Gregory Scarpa Jr a reputed soldier in the Colombo crime family may be in for early release if a Brooklyn judge agrees to reduce his 40 year sentence.
The son of an infamous New York mafia hit man and Colombo family captain Gregory Scarpa nicknamed the “Grim Reaper” was convicted on racketeering charges and sentenced to 40 years. Scarpa Jr has been fighting for two decades now in an effort to get his conviction overturned, which up to now have proven unsuccessful. The now 64 year old mobster is not scheduled to be released until 2035 but Federal Judge Edward Korman may be poised to chance that.
“Gregory Scarpa Jr“
Scarpa Jr supplied the feds with a tip that led to the recovery of explosives at the home of Terry Nichols a conspirator in the Oklahoma City bombing, according to sources. Nichols and Scarpa were cell mates in the Florence, Colorado Supermax prison back in 2005 when the NY mobster tipped off the feds to a secret cache of explosives. Nichols is serving a life sentence for planning the infamous bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal building which killed over 160 people. Scarpa supplied the feds with a coded note written by Nichols which he planned to decipher if he was granted a reduced sentence. The feds were skeptical of Scarpa’s tip and after he failed a lie detector test the feds decided that there would be no deal.
But as the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing was looming Scarpa supplied a private investigator with information on the location of the explosives which were buried in the basement of Nichols home. The PI passed the information along to two congressmen who in turn informed the FBI and the explosives were recovered. Judge Korman acknowledged the fact that Scarpa had only supplied the feds with limited information, but he was under the impression the feds were holding a grudge against the defendant for embarrassing the bureau after it failed to immediately recover the explosives after Nichols arrest.
“Terry Nichols“
Judge Korman also noted that informants get credit only when the information they provide if truthful and the tip Scarpa supplied was on the money. The mob scion also worked for the feds as an undercover informant in prison, helping to get information from Ramzi Youssef an Al Qaeda terrorists in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The Judge has suggested that Scarpa may be eligible to receive credit for his undercover work that involved Nichols and asked prosecutors in the case to recommend how much of his sentence could be reduced without waiving their longstanding objection. Pareicia Notopoulos declined to come up with a number as she said “I frankly believe that Greg Scarpa has done nothing but attempt to, pardon the phrase, bastardize the system.”
Whether or not Scarpa will get some time knocked off of his sentence or perhaps even walk out of prison with time served is yet to be seen, but the chance of either comes at the chagrin of the feds. Does is efforts to help the feds in their fight against terrorism over shadow his crimes as a member of the mafia will soon be determined by judge Korman.
UPDATE:
Judge grants Scarpa Jr a 10 year reduction on his 40 year sentence for tipping off feds and he now has a release date of 2025. It may prove to be a hollow victory for the 64 year old New York mob soldier as court papers have indicated he is suffering from an aggressive form of “nasopharyngeal squamous cell cancer” which may kill him within the next five years. The judge noted that if Scarpa survives to reach his new release date he will still have served a maximum sentence for his conviction on a RICO conspiracy to commit murder which was the most serious offense that he was sentenced for.
