 1971 to beat a conspiracy rap. He became noted for nocturnal wanderings near his home in Greenwich Village wearing a bathrobe, mumbling unintelligibly.
webmistress note: the June 22 article 'Oddfather' finally faces trial is special to me. I was reading on the floor of his hospital room the day he died. Its the article that started this site.
