Gambino Crime Family Captain Appeals Guilty Verdict in Murder Over Spilled Drink
A Gambino crime family captain convicted in 2013 for the murder of two bar owners over a spilled drink is appealing the guilty verdict.
Bartolomeo “Bobby Glasses” Vernace was convicted of racketeering conspiracy spanning 1978 through 2011. Charges included heroin trafficking, robbery, loansharking, illegal gambling and the 1981 double homicide of bar owners Richard Godkin and John D’Agnese.
Gangland News reports that a federal appeals court has already begun to look into reams of documents filed on Vernace’s behalf.
From the Forum News:
According to Gangland News Founder and columnist Jerry Capeci, defense attorney Seth Ginsberg has pointed out that Vernace was acquitted of the murders when city prosecutors tried him, and so the federal murder conviction should be tossed “because it violated Justice Department guidelines against using racketeering laws for state crimes ‘unless the pattern of racketeering activity … has some relation to the purpose of the enterprise.’”
A Second Circuit panel is scheduled to hear oral arguments about the conviction in September, Capeci said.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com