Columnist Jeff German: Panaro launches public relations drive to clear name

Tuesday, Oct. 13, 1998 | 11:14 a.m.

WISE GUYS GENERALLY don't mount public relations campaigns to promote their good side.

Even good publicity, you see, isn't good for business when everyone thinks you're into street rackets.

Robert Panaro, one of six reputed underworld figures charged with the January 1997 slaying of Chicago mobster Herbie Blitzstein, seems determined to break the mold.

FBI agents are standing firm in their belief that the 56-year-old Panaro, known as Bobby to his friends, is a "made member" of the Buffalo mob. And they insist they have the evidence, a series of surreptitiously recorded audio tapes, to prove that Panaro OK'd Blitzstein's execution.

But Panaro, a 28-year Las Vegas resident who has been in jail since his February arrest, maintains he's not the bad guy the FBI says he is.

He contends he's not a made member of the Buffalo mob and had nothing to do with the slaying of Blitzstein, which occurred in the middle of one of the most ambitious FBI racketeering investigations ever in Las Vegas.

Panaro's PR blitz is the latest bizarre twist in the massive FBI probe that last month brought us word that the reputed underboss of the Los Angeles mob, Carmen Milano, once offered to give FBI agents the goods on his friends in the family.

Leading Panaro's media campaign is his loyal 46-year-old brother, Larry Panaro, who has had his own share of grief from law enforcement authorities over the years.

"If he was a tough Mafioso guy, wouldn't they have gotten him before this?" Larry says of his brother. "He had nothing to do with Herbie's murder. He wasn't in a position to OK anything."

Larry acknowledges that his brother got involved in conversations with people he shouldn't have. That includes discussions with John Branco, a mob associate-turned government witness. At the time, Larry adds, Bobby still was recovering from a softball accident. He was hit in the temple by a line drive.

As for the evidence against his brother, Larry says nothing he's seen so far implicates Bobby in any crimes.

And now, Bobby's friends and family are working hard to persuade U.S. District Judge Philip Pro to allow him to post bail while he prepares for his March trial.

Larry is circulating a petition around town that he plans to give to Pro later this week.

More than two dozen of Bobby's friends and relatives, Larry says, have offered to put up their homes as collateral to help spring his brother, who has sold his own $200,000 home to help pay for defense costs. Bobby has one of the best lawyers around, Steve Stein, going to bat for him.

"Bobby feels that the system will work in his case," Larry says. "He's convinced a 1,010 percent that he'll be vindicated."

In the meantime, Larry says he knows exactly how his brother landed in this mess.

Bobby, who never spent a day in jail prior to this case, wasn't charged in the Blitzstein portion of the racketeering probe when the first round of indictments were returned in April 1997.

It wasn't until after auto repairman Joe DeLuca, one of Bobby's co-defendants in the original case, rolled over that federal prosecutors decided to drag Bobby into the Blitzstein murder conspiracy.

Larry doesn't have any nice things to say about DeLuca, who's doing prison time under federal protection.

"Defense lawyers will absolutely have a field day with this guy," Larry says. "He's about the lowest life individual you'll ever lay your eyes on."

When you talk to Larry, you quickly learn that dealing with lawmen hasn't been a pleasant experience for him.

In 1991, following a sting by Metro Police intelligence officers, Larry was indicted on federal money laundering and drug charges.

But two years later, the case was dropped after U.S. District Judge Lloyd George upheld a magistrate's ruling that found that detectives working with IRS agents had "literally manufactured a crime for the sake of pressing criminal charges against Panaro."

George, regarded as one of the tougher judges on the Nevada federal bench, concluded detectives had committed "outrageous conduct" that violated Larry's constitutional rights.

At the time Larry told reporters he feared for his life during the drug sting.

"It was so scary," he said. "To be honest, the day I was arrested, I was relieved. I knew my wife and my kids were safe."

An experience like that gives Larry Panaro added confidence that his brother some day will get his good name back, even he can't shake the wise guy image.