4 Convicted, 3 Acquitted of Loan-Sharking Charges
John James Barro, owner of Irvine-based Barro’s Pizza Inc., was acquitted of loan-sharking charges Wednesday by a federal court jury after 12 days of deliberation.
Co-defendant Frank Serrao, 56, of Huntington Beach was convicted on racketeering charges along with three others accused of making high-interest loans primarily to gamblers.
Vito Dominic Spillone, 48, who operates an El Monte wholesale grocery business, was the only one of seven defendants in the case tried by the government’s Organized Crime Task Force to be convicted of both conspiracy and racketeering charges.
In all, the jury convicted four men and acquitted three others of loan-sharking and racketeering charges in a verdict following the six-week trial.
“I was praying to God that if there was justice, I would get out,” said Barro, 46, after the verdict. “They tried to convict me on lies.”
The seven men, described in a 1984 federal grand jury indictment as being “associates and members” of a crime family, were accused of trying to set up loan-sharking and illegal bookmaking operations in Southern California and Las Vegas. However, Barro’s Pizza Inc. was never involved in the illegal operations.
Prosecutors described Spillone as the No. 1 man in the operation, which relied on “brass-knuckle therapy” to extract delinquent payments, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. George Rosenstock.
Joseph Bolognese, 52, of Las Vegas and John Meccia, 51, of La Salle, Ill., also were acquitted on all charges. John Clyde Abel, 41, of Chicago and Frank Citro, 39, of Las Vegas and Serrao were convicted on one charge of racketeering. They face maximum prison terms of 20 years and possible $10,000 fines on each count.
Maintained Innocence
Barro, of Hacienda Heights, had maintained throughout the trial that he was innocent. Following the indictment, he turned over control of his pizza company to his uncle. He said that he would not resume control of the company, which franchises and owns about 60 stores, for a while.
Barro wept when he was asked how he felt about Spillone’s conviction.
“I feel terrible,” said Barro, who is a childhood friend of Spillone from Chicago. “I think it’s because of his prior conviction.”
Spillone was convicted on loan-sharking charges in Chicago in 1971. He served five years of a 12-year sentence before being paroled to Los Angeles in 1976.
Spillone said that he had no comment on whether or not he would appeal his conviction. In one tape-recorded telephone conversation admitted as evidence, Spillone and Serrao discussed breaking legs and killing borrowers. Although several borrowers were beaten by Spillone’s collectors, government prosecutors said that no one was killed over the late payments.
