Mafia Prince: Inside America's Most Violent Crime Family (16 page)

       
From the moment we got arrested on the Falcone murder, my uncle was working on ways to beat the case. The first thing we did was put together our defense team.

             
Harold Garber, who was around us and was very close with my uncle, would represent my uncle in the trial. I used Edwin Jacobs, and Lawrence used a Philadelphia lawyer named Bobby Simone. Bobby made a name for himself representing a lot of made guys in Philadelphia, and him and my uncle had become friendly.

             
Jury selection was set to begin in early September 1980. I had moved into the Claridge Hotel and Casino during the trial so that I wouldn’t be distracted. This trial meant everything to us; it was literally life or death for us.

             
The prosecutor was a man named Jeffrey Blitz, and we knew he hated us. The judge was a man named William Miller, and they had brought him in from another county to try the case. In the beginning of the case, the judge granted a motion by one of the television stations that would have allowed the trial to be broadcast live on television each day. At the time this was unheard of. That’s how big this trial was.

             
I remember pulling up the first day of the trial. We were in my uncle’s Cadillac. A man named Ed Harrell who worked for Bobby Simone as a private investigator was driving the car and Bobby was in the front seat. Ed was an absolute gentleman. He was a black guy and had been involved with Martin Luther King Jr. in the ’60s. How he ended up with Bobby, or with me, my uncle and Lawrence, I’ll never know.

             
As we’re pulling up, there were news cameras and reporters everywhere. My uncle said, “Jesus Christ, Bobby, are they here for us?”and Bobby said, “I’m afraid so.”

             
Ed dropped us off in the front of the courthouse, and we walked through the crowd. Bobby was saying, “No comment,” as we pushed our way through. Inside, we met Harold Garber and Ed Jacobs.

             
Now when it comes time for opening arguments, Harold was the first to go. He was representing my uncle. He got up and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Harold Garber and I represent Nicodemo Scarfo. The evidence in this case will show that Mr. Scarfo is not guilty. Thank you,” and then he sat down. That was his whole opening argument. If my uncle could have killed him right there, he would have.

             
Ed Jacobs and Bobby Simone used their opening arguments to destroy the credibility of Joe Salerno, who was the State’s star witness.

             
I remember when Joe Salerno took the witness stand, we were trying to ice him, trying to scare him. But he never once looked in our direction the whole time he testified, and he was no less than 10 feet away from us.

             
The prosecutor had him tell the story of how he met us and how I had loaned him money and how he had given my uncle the guns; he told them everything.

             
That night we all went out to dinner. Me, my uncle, Lawrence, Harold, Bobby, Ed Jacobs, and I think Chuckie was with us. We went to Caesars. We were discussing the best ways to attack Joe Salerno’s credibility. We were all very focused on winning this trial; it was as if nothing else was going on around us.

             
Well except for the thing with Johnny Keys.

             
Word gets back to my uncle that Johnny Keys was plotting against Phil Testa and was doing so through the Gambinos. My uncle reports this to Bobby Manna in New York, and Bobby says he is going to look into it. A few days later Bobby sent word down that he is sending a kid down named Sammy Gravano, who is with the Gambinos, to talk to us about it. He tells us we can trust him, that
this Sammy is
La Cosa Nostra
and respected by all of the Families in New York. Sammy was known as a hitter, a killer, and Bobby said to my uncle and me, “This guy is your kind of guy.”

             
So one night Sammy comes down and we meet him inside the lobby lounge at Bally’s Park Place for a couple of drinks to get acquainted, and then we take him to Angelo’s for dinner. It’s me, him, and my uncle.

             
He tells us, “Look I don’t know this guy Johnny Keys and quite frankly I don’t give a fuck. He’s trying to make problems for you and your family, then me and my crew are gonna make problems for him. I got the okay from Paul to whack this guy out for talking treason against your boss. Just give me some time and it will be done. Me and my crew are gonna handle this guy personally.”

             
I could tell that my uncle was impressed by him and the manner in which he carried himself. He was very respectful and very straightforward, there no was bullshit with him. We ended up having a very nice dinner and spent a couple of hours talking about
La Cosa Nostra.
Sammy knew this thing inside and out. That was the first time I met Sammy the Bull, and it wouldn’t be the last.

             
When we heard that Sammy’s crew had killed Johnny Keys we were relieved. It gave us the opportunity to focus our attention on our trial.

             
Now this trial was live on TV every day. We had the highest ratings in the area. At the time, there was a show on TV called
Shogun,
which was the No. 1 show, and we beat them in the ratings.

             
But Joe Salerno was telling the jury everything about the night we killed Vince. Every detail. How I pulled out the gun, how I shot him, what I said. He gave the jury a play-by-play of everything that happened. I thought to myself: we’re dead, we’re finished.

             
When it’s time for cross-examination, Harold and Ed Jacobs did a good job of going at him, but Lawrence’s lawyer, Bobby Simone, destroyed him. Bobby made Joe Salerno look like a liar, even though every word he was saying was the truth.

             
Now Joe Salerno was the State’s whole case. If we were able to neutralize him, we had a shot at winning.

             
Now when the State rested, we had a meeting. It was all the defendants and all the lawyers. We were in one of those little conference rooms in the courthouse.

             
Bobby Simone said, “I think I can win a Motion to Dismiss on behalf of Lawrence based on the fact that he didn’t pull the trigger or order the murder. If I make the motion and win, me and Lawrence are out of the case.”

             
Now like I said before Bobby was the best lawyer I have ever seen try a case. He had destroyed Joe Salerno on the stand. I wanted him in the case for closing arguments and so did my uncle.

             
My uncle asked the lawyers to step outside for a few minutes so that me, him, and Lawrence could talk privately.

             
My uncle said, “What do you want to do, Lawrence? Do you want Bobby to do that motion for you?” Now Lawrence knows if Bobby does the motion, he’s probably going to win it and he would go home free. Lawrence knows that I am on the hook more than anyone, because Joe Salerno ID’d me as the killer. Lawrence turns to me and he says, “What do you think, Philip? What should I do?”

             
Now I’m torn. Because if I tell Lawrence to do the motion and he wins, Bobby Simone can’t do the closing argument, and I thought my best chance of winning was Bobby speaking to the jury for all of us. The flip side is, Lawrence is my friend and if he can get out of this thing, then it’s better for him.

             
I say, “I don’t know Lawrence, that’s a tough one.”

             
Lawrence says to my uncle, “Nick, what do you think?”

             
My uncle says, “I’d hate to lose Bobby, but you do what you think is best for you.”

             
We bring the lawyers back in and Bobby says to Lawrence, “So what are we doing about the motion?” And Lawrence looks at me and my uncle and says, “Fuck it. No motion. We win together or we lose together.”

             
I was so relieved, I hugged Lawrence and kissed him on the
cheek. My uncle did, too. We went back into court feeling like we had a good chance at winning.

             
After closing arguments, we were feeling really good. Bobby was amazing. Harold waited until the end to tell me and my uncle that he knew one of the jurors, a guy who was a liquor salesman, and that the guy would not vote against us. So at best, Harold said the jury would be hung.

             
My uncle said, “You knew that this whole time and you wait until now to tell us?” This was the second time during the trial that my uncle looked like he wanted to kill Harold.

             
I remember Bobby said, “Is that why your opening argument was only 30 seconds,” and everyone laughed. A few minutes later they told us that the jury had reached a unanimous verdict.

             
We all stopped laughing and everyone got very serious. We thanked the lawyers, and they rushed off into the courtroom. Then me, my uncle, and Lawrence spoke privately for a few minutes, and my uncle said, “I think we’re gonna beat this thing.”

             
We all hugged and kissed each other on the cheek and we went into the courtroom. My God, the place was packed. You couldn’t even move. There were a million reporters trying to get in, but all the detectives who had chased us over the years had taken up most of the seats. We had a few supporters of our own that came every day to cheer us on.

             
There must have been 20 sheriff’s officers all over the courtroom. It seemed like we were waiting forever for the judge to come out and read the verdict.

             
Then someone yelled, “All rise!” and here comes the judge. You could cut the tension with a knife. I’ve never been more scared in my entire life.

             
First, they read the charges off against Lawrence, and they say, “Not guilty.” Then they read my uncle’s charges and they say, “Not guilty.” Then they get to mine and they say, “Philip Leonetti, not guilty.”

             
Me, my uncle, and Lawrence all shake hands and shake hands with the lawyers and you shoulda seen the look on the faces of the prosecutor and the cops. My God. They looked like they were gonna cry.

             
As we were leaving, one of the reporters asked my uncle, “Is
there anything that you’d like to say?” and my uncle looked into the television camera and said, “Thank God for the American jury system and an honest jury.” I was standing right behind him when he said it and you can see me smiling on TV.

             
It felt like the weight of the world was off my shoulders. That night we had a big party on Georgia Avenue and everyone came to celebrate.

             
All the lawyers and their families came. Chuckie was there. The Blade was there. Saul Kane, Vince Sausto, Salvie, all the guys from the neighborhood, and all the knock-around guys who were with us around Atlantic City—they all came down.

             
At some point during the party, my uncle pulls me and Lawrence aside and said, “We got away with murder; we are very, very lucky. We gotta be more careful from now on.”