Ex-Correction captain locked up in beating of
inmate shrugs off cell and rap
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:17:57 EDT
Ex-Correction captain locked up in beating of inmate shrugs off cell
and rap
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BY JOHN MARZULLI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
http://www.nydailyn ews.com/news/ ny_crime/ 2008/06/25/ 2008-06-25_ excorrection_ captain_locked_ up_in_beatin. html
Former Correction Capt. Salvatore LoPresti wrote a letter from prison that he may regret.
Tracy for News
Former Correction Capt. Salvatore LoPresti wrote a letter from prison
that he may regret.
Life in federal prison should be hell for an ex-guard.
That’s apparently not the case for Salvatore LoPresti, a remorseless
ex-U.S. Bureau of Prisons captain convicted of covering up the
assault of an inmate at a federal jail in Brooklyn.
Prosecutors are asking the judge who will sentence LoPresti Thursday to consider the contents of a letter he wrote to friends and was seized by the feds.
“I have been here for about four months. It is an easy place to do
time,” LoPresti wrote.
“Half of the people here think I’m in the Mafia, the other half can’t
spell Mafia,” he continued.
The name of the jail where LoPresti is housed under a fake name was
blacked out in a copy of the letter filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
In the missive, LoPresti urged his pals to write the judge seeking
leniency on his behalf, then finished with a couple of sentences he
may soon regret putting in print.
“I will never be bitter as I have nothing to be ashamed of,” he
wrote. “I may be in jail, but I’m not a liar and I’m not a rat.
“I sleep well and can look at myself in a mirror without guilt. I’ll
give you all free copies of my book,” the letter said.
LoPresti was apparently referring to fellow guards who pleaded guilty and testified for the government about the brutal attack – and
subsequent coverup – of inmate Robert George in 2002. George was
beaten at the federal lockup in Brooklyn after he refused to remove a
T-shirt from around his head.
After George was beaten, LoPresti took a sheet from his bed and
fashioned it into a noose to fabricate a story that guards saved the
inmate from a suicide attempt.
Outraged prosecutors want Federal Judge Carol Amon to slam the
defendant with more than the five years in prison called for under
sentencing guidelines.
“These are not the words of a man who has acknowledged his criminal conduct, or who merits any leniency from the court,” said Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sara Coyne and Robert Radick.
Defense attorney Ronald Fischetti blasted the government for seizing
his client’s private correspondence.
“Mr. LoPresti has too much pride to complain to his friends about his
current dire situation,” Fischetti argued in court papers. “The
letter does not stand as proof of anything except the government’s
own vindictiveness and gross misconduct.”