A new name and a new town far away in Middle America may not be good enough to help turncoat mobster Sebastiano (Sebby) Saracino. He may need a new face as well.
Life in the federal Witness Protection Program is always complicated, but it would be especially so for Saracino, who will soon have to decide whether to move himself and his family where residents are unlikely to recognize him as a Mafia turncoat.
For one thing, the Colombo family defector has agreed to testify against his younger brother Dino. Little Dino is charged with three mob murders and faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted.
This is the kind of thing that can really fuel a family feud. And the feds say it's enough to make Dino and his cohorts try to kill Sebby if they can.
But an even bigger headache emerged this month when Sebby's picture appeared on consecutive days in two New York City newspapers for all the world to see and be forever able to spot on the World Wide Web.
Worse yet, Saracino's status as a cooperating witness became known following a series of monumental screwups the likes of which Gang Land has not seen in more than three decades of writing about mob cases in the federal courts.
Here's how it came to pass.
On December 1, Sebby Saracino, 45, pleaded guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court to lying to immigration authorities in 2002 when he swore that he had never committed any crimes in the U.S. in an application he filed for U.S. citizenship. Saracino, who had emigrated from Italy to Brooklyn with his parents in 1979, now lives in Northern California and was represented by a San Francisco attorney, John Jordan.
Lying to immigration officials is rarely viewed as a newsworthy story. But, as Gang Land reported last April, Saracino had allegedly lied about an arson for profit scheme, and his involvement in a mob rubout for which his brother Dino, 38, awaits trial. So when reporters John Marzulli and Mitchel Maddux saw his case on the court calendar, each showed up to cover it, and told their papers about a picture possibility. Photos of Saracino were duly snapped by diligent tabloid photographers waiting outside.
The following day, as readers of the New York Daily News and New York Post read about the guilty plea, Marzulli and Maddux spotted a "John Doe" case, with the same indictment number as Saracino's case, on the calendar of the same judge. When they got to the courtroom, and saw the same California lawyer they had first seen the day before, and the same prosecutor who had taken part in Saracino's guilty plea, Elizabeth Geddes, the veteran newsmen knew they had an interesting follow up story.
Judge Brian Cogan quickly confirmed the obvious. He announced that he had received a motion to close the courtroom but that the government's papers were lacking. After hearing Geddes at sidebar, he ejected the reporters and sealed the courtroom, stating that if the proceeding were held in open court the defendant and his family would be endangered and a continuing investigation could be compromised.
Saracino was not in court for that proceeding. Sources say during the closed session, however, he pleaded guilty as part of a cooperation deal that had been worked out long before his plea to immigration charges the day before. Gang Land could not learn what additional crimes he pleaded guilty to, but sources say he admitted involvement in several crimes. They include the 1995 murder of Richard Greaves, a hoodlum whom Little Dino killed in the basement of the Saracino home, and whose body Sebby drove to the same mob graveyard in Long Island where the FBI unearthed the body of slain family underboss William (Wild Bill) Cutolo in 2008, according to court papers.
Neither Geddes, nor Loretta Lynch, who was officially installed for her second stint as Brooklyn U.S. Attorney on Monday, nor any other supervisor from the office would explain to Gang Land why Geddes failed to include enough information for Cogan in her sealed motion. And why Geddes - and defense attorney Jordan, a former New York prosecutor and onetime federal prosecutor - did not move to have Saracino plead guilty to the immigration charges as part of the cooperation agreement deal in a closed courtroom is a mystery to several current and former federal prosecutors contacted by Gang Land.
"Once you get DOJ (Department of Justice) approval, there are lots of ways to get this done outside the public domain, and for good reason: The guy's life will be in danger," said one mob prosecutor.
A former assistant U.S. attorney agreed. He also noted: "To have your witness plead guilty in open court one day, and then make a motion to seal the court the next day is really playing fast and loose," and questioned the training and supervision at play. "Where was the head of the unit?"
For the record, John Buretta has been on special assignment with the Justice Department in Washington for several months. The acting chief of the organized crime unit, Taryn Merkl, did not return a call for comment. The spokesman for the office declined to comment.
"I think the lawyer screwed up too," said a onetime prosecutor who now does pretty well working the other side of the courtroom. "I would have fought like hell to have everything sealed. There's no possible upside that I can see for coming into open court and getting his client's picture in the papers if he's going to be a witness."
Jordan, whose website indicates that he worked for former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau from 1982 to 1989 and was an assistant U.S. attorney in northern California from 1989 to 1997, did not return repeated calls and emails from Gang Land.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department is still mulling over whether it wants to execute Little Dino, as well as onetime acting boss Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli, 58, and consigliere Joel (Joe Waverly) Cacace, 69, for the 1997 murder of police officer Ralph Dols. The case, which has been pending for two years, is set for trial on May 9. The next status conference is January 21.