Tommy “Shots” Gioeli was once a powerful and feared figure as he plotted hits as a reputed leader of the Colombo crime family. Now, at 69, Gioeli is imprisoned and sick, unsuccessfully pleading for mercy as two cancers attack his body.
Like many other federal prisoners, Gioeli asked a judge to grant compassionate release, a term which effectively means early release from incarceration for factors such as illness or advanced age.
The First Step Act of 2018 allows inmates to petition courts directly, and these requests have surged during the Covid-19 pandemic as many elderly, ill or otherwise at-risk inmates have sought to avoid the virus which has spread through the US penal system.
But unlike most other prisoners, Gioeli asked for compassionate release as a convicted mobster. Some attorneys believe that judges fail to see people who were involved with organized crime, or criminal enterprises, as anything but lifelong criminals, diminishing their prospects of obtaining compassionate release. They see men like Gioeli – and other ageing mobsters and gangsters – as being unfairly discriminated against, even in the face of a global pandemic that puts their lives at risk or as they face debilitating or life-threatening diseases.
In 2012, a Brooklyn federal court jury convicted Gioeli of racketeering murder conspiracy, for planning to kill mafiosi about 30 years ago. He was acquitted of substantive murder charges, including involvement in the 1997 slaying of a New York City police officer. Judge Brian Cogan sentenced Gioeli to 20 years in prison.
Federal prisoners who demonstrate good behavior typically serve about 85% of their sentences; as Gioeli has been incarcerated since his 2008 arrest, that means he could be up for release in 2024.
With the First Step Act, Gioeli was able to ask Cogan for compassionate release earlier and first did so in May 2020, citing Covid-19. Cogan denied his request. Cogan cited procedural and historical grounds. Of the latter, Cogan wrote that Gioeli “is an upper echelon mafia leader who has committed heinous misconduct.”
“The danger posed by mob leaders, like defendant, is not that these leaders will personally engage in acts of violence, but that they ‘can command others to do so’,” Cogan said in his ruling.
In late 2021, Gioeli again asked for compassionate release so that he can receive medical treatment, contending that healthcare provided by the US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) cannot meet his dire needs. Gioeli was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2018, and didn’t receive adequate follow-up care for three years, his attorney, Jennifer Louis-Jeune, said.
Doctors in July 2021 found that the bladder cancer had returned. In December, Gioeli was diagnosed with a recurrence of prostate cancer, according to court papers and proceedings. Louis-Jeune asked Cogan for compassionate release – or alternatively, release to home confinement – so that he could get better medical treatment for his cancers.
During a hearing in January, Cogan recognized that Gioeli’s medical problems were the kind of “extraordinary and compelling conditions” that weigh towards compassionate release. Cogan indicated skepticism about whether Gioeli had actually changed, saying, “If he’s a changed person, why is there not any acknowledgment that ‘I’ve lived my life as a mafia soldier and that was bad, that was wrong’,” Cogan said later, pointing to years-old blogposts where Gioeli railed against prosecutors and jurists, including Cogan.
In a subsequent court filing, Louis-Jeune addressed Cogan’s queries about repentance and blogposts in detail, providing the judge statements from Gioeli. “I acknowledge the crimes I was convicted of. If I am released I will not associate, discuss or communicate with anyone involved in any crime,” Gioeli said.
Cogan was not swayed. He denied Gioeli’s request on Wednesday. Gioeli’s health concerns were grave, Cogan said, but “the unfortunate fact in this case is that defendant’s crimes were so heinous and the nature of his leadership role so dangerous that release would not be appropriate.”
The Bureau of Prisons said that it could not discuss individual inmates’ situations because of privacy concerns, but stood by its healthcare, saying in a statement: “The BOP has an ample number of trained medical personnel who provide essential medical, dental, and mental health (psychiatric) services in a manner consistent with accepted community clinical guidelines for a correctional environment.”
Defendants elsewhere in the country have seen judges question their rehabilitation and remorse over past ties to criminal groups, or because their crimes operated at a more complex level.
“That stigma sticks to whoever it is that is trying to petition in this scenario for a compassionate release, no matter what the accusations are,” said defense attorney Gal Pissetzky, who represents Gustavo Colon, former leader of Chicago’s Latin Kings.
Colon went to Illinois state prison in 1975 and served 25 years for a murder he committed as a teen. Right before Colon’s planned release, he was hit with federal narcotics charges for running a drug organization from prison.
Colon was convicted and remains incarcerated. He is 66.
“The feds basically put on him ‘he is the leader of the Latin Kings in Chicago, or was at the time of the offense’ … instead of from the perspective of ‘this is a drug case, he is an older man who’s been locked up in prison, literally since he was a teenager,’” Pissetzky said.
A judge denied Colon’s request for compassionate release in December 2020, citing in her decision “the severity of the conduct, the amount of the drugs distributed, Mr Colon’s unquestionable leadership role, and the aggravating fact that Mr Colon orchestrated this criminal conduct from state custody”.
Kari Beeman has long been fighting for the compassionate release of her 81-year-old uncle, John Kime. While not affiliated with a crime family or gang, Kime was convicted in 1995 of being the ringleader of a “criminal enterprise” as well as drug and gun charges, and sentenced to 75 years.
In April 2021, Iowa federal judge Rebecca Ebinger denied Kime’s pandemic and health-based request for compassionate release.
“Kime remains a danger if released,” Ebinger wrote, saying that this outweighed his health and pandemic concerns. “A significant period of incarceration is necessary to reflect the seriousness of the offenses, to provide just punishment for the offenses, and to protect the public from further crimes committed by Kime.”
“We still love him – no matter what, we love him,” Beeman said. “But we now can’t be a part of his life because they can do whatever they want.”
The prosecutors in Gioeli, Colon and Kime’s cases have all opposed compassionate release. They did not provide additional comment.
Before Cogan’s decision came down, Gioeli said he continues to hope for compassionate release.
“The BOP has had multiple chances to give me adequate medical care and has failed brilliantly, so why should they be given another chance to screw up?” Gioeli told the Guardian in a statement provided through Louis-Jeune. “After all, I have two aggressive cancers. I am in the fight of my life, for my very life, and all I ask for is a chance.”
Louis-Jeune said that she will appeal against Cogan’s decision.
