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News and Features about Organized Crime, Mafia and La Cosa Nostra taken from National and Local News Sources. In an attempt to get you this type of coverage in a timely manner we can not be responsible for the content of the following material. |
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For more on the Blitzstein slaying from Allan May Greed In The Desert - The Herbie Blitzstein Murder Trial
8-28-99
Saturday, August 28, 1999 Richard Friedman insists he did not kill a mob figure and says he is guilty only of `stupidity' in his associations.
By Glenn Puit A Las Vegas man must pay with 25 years of his life for his involvement in the January 1997 shooting death of mob associate Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein. Richard Friedman, 56, has admitted receiving payment for his assistance in the crime, but at his sentencing on Friday, he continued to deny he acted as a trigger man. "I know that I'm not the one that murdered Mr. Blitzstein," he said. In imposing Friedman's 25-year prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Philip Pro followed the terms of an agreement reached in May, when the defendant pleaded guilty to a murder-for-hire charge. The federal system does not offer parole. "It's probably not surprising -- it's probably predictable -- that no one would want to admit being the actual shooter in this case," Pro said after hearing from Friedman. The defendant used the hearing as an opportunity to lash out at prosecutors. He read a statement to Pro in which he accused prosecutors of basing their case on false information. "There doesn't seem to be the slightest interest in the truth," he said. Friedman described the U.S. attorney's office as "morally and ethically bankrupt." The defendant only accepted blame for his "stupidity" in becoming involved with Alfred Mauriello and Antone Davi, two other men who have admitted playing a role in the contract killing. Pro called Friedman's statement self-serving. Prosecutors claim Friedman and Davi were present when two guns were fired into Blitzstein's head on the evening of Jan. 6, 1997. Like Friedman, Davi denies he shot Blitzstein. According to Friedman's plea memorandum, Peter Caruso hired Mauriello to kill Blitzstein as part of a plot to take over the victim's business activities in the Las Vegas Valley. Caruso, 59, died in January while awaiting trial in the murder case. Mauriello, 72, pleaded guilty in April to one count of participating in an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity, including Blitzstein's murder. In July, Pro sentenced him to 15 years in prison. According to court documents, Mauriello agreed to kill Blitzstein for $10,000 but instead paid Friedman and Davi between $3,000 and $4,000 to commit the crime for him. At his plea hearing in May, Friedman told Pro he was parking his car near Blitzstein's 3655 Mount Vernon Ave. home when Davi and Mauriello entered the residence on the day of the slaying. Prosecutors said they would have introduced evidence at trial establishing that Friedman entered Blitzstein's home and fatally shot the 63-year-old victim. Friedman, who has prior convictions in California involving forgery and a drug-related conspiracy, was unemployed when the Blitzstein investigation led authorities to arrest him and Davi in June 1997. Davi, 31, pleaded guilty in April to murder in aid of racketeering activity and is awaiting sentencing. During a trial that ended in May, prosecutors accused reputed mafia soldiers Stephen Cino, 62, and Robert Panaro Sr., 57, of authorizing the Blitzstein slaying. Jurors acquitted the two men of all charges related to the killing but convicted them of conspiring to extort Blitzstein. Pro delayed sentencing Friday for Cino and Panaro after scolding attorneys for submitting documents late. He reset Cino's hearing for Tuesday and Panaro's for Wednesday.
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