^^^^
Well, first of all, Lubrano never should have even been charged in that assault. The cops and prosecutors were too quick to tie him to Tanglewood. Joe is from Belmont, a Bronx guy. Tanglewood is up in Yonkers, on the Scarsdale border. The suburbs. The connection those kids had to the Bronx was through the fathers, not any of the sons.

Now I'm not implying that Joe didn't know those guys, that would be a stretch. But he wasn't one of them. If it was anyone else, they wouldn't have even attempted to make that leap. I mean, why assume that a Bronx kid had something to do with a mid-Westchester gang beating on a guy on the Upper West Side of Manhattan? Makes no sense.

Because I'll tell you, Joe and Freddie look about as much alike as any other two guys with dark hair and olive skin. But the prosecutors had so much egg on their faces all they could say was, Well they looked an awful lot alike .

As far as Joe goes, he got a lot of grief for crying when he was sentenced. But he redeemed himself. He knew full well who jumped the black cop and he never said a word, even after four years in the joint. And the father never forgot that. Joe's success with the Luccheses is that simple.