Francesco (Frank) Fiordilino, a
former Bonanno mobster, admitted to illegal gambling and collecting debts for
people he owned money while he was testifying for the federal government last
year in the murder trial of Gambino capo Bartolomeo Vernance. His new crimes
have enraged prosecutors because it could toss Vernance's conviction into
jeopardy.
BY JOHN MARZULLI
A seasoned rat — already marked
for death by the mob — has managed to enrage prosecutors, too, after he
admitted committing crimes while in the federal witness protection program.
Francesco (Frank) Fiordilino, a
former Bonanno mobster, copped to illegal gambling and collecting debts for
people he owed money while he was testifying for the government last year in a
sensational gangland murder trial, the Daily News has learned.
Fiordilino’s alleged crimes
could now toss into jeopardy the conviction of Gambino capo Bartolomeo Vernace,
65, who killed two men in a Queens bar in 1981. The murders were sparked by a
spilled drink.
Defense lawyers Charles Carnesi
and Joseph DiBenedetto have filed papers seeking a new trial or an evidentiary
hearing to explore Fiordilino’s criminal activities while protected by the
feds.
Court records show the 44-year-old
rat admitted his crimes to handlers in the U.S. Marshals Service and the
Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office because he feared he was going to get whacked
over the money he owed.
Fiordino testified about
Vernace’s involvement with lucrative baccarat games run by the Gambino and
Bonanno families in social clubs and coffee bars. His testimony about how he
experienced a “metamorphosis” from lowly coffee boy to respected thug after
committing a murder supported the government’s theory that Vernace’s status was
enhanced after the Queens killings.
Vernace’s conviction was a huge
win for the feds because he had previously beaten the rap for killing bar
owners Richard Godkin and John D’Agnese in a state trial. Vernace was convicted
last year in federal court for the murders on “Western Night” at the Shamrock
Bar on Jamaica Ave. on April 11, 1981.
Fiordilino has talked a good
game since he cut a deal to beat his own murder rap in 2008. He told a federal
judge that the mob is a “farce” and a “gang made up of individuals with very
low self-esteem who feed on the weak.”
Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis
rewarded him for his cooperation. The killer said at the time he had no regrets
about being a turncoat.
“I’m totally at peace with my
decision to defect,” Fiordilino said. “I no longer have to lie, cheat or pretend
anymore.”
Being an informer has cost him
his family.
Last year at Vernace’s trial,
he said he’s estranged from his two brothers.
“They don’t want to talk to me
(because) I’m a rat,” he said.
Fiordilino also described how
spending time on the lam in California in 1993 was a lot like his new life.
“I would be walking down the
street and a person would be like, ‘Hello,’ and I would be like, ‘How the hell
do you know me?’ ” he recalled. “It was a different feeling, it was nice. It
was not hectic, nothing was crazy, kind of like how life is today for me.”