Pubdate: Sat, 26 May 2001
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Alan Feuer

GRAVANO AND SON PLEAD GUILTY TO RUNNING ECSTASY DRUG RING

Returning to the same federal courthouse where his turncoat testimony 
brought down nearly 40 members of the mob, Salvatore Gravano pleaded 
guilty yesterday to running a multimillion-dollar Ecstasy ring with 
his son in Arizona.

Mr. Gravano is the Mafia killer known to gangsters and book editors 
alike as Sammy the Bull. During his court appearance, the government 
said he could be sent to prison for up to 15 years for his drug 
offense, a sentence that would be three times the length of the five 
years he has already served for murdering 19 men in the service of 
the mob.

The one-hour hearing in Federal District Court in Brooklyn was 
reminiscent of feeding time at the public zoo. Anxious news reporters 
jostled for space with excited federal prosecutors. They all sat 
together in the gallery with a handful of angry women related to men 
Mr. Gravano had killed.

When Mr. Gravano walked into the second-floor courtroom, he looked 
tired and sallow, and shocked that so many people had turned up to 
watch him enter a plea. He turned to his son, Gerard, who also 
pleaded guilty in the case, and muttered, "This is unbelievable."

When Judge Allyne R. Ross asked Mr. Gravano what he had done, he 
answered flatly: "I lent money to people. They distributed Ecstasy." 
When it was Gerard Gravano's turn, he said in an equally monotone 
voice, "I bought, sold and took Ecstasy."

After the pleas were entered, the elder Mr. Gravano's lawyer, Lynne 
F. Stewart, told reporters that the Brooklyn prosecutors who once 
worked with a cooperative Mr. Gravano were eager to avenge themselves 
on him now that he had reverted to a life of crime.

"Vendetta," she said.

Ms. Stewart also said the Gravanos were in negotiations with the 
authorities in Arizona, where the entire Gravano family - father, 
mother, daughter and son - are facing drug conspiracy charges brought 
by the state. The federal sentences that Mr. Gravano and his son are 
to receive on Sept. 11 will most likely be served concurrently with 
the prison terms handed down by the state, she said.

That bit of news seemed to irk Rosanne Massa, whose brother, Michael 
DeBatt, was shot five times in the head by Mr. Gravano in November 
1987.

As Ms. Stewart stood outside the courthouse in front of a bank of 
television cameras, Ms. Massa called out to her, "Send Sammy our 
regards. And tell him we'll see him the next time."
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe