New York Daily News

Let mobster rot, vic’s kin tell judge

- BY ANDREW KESHNER NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

A BROOKLYN federal judge may be seeking leniency for a convicted mobster-turned-model prisoner — but the victim’s family sure isn’t.

The family is outraged at the judge’s resentenci­ng recommenda­tion — saying the “chance that this animal can get out earlier than 20 years is taking its toll on me physically and mentally,” the dead man’s 82-year-old mother wrote to the judge and prosecutor­s.

John Imbrieco is doing 20 years for a plea to RICO conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct justice following a fatal 1994 shooting at a Genovese crime family social club in Williamsbu­rg.

Sabato Lombardi, 34, was killed and another man was wounded in the shooting. Imbrieco was a Bonnano associate at the time, while Lombardi and the other shooting victim, Michael D’Urso, were members of the Genovese crime family.

Last month, Brooklyn Federal Judge Leo Glasser (photo) recommende­d prosecutor­s agree to a sentence of time served for Imbrieco.

Imbrieco is more than 15 years into his 20-year prison sentence. The 53-year-old former mobster had written Glasser — saying he was a reformed man, while the co-defendants ultimately had no conviction­s for the shooting. Imbrieco noted his efforts to improve himself behind bars, ticking off completed programs including taking plumbing courses and even spin classes.

Lombardi’s family learned of the judge’s request after reading the Daily News. Now they’re urging prosecutor­s not to disturb Imbrieco’s sentence.

It would be an injustice for Imbrieco to get out early, Lombardi’s mother, sister, brothers and wouldbe future sister-in-law told Glasser and Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Robert Capers.

In one of the letters submitted Monday, younger brother Antonio, 40, said the family sat through months of trials and appeals.

“An early release to John Imbrieco only makes us feel the judicial system failed us once again,” he wrote.

Lombardi’s mother, Pasqualina, said no mother should bury her son — especially the way she had to, without saying how much she loved him. “Prison doesn’t change murderers,” she wrote. Prosecutor­s haven’t filed a reply yet to Glasser’s recommenda­tion. A spokesman for the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office declined comment Tuesday.

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JESSE WARD

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