Mobster staying put
B’klyn judge on ‘Gaspipe’s’ COVID: Too bad
A notorious former underboss for the Luchese crime family will remain behind bars for the rest of his life because he’s still a “danger to the community,” a federal judge ruled -- despite the murderous mobster being hooked up to a ventilator due to COVID-19.
Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso — whom the feds say took part in dozens of rubouts, including the brutal murders of numerous mob turncoats — caught the virus last month inside USP Tucson, a maximum-security Arizona prison, and was sent to a local hospital.
The 78-year-old Mafia executioner turned state’s evidence himself after pleading guilty in a wide-ranging racketeering case in 1994. But the feds dropped him from the witness protection program after he broke their cooperation agreement several times, and Casso was then sentenced to more than 400 years in prison.
His innumerable crimes as one of the mob’s most feared killers were so heinous that even the imminent threat of death from coronavirus doesn’t make him eligible for compassionate release, Brooklyn Federal Judge Frederic Block determined Saturday in a brief ruling.
“The court has carefully considered the gravity of defendant Anthony Casso’s medical condition. But even assuming it presents an extraordinary and compelling circumstance, the court finds, in light of the nature and extent of defendant’s criminal history, that he remains a danger to the community,” Block wrote.
Casso uses a wheelchair to get around, has prostate cancer, is awaiting a heart operation and already had lung issues because of his smoking history, his lawyers wrote in their motion to get Casso sprung.
At the Tucson prison, 148 inmates have COVID-19 and two have already died of the disease.
More than 400 other inmates have recovered, but it’s not clear Casso will rejoin them.
“Just days ago, he tested positive for COVID-19. He is currently hospitalized due to severe respiratory problems,” wrote Casso’s lawyers last Wednesday in a filing that was initially under seal. “His COVID-19 infection and rapidly deteriorating health require better medical care than [Bureau of Prisons] can provide.”
Casso has been hospitalized and returned to the prison three times, but now remains in an emergency room hooked up to a ventilator, his lawyers said.
There was little sympathy for Casso at the courthouse, with the feds claiming he tried to have a federal judge and a prosecutor handling his case murdered in the ’90s, though neither killing came to pass.
“All defendants sentenced to life in prison will, at some point, begin to succumb to one disease or another, or suffer from failing health due to old age,” wrote federal prosecutors in response to Casso’s application for release.
A lawyer for Casso declined to comment on his condition.