Man gets 15 years for role in mob hit

Kim Smith

Monday, Aug. 2, 1999 | 10:26 a.m.

A U.S. District judge sentenced a central figure in the 1997 mob hit of Herbie Blitzstein to 15 years in prison Friday.

Although the government had recommended Alfred Mauriello be given 10 to 12 1/2 years because he cooperated with investigators, Mauriello was given 15 years by Judge Philip Pro, defense attorney Lamond Mills said.

"If he does live 15 years, I think his mind will be gone," Mills said.

Mauriello can be credited with good behavior that could push up his release date.

Mills said Mauriello, who will turn 72 next month, has myriad health problems, including dementia.

According to authorities, Mauriello received $10,000 from Peter Vincent Caruso to kill Blitzstein. Caruso was a Los Angeles mob associate who wanted Blitzstein dead so he could take over Blitzstein's loan-sharking and insurance fraud operations. Caruso died of heart failure in January while in federal custody.

Mauriello told authorities he paid Antone Davi and Richard Friedman a total of $7,000 to carry out the murder. Blitzstein was found shot to death in his home in January 1997. Blitzstein had once been a top lieutenant for slain Chicago Mafia kingpin Anthony Spilotro. Blitzstein was killed while FBI agents were in the middle of investigating attempts by Los Angeles and Buffalo crime families to take over Las Vegas street rackets.

Friedman and Davi entered plea agreements and are awaiting sentencing. Also waiting to be sentenced are Robert Panaro and Stephen Cino, two reputed mob members who were acquitted of murder but convicted of conspiring to extort Blitzstein.

Blitzstein's murder happened one month after the state Gaming Control Board nominated him for Nevada's Black Book of undesirables banned from casinos. His nomination was the result of his ties to former Horseshoe Club executive Ted Binion, who was killed last September.