Bribes for lies to get killer off: feds
Att’y taped in failed plot for false testimony
A former Queens prosecutor landed hard on the wrong side of the law, accused of bribing a murder case witness to save a gangbanging client.
Lawyer John Scarpa, 65, left Brooklyn Federal Court in silence Tuesday after pleading not guilty and putting up his Long Island house to cover the $500,000 bond for trying to fix the case against a Crips member busted for murdering two innocent men.
Scarpa’s voice, recorded across six months of wiretaps by prosecutors, will provide the most damning evidence against the lawyer and his co-defendant Charles Gallman, 56, a phony paralegal with five felony convictions that included two killings of his own, prosecutors said.
“As alleged, the defendants bribed a witness to commit perjury in an effort to help Scarpa’s client, who had committed two executionstyle murders, escape justice,” said U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue.
A detailed government filing urging Scarpa’s immediate jailing laid out the chats between the lawyer and his sketchy sidekick regarding their client, killer Reginald Ross. In a bizarre twist, Ross was convicted of both murders despite the bribe and the witness’ phony testimony.
Scarpa and Gallman collaborated on a plan to pay off Ross’ co-defendant in one of the hits in exchange for his lies from the witness stand — an implausible tale riddled with inconsistencies.
Transcripts released by prosecutors provided a glimpse into the crooked conversations between the co-defendants.
“I just came off the visit,” said Gallman after a Jan. 13, 2015, jailhouse sitdown with confessed killer Luis Cherry. “Boy — listen, I think you OK.” “Yeah?” replies Scarpa. “Anything we need, he’s willing,” continues Gallman. “Whichever way you wanna play it, he’s willing.”
Later in the conversation, Scarpa inquires directly, “So this guy is willing to do whatever?”
“Whatever you need, John,” says Gallman. “Whatever you need.”
Prosecutors at the Ross murder trial grilled Cherry about his hour-long prison pow-wow with Gallman. Cherry, on the witness stand, told the probing attorney they “just talked about b---hes … and your mom.”
Despite the paid and perjured testimony from Cherry, Scarpa’s client was convicted in a bench trial for the killing of John Williams — whose brother owed Ross a drug debt. Cherry allegedly fired two bullets into the innocent man’s face from a foot away as Williams, the married father of two, climbed into his car while headed for work.
The callous killing was committed only to lure the other target back home for a funeral where Ross would then execute that person.
Ross was also found guilty of murdering a job site flagman after the two exchanged words over a traffic jam caused by construction work. Prosecutors charged Ross killed the man because he felt “disrespected” by their confrontation.
Prosecutors charged Gallman, who also posed at times as an investigator and worked out of Scarpa’s office, relied on his street cred and history as a fixer to buy witnesses of all stripes.
“I don’t give a f--- how old they are,” he said in one recorded conversation. “Let’s get one old and one young … then we’ll start grooming them on what they gotta say.”
The overly chatty Gallman even texted Ross’ girlfriend to boast about his successful wooing of Cherry.
“Visit was great!” he wrote. “I believe that Stupid Stupid will do whatever we want him to.”
Scarpa, wearing a navy pinstriped suit with no tie, declined comment as he left court. Defense attorney Thomas Kenniff noted his client boasts a 36-year record of legal work for both the prosecution and the defense.
“He’s carried that charge with dignity, integrity and zeal,” said Kenniff. ”He’s presumed innocent. We’re confident that when all the evidence comes out, he will be fully exonerated and his otherwise unblemished reputation restored.”