Count FOUR - Lorenzo Lampasi ("Larry Lampesi")
Count 4 of the indictment charges Lin with assisting Gregory Scarpa, Sr., in the murder of Larry Lampesi, a made member of the Colombo crime family. Lampesi was shot to death in 1992 during the Colombo War by Scarpa, Larry Mazza and Jimmy DelMasto. As demonstrated below, this count is an excellent example of how misguided this prosecution is and how the Brooklyn District Attorney has ignored years of significant, corroborated and exculpatory evidence from multiple sources and instead brought an indictment based upon the lies of Linda Schiro.
At Lin's arraignment, ADA Michael Vecchione stated the following:
In substance, Vecchione told the Court that Scarpa killed Lampesi because Lampesi was a member of the Orena faction of the Colombo family. Vecchione argued that Lin aided Scarpa in the murder by providing Lampesi's address to Scarpa after using FBI subordinates to track Lampesi's movements.
This "evidence" is entirely contradicted by at least two former Colombo family members who have cooperated with the federal government— former acting boss and consigliere Carmine Sessa and Scarpa's closest confidant, Larry Mazza. Both of these men were interviewed by the FBI and provided testimony about Lampesi's murder in the 1990's. Both Sessa and Mazza pleaded guilty to their roles in the murder.
Carmine Sessa's testimony establishes (1) the true reason why Lampesi was killed and (2) how Scarpa really received Lampesi's address that the District Attorney claims Lin provided to Scarpa. Larry Lampesi was murdered because he sent Scarpa a letter stating there was "a lot of talk in the street about Scarpa"— meaning that Lampesi was accusing Scarpa of cooperating with law enforcement. Sessa details in his testimony how he went, on behalf of Scarpa, to then acting boss of the Colombo family Joseph Tomasello, aka "Joe T" seeking permission for Scarpa to kill Lampesi. Joe T gave permission to kill Lampesi—but specifically told Sessa to tell Scarpa that the murder should not occur at Lampesi's place of business because Joe T had a relative who worked there as well. Joe T then gave Lampesi's home address to Sessa, who in turn gave the address to Scarpa. Sessa has pleaded guilty to his complicity in the murder of Lampesi—specifically because he provided Lampesi's home address to Scarpa.
The following are partial transcripts of Sessa’s testimony in some of the Colombo family trials held in the Eastern District of New York.
Additionally, Vecchione made much noise at Lin's arraignment that Lin used FBI colleagues to track Lampesi in order to set up his murder. This is yet another example of the District Attorney brazenly ignoring exculpatory evidence in his quest to accuse Lin of these horrific crimes.
In early 1994, Larry Mazza was interviewed by FBI agents, including Special Agent Chris Favo, who the District Attorney intends to call as a witness. (Mazza is noted as "CW" in the interview report). Mazza told the FBI—within 2 years of the Lampesi's murder—that Scarpa's niece, who worked at the same bus company as Lampesi, provided Lampesi's work schedule to Scarpa, which enabled Scarpa to plan the murder in the early morning. (This interview of Mazza, as well as several other documents were recently released by the court).
As can be seen from the above, the Brooklyn District Attorney has ignored or is completely unaware of the corroborated facts as they have been presented in several federal trials by the United States Attorney's Office. He has ignored the statements of witnesses that were involved in these murders and placed blame on a good and faithful public servant who did his best to protect society from the scourge of organized crime. Instead, he has brought this case on the recently fabricated claims of Linda Schiro, who now that the District Attorney has paid her expenses, knows "everything" about Lin.
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