The federal government has agreed to pay Frankie Roche, the admitted triggerman in the 2003 assassination of Genovese capo Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno who controlled the family's New England operations, to settle his lawsuit brought against the FBI after a special agent accidentally shot the hitman during his arrest in Tampa, FL in 2004:
Frankie Roche will receive the money to settle a lawsuit over his injuries, said his lawyer, Mark A. Sylvester of Miami. * * * Sylvester said the settlement has not been finalized and its terms are confidential, although he wouldn't object if the government wanted to disclose the amount being paid. "All I can say is under the totality of the circumstances, it was a fair and reasonable settlement for what happened to Frankie Roche, for his injuries," Sylvester said. "There is a settlement, but at this point, the details are not public record," said Steve Cole, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office. "At some point they may become public record."
Sylvester further states that Roche "is cooperating with federal prosecutors and has either entered or will enter the witness protection program."
Roche presumably will testify against Fotios A. "Freddy" Geas and Brandon D. Croteau who face conspiracy charges in Massachusetts for Bruno's murder. Roche admitted that he whacked Bruno for $10,000 on orders from the New York faction of the Genovese crime family. According to a statement by prosecutors at the time of Roche's plea:
Members of the Genovese LCN [La Cosa Nostra] family hierarchy in New York became upset with Adolfo Bruno because he was not sending sufficient tribute payments to New York. Thereafter, a member of the Springfield Crew sought authority from the hierarchy of the Genovese LCN family in New York, pursuant to the rules of La Cosa Nostra, to murder Adolfo Bruno.
Geas, with "a rap sheet riddled with violent crimes," has been "dubbed by law enforcement officials as the 'muscle' for Bruno's reputed successor, Anthony J. Arillotta," and allegedly recruited Roche for the hit; Croteau was a drug dealer out of a strip club at which he was a bouncer, and allegedly helped Roche flee to Florida after the murder.
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