Surprise surprise! LOL

In my opinion he will escape the death penalty however. I don't think a jury will send him to the chair even though he deserves it.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/vincent_vinny_gorgeous_basicano_vYqomgUorzaTIk0ir7BUMO

I'm shocked.

Shocked

.

He'll win on appeal. No doubt in my mind.

no suprize here

New York crime family boss 'Vinny Gorgeous' gets life in prison
By New York Post
June 01, 2011


NEW YORK -- A Brooklyn federal jury handed down a sentence of life in prison to mob boss Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano on Wednesday, sparing him the death penalty.

The jury chose the lesser penalty for the Bonanno crime family boss, who was convicted last month of ordering the murder of an insubordinate gang associate, Randy Pizzolo, in 2004, after just an hour-and-a-half of deliberations.

The hit was put out by Basciano from his jail cell, where he was already serving a life sentence for another murder.

Known as "Vinny Gorgeous" because he once owned the "Hello Gorgeous" beauty salon and is known for his immaculate coifs, Basciano smiled at jurors warmly and nodded his head at hearing the verdict.

Seconds before the jury gave him a reprieve from lethal injection, he turned to his family, smiled broadly and winked once.

Federal prosecutors had argued that Basciano deserved to die for his crime.

Allowing Basciano to live would permit the wiseguy to continue his "cold-blooded and remorseless life in the mafia" while continuing to orchestrate crimes during his incarceration, Assistant US Attorney Jack Dennehy said.

"This defendant won't stop -- he won't leave the Bonanno crime family behind in prison," the prosecutor said, telling the jury that the gangster posed "a future danger to society."

The wiseguy's defense attorneys countered that Basciano had already paid a high price for his crimes.

"Mr. Basciano will be imprisoned for the remainder of his life," Richard Jasper, the defense attorney, told the jury. "You don't have to kill him."

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110601/NEWS90/110609972/-1/NEWSMAP

Well he got what he deserved, life sentence. Good for him that the death penalty is off.

He will probably be sent to ADX the most secure prison in the country.I personally would rather be dead than spend 23hrs a day in a concrete box

yes he will win on appeals no doubt

yeah id rather just die too than go thru all that

He probably will, if he decides to appeal this. But it doesn't really matter; he's going to do life for the Santoro murder anyway.

As far as this sentence goes: Life in prison?

But he was already doing life .

It's not like we're in the middle of the worst economic times since the Great Depression and we have 5 million in taxpayer money to waste on trying the guy .

The Government knew they'd never get the death penalty here. If Vinny's style didn't remind them so much of John Gotti, they never would have wasted their time. No wonder we're in so much debt as a country.

If he goes to a max secure prison, he wont be able to lead the Bonannos. So the argument that he will stay in power is nonsense.

yeah that bullshit about runnin a crime family from a cell nowadays is just built up by the media. im sure a long time ago it was possiable and did happen but not nowadays

In 2002 the Chin was charged with, among other things, running the Genovese family while in prison. He was sending messages through his son, Andrew. Obviously not running things day to day though. That would be impossible.

It's a valid point. But those are the Genoveses, the Ivy League (teehee) of the mob, and Gigante had to construct a never before seen new hierarchy just to keep things in place. Is it possible Basciano could pull this off? Maybe for a couple years. But I don't know if the current administration would want to do business with a guy who will be more monitored than the other jailed bosses through the rest of the years. Eh. Who knows with the Bonnanos. But if history can tell us anything, jailed Bonnano bosses become cursed.

com on please.!!!!!!! Basciano is not going to run things from ADX.... first of all who is going to listen he holds no status. Do you think he really even cares what is going on in the streets now? Besides the fact that he will never get a message out anyway. That is all over and done with. He was a stand up guy who took his punishment and went out like a legend in his world. He didnt alter from what he believed in and he stood by his beliefs. He never stood a chance from the start with this judge and his lawyers motions were always knocked down even though the lawyers were right in his behalf. I have been there and sat through his 2 trials. The judge was unfair only because of his dislike for Vinny. This judge should have been off the case in the first place. Everyone is entitled to a fair trial even mobsters. This is perfectly clear it was a circus trial and a kangaroo court like he has also stated. I have personal info to what the jurors said after the verdict. The Pizzola case almost ended in hung jury unfortunately it did not. Vinny has major issues for his appeals and has a good shot of winning with the right lawyers.

I totally agree.
If I was him I'd have WANTED the death penalty

I mentioned Gigante simply to show that it's not completely impossible that a boss can still retain overall control of a family from prison today.

But me mentioning Chin wasn't an argument that Basciano will be able to do the same thing. In fact, I don't think Basciano has been running anything for quite some time now. Contrary to what some seem intent on believing, he was never the official boss of the family. Only the acting boss for a time before he was indicted. And now that he's going to the Supermax for life, he's finished.

That's very true and that goes for the Santoro case as well. The legal system is as rotten as the mafia, but it's gonna take more than Vinny's lawyers to change that. Right now, his chances appear to be very slim, but he's definitely gotta better shot than Allie Boy Persico.

I understand the basis for appeals on the Pizzolo murder especially if the only evidence they have is that Massino recording but what's the problem with the Santoro case? Weren't there eyeball witnesses that said Basciano pulled the trigger?

He doesn't have a prayer, Vinny. You know as well as I do, that just because he was railroaded doesn't mean the Government will allow the verdict to be overturned. They want him too badly.

Loook at the Gotti trial. Who had better grounds for appeal than he did?

He was denied his own counsel (Cutler). Two jurors came forward AFTER the verdict and said they felt pressure to convict from the Government, and it all fell on deaf ears. Forget the fact that the word of a serial killer put him away. He then hired William Kunstler for the appeal, who was perhaps the most prolific civil rights attorney in American history, and he still couldn't get Glasser to hear his arguments. Basciano's case reminds me of Gotti's in a lot of ways.

I'm no mob groupie, and I'm not saying that Basciano doesn't deserve to be in prison. If you kill people, you most certainly should be incarcerated for it. I'm just saying that he doesn't deserve the venom that the Government holds for him, and they should have gone after him fair and square. Same went for Gotti.

Basciano shouldn't be going to Supermax in Colorado, either. But he'll most certainly rot there.

Amen to that.

Like I said, the chances appear to be very slim at this point. However, convictions have been overturned on similar grounds in the past and even less serious grounds. The odds of winning the Powerball are exceptionally slim. Yet many people have won. Vinny Basciano's odds at having this overturned are far better than winning the Powerball. There's too many people fed up with this system and the more people talk about it, the better chance he has. Look at all the guys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld have gotten out. Their work has gotten a lot of attention. They have been able to show and prove that there has been a corruption of the process in many cases. Due to them, countless convictions have been overturned. Now, Vincent Basciano may not be no Geronimo Pratt (r.i.p.), who was clearly an innocent man, but Basciano still has the same rights as Geronimo Pratt.

Then maybe Vinny can join the Black Panthers in prison if it will help his case .

You are right his chances are very slim if none at all.. but you never know. Correct me if Im wrong but didn't Nicky Scarfo have life sentence in ADX and he managed to overturn it and was then sent to FCI in Georgia. Basciano has 2 life sentences so would be almost impossible to overturn both.

Incorrect. Those two trials were presided over by the very same judge. The timing is also very important because the government found out about the Santeria list before the 2007 trial. The fact that this judge was alerted about a possible attempt to have him killed on the orders of the defendant in this case creates an obvious appearance of bias. If the rule of law means anything and everyone playing by the rules of the law, then that alone is and should be enough to have any judge removed from a case. It's been done many times and even in capital cases. However, this judge was never moved. He sat through TWO trials! That is why both of these convictions should be overturned immediately. You must also keep in mind, the plot to kill the prosecutor was confirmed by Massino in 2004. Andres was placed under armed guard as a result. This is very important and even though the responsibilities of judges and prosecutors aren't the same, the thought of a prosecutor with a personal vendetta does not sit well with anyone who believes in a defendant's right to a fair trial. Anyone with a functioning brain should be able to understand that any human being who knows of a real attempt on his or her life has a clear motive for ensuring their own personal safety. The prosecutor is no longer just a prosecutor prosecuting the defendant, he's also an individual with a deep personal interest in the case. We don't need to be rocket scientists to know that a person who believes he has a contract on his life by one of the largest organized crime families in New York is not the best candidate for making ethical decisions. In fact, Greg Andres didn't. He didn't disclose vital evidence and he was playing backroom games with the judge throughout that circus of a trial. I know of several cases where the prosecutor has been removed from a case due to a similar conflict of interest.

Thanks.... great information !!!! Confirmed what I had already heard before..