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4-4-02
Sammy the Bull to Testify — For Himself.
By JOHN MARZULLI, New York Daily News Staff Writer

Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano returns this week to the courthouse where his testimony put crime boss John Gotti away for life — but this time he'll plead his own case.

The crime world's rat of all rats will try to head off efforts by federal prosecutors to keep him behind bars for up to 20 years for running an Arizona-based Ecstasy drug ring.

The two-day, presentencing hearing begins tomorrow in Brooklyn Federal Court with Gravano expected to take the stand under heavy security on Tuesday.

Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano

"He's very articulate, he's testified many times and his truthful testimony has been relied on in Brooklyn courts," said Larry Hammond, Gravano's Arizona attorney. "Find somebody who has testified for more good effect for the government and I would be very surprised."

Gravano, 56, pleaded guilty last year to Ecstasy-distribution charges here and in Arizona and faces 12 1/2 to 15 years in prison, according to federal sentencing guidelines.

But prosecutors are urging Judge Allyne Ross to add five years to Gravano's sentence because of his extensive criminal record. Gravano admitted to 19 murders during his testimony in the Gotti case, but drew a light five-year sentence because of his government cooperation.

Squandered Chance

Then he returned to a life of crime mere months after his probation ended.

"The fact that Gravano threw away the second chance of a lifetime now shows that he cannot be trusted to abide by the law in the future," Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Lacewell said in court papers.

For Gravano, the stiffer sentence would mean getting out when he is 76. He hopes to convince the judge he deserves a lighter sentence than the guidelines suggest.

In her own court argument, Gravano's lawyer, Lynne Stewart, has called the prosecution vindictive. "The U.S. attorney's office feels that Gravano has let them down ... that he tarnished their reputation by returning to criminal activity after being their star witness in one trial after another," she said.

But prosecutors say Gravano and his son, Gerard, who also pleaded guilty in the drug case, have not fully owned up to their roles in the Ecstasy ring.

They say Gravano not only ran the drug operation, but used guns to do it and obstructed justice by destroying evidence and threatening a co-defendant — all obvious factors that could boost his sentence.

Original Publication Date: 4/4/2002