Veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia is covering the murder-for-hire case of a South Philly auto repair shop owner with alleged organized crime connections for bigtrial.net.
Wannabe wiseguy Ron Galati was convicted of murder-for-hire and conspiracy charges today in a case that offered a look into a bizarre and twisted South Philadelphia family dynamic.
A federal jury deliberated for about five hours before returning guilty verdicts on all four charges Galati faced. No date has been set for sentencing, but the 64-year-old auto body shop owner is looking at from 20 years to life.
With a prior conviction for insurance fraud and with two other cases pending in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia, Galati could very well spend the rest of his life in prison.
"We're not surprised, but we're disappointed," said Anthony Voci Jr., Galati's defense attorney. Voci said Galati took the verdict well. But members of his family were "devastated," according to Galati's twin sister Renee.
"I can't believe it," she said through tears. "This is something my brother is not capable of."
The jury of 10 women and two men, after hearing five days of testimony and deliberating for about six hours, thought otherwise. The verdict was an endorsement of the prosecution case and a clear rejection of an alternative motive offered by Voci during an impassioned defense and closing argument.
Galati was convicted of hiring hitmen to kill the boyfriend of his estranged daughter Tiffany.
The boyfriend, Andrew Tuono, 35, was shot as he and Tiffany left their Atlantic City townhouse on Nov. 30 of last year. Tuono, shot three times, survived the assault. He was one of several witnesses called by the prosecution.
While Galati liked to play the role of The Godfather and frequently quoted lines from famous gangster movies, the plot he was convicted of setting in motion was strictly a grade-B operation.
You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:
http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/09/galati-convicted-in-murder-for-hire-case.html#more
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