
Suffolk
DA clears Greco posthumously on 1965 murder rap
By J.M. Lawrence
Thursday, November 4, 2004
Louis
Greco died behind bars for murder after maintaining his innocence for
30 years.
Now the Suffolk District Attorney's office finally believes him.
Greco, a World War II
veteran hobbled by a shot
to the ankle in the Philippines, always claimed he was in Florida on
March 12, 1965, when the mob shot Edward Deegan in a Chelsea alley. He
passed three polygraphs and won two commutations that were never acted
upon by former governors.
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Louis Greco
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In a motion quietly
filed in Suffolk Superior
Court in September, the DA's office finally acknowledged what new
testimony and secret FBI memos uncovered recently have revealed. Greco
was framed by mob hit man-turned-government witness Joseph Barboza.
``It
appears that justice may not have been done,'' Assistant DA Mark Lee
said in the motion to drop all charges against Greco posthumously. The
motion cites ``legal and ethical considerations raised by the newly
discovered FBI documents, as well as principles of consistency and
fundamental fairness'' as the reasons.
The DA's
office dropped the charges against Greco's co-defendants Peter
J. Limone and Joseph Salvati in January 2001. Limone was released after
33 years behind bars. Salvati was in prison for 30.
For
Greco's family and friends, the DA's motion is a mere formality in a
long battle to clear Greco's name and seek compensation from the FBI
for backing perjured testimony in the case.
``Big
(expletive) deal,'' said one longtime friend of Greco's about the move
to drop the charges.
The
Justice Department refuses to settle the lawsuits filed by Greco's
estate, Limone and Salvati. The government has argued it can't be held
responsible for the actions of FBI agents under tort laws in effect in
the 1960s.
Former
New England Mafia leader Francis P. Salemme told congressional
investigators that former FBI agent Dennis Condon met with him after
the Deegan verdict in 1968 and laughed about setting up Greco.
Greco was
78 when he died in a prison hospital in 1995 from colon
cancer and heart disease. He suffered horribly, according to the suit
filed by his son, Edward Greco. He could not get proper care for his
diabetes and lost a leg to amputation.
His
sons grew up without their father and watched him deteriorate in
prison. Both men fell into deep depressions as adults. Louis Greco Jr.
committed suicide by drinking a bottle of Drano in 1997, court papers
said.
Attorney
Howard Friedman, who represents Edward Greco, said the DA's decision to
drop the charges will aid his lawsuit.
``He
knew his father didn't do it,'' Friedman said. ``This was an innocent
man who was framed, and the most amazing part is the government knew
it.''
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