Informant claims jailed Colombo boss is innocent of murder conspiracy as sentencing is postponed
Colombo boss Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli may be getting another shot at beating a murder rap.
Gioeli’s sentencing next week on racketeering charges has been postponed indefinitely after federal prosecutors informed Brooklyn Judge Brian Cogan that new information has surfaced implicating someone other than Gioeli in a 1991 murder conspiracy he was convicted of last year.
The judge has ordered both sides to appear in his courtroom May 28 to figure out the next move, sources said.
Gioeli had beat the rap for eight gangland murders, but the jury convicted him of conspiracy in the killing of Frank "Chestnut" Marasa.
Although he dodged a life sentence, Gioeli still faced a maximum of 20 years in prison.
After the stunning verdict, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration snitch secretly recorded a conversation with someone claiming that Gioeli was not involved in the Marasa hit after all, sources said.
Shockingly, the information was not passed on to the FBI or the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office until recently, sources said.
"The whole thing stinks," one source said.
Gioeli could ask the judge to throw out the verdict and seek a new trial or demand that he be released on bail while defense lawyers and the government hash out the fiasco.
The revelation does not appear to affect Gioeli's co-defendant Dino Saracino who was not involved in Marasa's murder.
"We have always maintained he (Gioeli) is innocent of all the charges," defense lawyer Adam Perlmutter told The Daily News.
If the alternate theory is proven true — which it hasn't yet — it could call into question the testimony of star witness Dino Calabro who ratted about Gioeli's role in the murder.
"Tommy always said, 'Shoot him in the body first. Then walk up and cap him,'” Calabro said.
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