Feds see a slipup in banana-big rap
THE FEDS WANT a banana big to split for a long time.
The federal Probation Department is recommending Thomas Hoey Jr. spend 20 years in prison for giving a woman drugs that led to her death in a three-way sex romp.
The Long Island Banana Corp. heir admitted last year he “shared cocaine with Kimberly Calo” after they had sex in the Kitano Hotel in January 2009.
In a sentencing submission filed in Manhattan Federal Court Friday night, prosecutors said what he did and didn’t do next was astonishing.
“The defendant callously watched as Ms. Calo convulsed, foamed at the mouth, turned blue, and died in front of him,” the filing says. He physically stopped the other woman, Nicole Zobkiw, from calling an ambulance, and when she ran to the hotel front desk to get help, he stopped hotel staffers from coming into the room, the filing says. The married father of two used the time to dress Calo, and have his driver clean up the drugs, the filing says. He then pressured Zobkiw into lying on his behalf.
The feds also said a jailhouse snitch told them that while he was locked up, Hoey was “laughing” about Calo's death and said that Zobkiw, who died of a drug overdose in December, “got what she deserved.”
Hoey, 46, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to suborn perjury and obstruction of justice in a deal that called for him to get between nine and 12 years.
In a written report, the Probation Department said that agreement didn’t capture “the true extent” of his conductand that he should do 20 years.
In papers filed in Manhattan Federal Court on Friday, the balding banana baron’s lawyers say there’s no proof it was his coke that killed Calo.
“Ms. Calo had significant alcohol and cocaine in her system such that the autopsy report concluded that her death was the result of the combined effects of these substances,” the filing said. “Mr. Hoey didn’t intentionally cause harm to anyone nor did he coerce Ms. Calo into consuming cocaine.”
The filing also argued that he’s already paid a heavy price. “His family business, which his father built and which Mr. Hoey developed and expanded, is now ruined due to Hoey’s absence,” the filing said.
It also amazingly argued Hoey deserved a break because he’s “dedicated to his family.” Prosecutors beg to differ. They said he provided “cocaine for personal use to a range of social and sexual acquaintances” for years, including his daughter’s babysitter, bartenders and waitresses.”
The serial philanderer was sentenced to one to four years in prison in state court last month for roughing up his longtime mistress Alison Bretherick. He’s scheduled to be sentenced in his federal case April 23.