Federal judge receives round of applause for giving Colombo family boss lenient sentence
Andrew "Mush" Russo, acting Colombo mafia boss, arriving at Brooklyn Federal Court. He was sentenced to 33 months in prison for racketeering but will only be jailed until May due to time served.
A Brooklyn judge received a round of applause from relatives of Colombo crime boss Andrew Russo after she sentenced the longtime gangster to serve only two months longer in prison for racketeering.
"Your poppy will be home soon," Federal Judge Kiyo Matsumoto assured Russo's granddaughter, using the child's nickname for the 78-year-old Mafia boss.
Matsumoto said the mobster had a great family — referring to the relatives in the courtroom — prompting them to start clapping.
Russo, who was nabbed during the big Mafia Takedown of 2011 with 127 other mobsters, faced up to 41 months in prison, but like the gaggle of geezer gangsters who came before him, he sought leniency for his various medical ailments.
Matsumoto gave him 33 months, and with credit for time served, he will be a free man by May.
Russo’s lawyer had claimed his client is a peaceful man despite secretly recorded tapes of Russo vowing to put the shattered Colombo crime family back together.
Prosecutor Elizabeth Geddes destroyed that argument. "It (the Colombos) doesn't serve as a community service organization," Geddes said. "There is no other purpose than to make money through crime."
Matsumoto is apparently still stung by criticism from a law enforcement source, quoted in a Daily News article earlier this year commenting that consigliere Richard Fusco left her courtroom laughing after feigning deafness at his sentencing.
"If Mr. Fusco made a fool out of me, then shame on me," Matsumoto said Thursday.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/78-year-old-colombo-crime-honcho-light-sentence-article-1.1295797
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