
Colombo mobster Scott Fappiano’s luck is getting better The hard-luck-hood had done big time for a rape crime he didn’t commit, and he once fell prey to a pair of Colombo mob rats , one of whom was the nephew of jailed Mob boss Tommy “Tommy Shots” Gioeli who was wearing a wire while Fappiano and his crime partner were planning a hardcore home invasion with handguns
He was even taped using threats of violence in a mob shake down over a gambling debt. But lady luck was on his side today in the form of Federal Judge Kiyo Matsumoto , who only sentenced the lucky loser to probation on the extortion charges. Read the reason why.
Story by Mitchel Maddux, NY Post
A reputed Colombo crime family associate who served more than 20 years in prison on a wrongful conviction escaped a return to jail today when he was sentenced to probation on extortion charges.
Scott Fappiano will have to serve three years probation, pay a $40,000 fine, and hand over $2,000 in forfeiture to the government for participating in the mob-connected shake-down plot.
Brooklyn federal Judge Kiyo Matsumoto said Fappiano’s experience as an innocent man who endured the horrors of prison played a “very significant” role in her decision to not send Fappiano back to jail.
Fappiano – who is now 50 – was just 23 years old when he was convicted of raping a NYPD officer’s wife after a trial in Brooklyn Supreme Court back in 1985.
Two decades passed before he was exonerated through DNA evidence that cleared him of the sexual assault.
At today’s hearing, Fappiano recounted some of the chilling ordeals he underwent during his years behind bars.
While serving time in New York’s state prison system, his face was crushed with a pipe, his was cut with a razor blade, and he was stabbed in the back with an ice pick.
Once Fappiano saw a man burn to death in prison after being doused with gasoline and set afire.
To escape such dangers, Fappiano says he voluntarily spent eight years in solitary confinement.
Since his release from prison five years ago, he has struggled with alcohol and drug problems directly linked to his wrongful conviction, said Harlan Protass, his attorney.
But Brooklyn federal prosecutors pointed out that after Fappiano was freed, he returned to his life as a mobster and was involved in a number of crimes. read more Here