Whale of a jail for thug
Hefty con in judge-kill plot sent to Supermax
THE FATSO FRAUDSTER convicted of plotting from behind bars to kill a federal judge and a prosecutor is serving his life sentence in the nation’s toughest prison, the Daily News has learned.
Joseph Romano, who once compared himself with the hunted whale Moby Dick, was recently transferred to the Supermax prison in Florence, Colo., where he is locked away in almost total isolation.
Romano, 52, paid a hit man to sexually mutilate and decapitate Brooklyn Federal Judge Joseph Bianco and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Gatz for putting him away for 15 years in a collectible-coin fraud case.
Shortly after he was sentenced to life in prison last year, Romano was shipped to the federal penitentiary in Marion, Ill., for several months. But last month, he was suddenly moved to the infamous Supermax.
“I am not aware of anything that occurred at Marion to result in the change to Mr. Romano’s housing assignment,” said lawyer Daniel Nooter, who is handling his appeal.
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons did not respond to questions about Romano.
Supermax is home to the most dangerous evildoers in the federal penal system, including Zacarias Moussaoui, the socalled 20th hijacker of 9/11; Adis Medunjanin, the wannabe New York City subway bomber; 1993 World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef; Unabomber Ted Kaczynski; cop killer Howard (Pappy) Mason; Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols; “shoe bomber” Richard Reid, and former Bonanno crime boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano, who allegedly drew up a hit list in jail targeting a judge, a prosecutor and mob rats.
While he was at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn last year, Romano was still up to no good.
Romano fabricated a tale that the federal judge presiding over a civil case brought by victims of his fraud had improperly flirted with a female lawyer. It turned out there was no such lawyer.
Sources said Romano may have been trying to get the judge removed from the case.
He told his wife during a telephone call that he would soon be leaving the Brooklyn lockup and reminded her, “We need to have a serious talk about some things I need to get done here,” according to court papers.
Authorities also intercepted a letter to Romano in which the sender, passing on a message from another inmate, mysteriously wrote: “He hasn’t done what promised because he needs $20,000 . . .,” according to court papers.
“It is not a stretch to imagine that he may be plotting to retaliate similarly against the cooperating witness who alerted the government to the murder plot,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Una Dean said.
Inside the Supermax prison, Roman is kept confined to his cell for 23 hours a day and has virtually no contact with other inmates, no less the outside world.
Romano contended during his trial in Brooklyn Federal Court that his demented plan of revenge, which included paying the hit man a bonus if he preserved the heads of the judge and prosecutor in formaldehyde-like trophies, was just a lot of trash talk.