By Rich Calder
A reputed mobster got A
reputed mobster got “whacked” — and lived to whine about it.
Robert Franco, who
confessed to being part of a mob effort to control New York and North Jersey’s
garbage-carting industry, is trying to get out of jail time by claiming he
still suffers terrible pain from getting whacked in the head four years ago by
a chunk of falling concrete.
Feds say the reputed
Genovese soldier and nephew of ringleader Carmine “Papa Smurf” Franco is not a
very wise guy — and doesn’t deserve a break.
Prosecutors revealed in
court filings Wednesday that Franco, 51, of White Plains, was stealing
recyclable cardboard trash for the mob when the concrete fell from elevated
tracks in The Bronx and struck him.
They know, because the
blockhead was unknowingly under FBI surveillance.
“The 2010 falling-concrete
incident was observed by FBI agents conducting surveillance and occurred while
the defendant was collecting stolen cardboard in the Bronx,” Assistant US
Attorney Brian Blais told Manhattan federal Judge Kevin Castel.
“It is ironic for the
defendant to seek leniency in part based on an injury suffered while the
defendant was committing the very crime for which he is being sentenced.”
Blais asked Castel to give
Franco six to 12 months in prison when he’s sentenced Wednesday.
Franco has pleaded guilty
to transporting stolen garbage containers and cardboard across state lines.
Franco had asked Castel for
leniency in court filings last month. He claimed he can’t cut it in prison
because he “walks with a limp” from a 2003 car accident and “still experiences
migraine headaches” from the falling-concrete accident, which left him with a
“concussion” and required “18 stitches” to his head.
The government estimates
that he helped steal 10 metal garbage containers valued at a combined $20,000
and 561 tons of cardboard worth a whopping $112,200 on the re-sale market.
However, the feds agreed to
set the value of the stolen goods for sentencing purposes at “$30,000 to
$70,000” as part of the plea deal.
The heisted metal
containers were taken to a waste transfer station controlled by his uncle and
artfully repainted in colors resembling those used by haulers affiliated with
the elder Franco.
Both Francos are among 32
alleged members and associates of the Gambino, Genovese and Luchese crime
families busted by the FBI in January 2013.
Carmine Franco has also
copped a plea in the case busted by the FBI in January 2013