Mob hit man pleads for early release from prison to get kidney transplant

[okarol]

Get out of jail free card?
Mob hit man pleads for early release from prison to get kidney transplant
BY JOHN MARZULLI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, July 14, 2011
A mob hit man for the late John Gotti wants to get out of jail early because he may need an kidney transplant, the Daily News has learned.

Gambino captain Dominick (Skinny Dom) Pizzonia, serving 15 years for a racketeering and illegal gambling conviction in Brooklyn Federal Court, learned last year he is suffering from advanced cancer of the urethra, court papers say.

Pizzonia, 69, underwent surgery to remove his left kidney in December and is undergoing chemotherapy treatment at the federal prison hospital in Butner, N.C.

"If my remaining kidney becomes damaged, I will need a transplant to survive," Pizzonia wrote to Federal Judge Jack Weinstein.

"The [Bureau of Prisons] is unable to provide me with an organ transplant."

Pizzonia wants the judge to reduce the sentence to 81 months or house arrest so he can get on a waiting list for a transplant.

At his sentencing in 2007, Weinstein ruled there was sufficient evidence to factor in three murders Pizzonia was accused of even though the jury found they were not proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Pizzonia was charged with gunning down Thomas and Rosemarie Uva, a married couple dubbed Bonnie and Clyde, on Christmas Eve 1992 in retaliation for them twice robbing his Queens social club Cafe Liberty.

He also beat the rap for whacking mob associate Frank (Geeky) Boccia in 1988 and dumping the corpse in the Atlantic Ocean.

Pizzonia was reportedly part of the hit team Gotti assembled to assassinate then-Gambino crime boss Paul Castellano outside Sparks steakhouse in midtown, although he was never charged.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Evan Norris took no position on Pizzonia's medical condition but said there is no basis in law to grant such a request.

Pizzonia's trial lawyer Joseph Corozzo pointed out that several mob rats whose testimony failed to convince a jury about his client's connection to the murders have received generous sentence reductions for themselves.

"Mr. Pizzonia doesn't deserve to die in jail," Corozzo said.

jmarzulli@nydailynews.com

http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/mobster-i-must-leave-prison-for-kidney-1.3053826