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Judge: Leave jurors alone

Ronald "Ronnie One Arm" Trucchio is scolded in court over contacting jurors.

By BRADY DENNIS
Published December 8, 2006

TAMPA - From her perch, the judge peered down at Ronald "Ronnie One Arm" Trucchio. She did not look pleased.

"I brought you in to personally tell you that you cannot contact any of the jurors in your case," U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew said. "Under no circumstances. Is that clear?"

The convicted racketeer sat alone in his orange jail uniform, nodding meekly.

"This is just a big misunderstanding," he told the judge. "Sorry about the mixup."

Bucklew said numerous jurors had contacted her in recent days, "frightened" after being called at work and home - even visited in person - by private investigators in town from New York, working on behalf of Trucchio and hired by his brother-in-law.

On Wednesday, Bucklew issued a directive: Stay clear of jurors. On Thursday, she threatened to charge Trucchio or any of his associates with contempt and obstruction of justice if they violated the order.

Last week, after five days of jury deliberations, Trucchio and three co-defendants were found guilty on charges of conspiracy and racketeering.

Prosecutors accused them of forming a crew in Queens, N.Y., in the 1980s that reported to the Gambino crime family. They said the group, led by Trucchio, committed a string of crimes - including murder, robbery and extortion - from New York to Miami.

Trucchio, 55, and his band carved out a piece of Tampa's valet parking business and owned a company that parked cars at restaurants, hospitals and nude dance clubs, including Thee Doll House, records show.

During the monthlong trial, jurors heard testimony about tribute payments to the Gambino crime family and the murder of a mob turncoat.

They listened as witnesses described the armed robbery of a Sears department store and the beating of a Tampa car dealer at a local nude bar.

After deliberating four days, jurors had reached a verdict for three defendants but were deadlocked on the fourth. Court papers show they were undecided on Trucchio. They finally returned a guilty verdict, and Trucchio could get life in prison at his sentencing on March 2.

Trucchio also was convicted by a Miami federal jury last year on racketeering charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He is appealing that ruling.

In the wake of the Tampa trial, one juror, Diana Young-Stewart, wrote a letter to Bucklew saying she was the lone holdout and that other jurors had coerced her to find Trucchio guilty.

She also claimed that jurors brought in information not presented in trial, such as the book Cigar City Mafia, about the history of the mob in Tampa.

Young-Stewart said she couldn't sleep during deliberations and broke down on the day of the verdict.

Changed her vote

"I have never served on a jury before, nor do I ever want to again," she wrote. "I did allow my vote to change unwillingly, and I will remember that for the rest of my life."

Trucchio's attorney, Joseph Corozzo, filed a motion this week asking for a hearing in light of Young-Stewart's letter.

But Bucklew left that matter for another day.

She cited a local rule in Florida's middle judicial district that prohibits attorneys or litigants from directly or indirectly contacting jurors without prior court approval.

She chided Corozzo, who joined the hearing by phone from New York, for either being ignorant of the rule or failing to follow it. Corozzo apologized.

Bucklew also had stiff words for the two investigators hired by Trucchio's brother-in-law, Gerald Dirazzo, who could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The first was Vincent Parco, a high-profile New York private investigator who stars in his own Court TV show, Parco, P.I.

Parco, a beefy fellow with a shaved head and bushy mustache, once testified with immunity that he sold a gun with a silencer to a woman later convicted of killing her lover's wife.

'Very disturbing'

Parco was in town this week tracking down jurors but headed home when his daughter grew ill, the second investigator, Thomas Allen, told Bucklew.

Allen, also large and mustached and bald, said he and Parco were hired to find jurors and investigate Young-Stewart's allegations.

"You can't do that," Bucklew said. "It's very disturbing to me that this happened. Serving on a jury is tough enough.

"Any time a juror is frightened or upset, it defeats the whole point of the jury system."

It was nearly 3 p.m. She asked Allen if he'd be returning to New York soon, too. It sounded more like a suggestion than a question.

"I'm going to fly back at 5:30," he said.

Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report.

[Last modified December 8, 2006, 05:37:45]