Updated news on the Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno, Lucchese and Colombo Organized Crime Families of New York City.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Gambino associate seeks new lawyer in bid to get murder sentence tossed


This gangster needs to do a better job at choosing his mouthpiece.

An imprisoned mobster who claims he was sold out by a prominent defense lawyer is facing potential problems with the new lawyer handling his case.

Reputed Gambino crime family associate John Matera — who’s serving 20 years in the slammer for setting up the 1998 murder of mob rat Frank Hydell — hired lawyer Seth Ginsberg to file suit last year in a bid to get his sentence tossed.

Matera contends that his previous lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman — who won acclaim for his defense of Mafia prince John “Junior” Gotti — had a conflict of interest because he was also representing another mobster, Thomas Dono, who took part in Hydell’s rubout.

But Manhattan federal prosecutors say that Ginsberg has a conflict of his own because he’s a “key witness” regarding Matera’s claims, which hinge on a secret recording made by another mob turncoat, Lewis Kasman, that Ginsberg learned about in 2008.

Under federal law, there’s a one-year statute of limitations to bring forth “newly discovered evidence,” and the feds say Ginsberg “has represented Matera since at least July 2009 — well more than one year before the filing of this motion.”

A court hearing into the matter is set for Wednesday.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/mobster_in_lawyer_go_round_mwqSLXWUNVfKgQ9jhTnU2N


0 comments:

Post a Comment