Vincent Gigante Trial: 1997

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Vincent Gigante Trial: 1997

Defendant: Vincent "The Chin" Gigante
Crimes Charged: Racketeering, murder, conspiracy to commit murder
Chief Defense Lawyer: Michael Marinaccio
Chief Prosecutors: George Stamboulidis, Andrew Weissman
Judge: Jack Weinstein
Place: New York, New York
Date of Trial: June 25—July 25, 1997
Verdict: Guilty of racketeering and conspiracy to murder
Sentence: 12 years in prison and $1.25 million fine

SIGNIFICANCE: After finally bringing the elusive "Chin" to trial, the government's case rested on two things: 1) Proving the mobster really was a top crime boss and 2) establishing that he had the mental competence to issue orders and run the family business. Testimony by gangster turncoats, including a riveting one via closed-circuit television, guaranteed justice at last.

For more than 20 years, Vincent "The Chin" Gigante eluded justice with an elaborate and innovative ruse: He acted crazy. The reputed head of New York's powerful Genovese crime family wandered the streets of his Greenwich Village neighborhood in a tattered bathrobe, relieved himself against light poles, and muttered incoherently. Word on the street had it that "The Oddfather" used an umbrella while showering. Gigante even had himself hospitalized 25 times for schizophrenia in the 20 years before his prosecution.

An Elaborate Ploy

Federal authorities claimed that the charismatic ex-boxer Mafia boss committed himself whenever they came close to indicting him. In a seemingly endless series of competency hearings, Gigante's lawyers stalled prosecution for nearly seven years, saying their infamous client was mentally unstable.

Finally in August 1996, a federal judge in New York found "The Chin" competent to stand trial. Gigante, twitching, trembling, and talking to himself in the courtroom, faced 21 charges ranging from racketeering and extortion to the murders of two mob rivals. Federal prosecutors also charged him with ordering several gangster murders as well as conspiring to murder three others. Notorious New York crime boss John Gotti was on Gigante's hit list.

Gigante reportedly plotted the executions because the target mobsters allegedly had violated a Mafia rule against committing murders not sanctioned by mob chieftains.

During his four-week trial in 1997, the question of the 68-year-old Gigante's sanity remained central, along with the issue of whether or not he actually ruled the Genovese family. Prosecutors claimed that Gigante feigned mental illness, all the while directing operations for the Genovese Family. The Genovese reportedly reigned the strongest of New York's Big Five crime families, including the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, and Lucchese clans.

Gigante's defense told jurors their client whispered to light poles and told psychiatrists he heard the voice of God. They argued that because the mobster clearly was mentally incompetent, he couldn't have the acuity to concoct sophisticated plans for kickbacks, bid-rigging, and murders. They claimed he was unable to issue orders to Genovese soldiers.

Mob Informants Testify about
Gigante's Sanity

Prosecutors built their case on the testimony of six mob informants and a dozen law enforcement agents. The defense presented no witnesses; Gigante did not take the stand. He sat in a wheelchair during the proceedings, at times seemingly oblivious to the drama unfolding in the Brooklyn federal courtroom.

First to testify for the prosecution was Peter "Big Pete" Chiodo, a former captain of the Lucchese family. The 400-pound Chiodo, whose bulk may have helped him survive a dozen bullets fired into him during a 1991 hit, said he had heard Gigante referred to as the Genovese family boss on several occasions.

Chiodo also testified that he had angered Genovese family members once when he used Gigante's name in a conversation instead of the word "Chin." Mob bosses, he said, preferred their nicknames and Gigante was emphatic about it. Sometimes, gangsters simply referred to Gigante by stroking their chins. Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno and former Lucchese crime family captain Al D'Arco related similar stories on the witness stand.

Ex-Gambino family underboss Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano testified in a thick, Brooklyn accent that "Chin was the boss" of the Genovese family. Gravano had confessed to 19 murders as part of a 1991 deal with the government to testify against reputed mobsters for at least two years. He had spent five years in prison.

But it was turncoat gangster Peter Savino who emerged as the government's most important witness. Savino, a Gigante assassination target, was the only prosecution witness with direct ties to the Genovese family. The 55-year-old mobster testified via closed circuit television, visible to both Gigante and jurors, from an undisclosed location. He was too ill to travel.

Sweating profusely and constantly mopping his brow with a paper towel, Savino testified for a day and a half. Obviously in pain, he frequently asked for breaks, which Judge Jack Weinstein granted. Savino told how he was the Genovese family's man in a vast network of bid-rigging and extortion schemes. He related how the crime family earned millions of dollars in kickbacks from replacement window contracts for New York city housing projects. Savino produced taped conversations to back his story.

Ironically, Gigante might not have taken it on the chin from Savino if he had been able to keep up the stalling tactics that had served him so well for nearly seven years. Only three months after his testimony, Savino died of cancer of the lungs, liver and pelvis.

Defense Accuses Informants of Lying to Save Themselves

In his closing arguments, Gigante's attorney, Michael Marinaccio, branded the turncoat gangsters "psychopaths and liars," claiming they tailored their stories to get favorable government treatment. Assistant U.S. attorney Andrew Weissman countered that the Mafia squealers were telling the truth; if they weren't, they would lose their promised freedom.

"In the old world, lying was a way of life," he told jurors. "After they made a deal with the government, lying risked everything."

Marinaccio produced a series of elaborate charts to remind jurors how many people the government witnesses had admitted killing. He warned the jury not to believe the "words of six madmen." Gigante stared vacantly from his wheelchair.

The panel of eight women and four men deliberated 16 hours over three days before delivering a guilty verdict. Jurors decided Gigante indeed headed a sophisticated bid-rigging and kickback scheme to infiltrate the window-replacement business. He also was convicted of conspiring to kill informer Savino as well as Gambino crime boss Gotti and his brother Gene.

Gigante affected the role of crazy man to the bitter end. At his sentencing on December 18, 1997, Judge Weinstein ordered "The Chin" to shed his sweatpants and don gray slacks and blazer from a stash of used clothes set aside for improperly attired defendants. Looking dazed and confused, Gigante said "Good morning" to the judge and courtroom viewers. He listened glumly as the judge gave him a 12-year prison term and imposed a $1.25 million fine.

With mandated good time, Gigante could be free in 10 years. Noting "The Chin's" sentence could have been as much as 30 years, Judge Weinstein stated he had weighed Gigante's documented hypertension and heart problems against his crimes. Nevertheless, Gigante appealed.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed Gigante's conviction in January 1999. He then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming he was denied a "face-to-face confrontation" with Savino when the dying man testified via closed-circuit television. He said his Sixth Amendment right to confront his accuser had been violated. In January 2000, the Supreme Court justices let Gigante's conviction stand.

"The Chin" now serves his 12-year term in a Fort Worth, Texas, prison hospital. He reportedly has delegated many mob duties, but continues to call the shots in Genovese family operations, just as he's done for decades.

—B. J. Welborn