John Scarpa, Jr., Witness Tampering, New York 2019
Judge Carol Bagley Amon sentenced John Scarpa, Jr., a 66-year-old criminal defense attorney from Hauppauge, New York, to 30 months' imprisonment and fined $10,000 for bribing a witness in a double homicide trial on Long Island.
Scarpa was convicted in May 2019 following a four-day trial in Suffolk County Supreme Court. He had been practicing law in New York since 1982 and was a prosecutor at three district attorneys' offices in the metropolitan area before entering private practice in 2003.
As proven at trial, Scarpa plotted with co-conspirator Charles Gallman to bribe a convicted murderer, Luis Cherry, to testify in support of Scarpa's client, who was charged with the execution-style murders of two men.
Cherry then falsely testified at trial that he alone committed the second of the two murders, and that Scarpa's client was innocent. In exchange for his testimony, Scarpa and Gallman promised to help Cherry with the appeal of his own murder conviction, and to spread word in the prison system that Cherry was not a government informant.
The trial judge found Scarpa's client guilty of both murders, despite the false testimony.
The government's case is being handled by the Office's Organized Crime and Gangs Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Andrey Spektor, Lindsay K. Gerdes, and Keith D. Edelman are in charge of the prosecution.
Scarpa will be disbarred following his conviction.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Public Corruption, Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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