Attorney Cites Ramona S&L; Figure’s Health

The attorney for a county resident recently convicted of looting a Santa Ana thrift said Friday that the stiff prison sentence sought by federal prosecutors would, in effect, be “a death warrant” for his client, who is a quadriplegic in poor health.

In a sentencing memorandum filed in Los Angeles, attorney Michael E. White appealed to U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon to place Donald P. Mangano Sr., 53, on probation. The government has sought a 30-year prison sentence.

Mangano was stricken with polio and spinal meningitis in the late 1950s and has been in a wheelchair since.

On Monday, Kenyon is scheduled to sentence both Mangano and John L. Molinaro, former owners of Ramona Savings & Loan. Mangano and Molinaro, 48, were both convicted in October on more than 30 counts of bank fraud and conspiracy in Ramona’s 1986 collapse, which eventually required a $65.5-million bailout.

Besides the jail term, federal prosecutors are asking Kenyon to order Mangano to pay $8.3 million in fines and restitution. The government is seeking a 25-year prison term and payment of $7.8 million in fines and restitution for Molinaro.

White quoted a doctor in the sentencing memo as saying that Mangano’s lungs function at just 25% of capacity and that “any change in the environment for him could, and probably would, be a disaster.”

Just three federal prisons--in Minnesota, Missouri and Texas--are equipped to house the handicapped, according to federal prosecutors. White said those locations are “subject to extreme changes in temperature and climactic conditions. These are the types of extremes that most likely would result in Donald’s death within a relatively short period of time.”

Asst. U.S. Atty. Steven E. Zipperstein said in a memo to Kenyon that “Mangano’s handicap did not prevent him from destroying Ramona Savings & Loan Assn., nor should it prevent him from being treated like any non-handicapped defendant and sentenced to prison.”

Former Orange County Superior Court Judge Byron K. McMillan wrote to Kenyon that he had known Mangano for years and “that Don’s involvement, whatever it was found to be, was purely situational.”

Susan Feliciano--wife of entertainer Jose Feliciano--was one of many of Mangano’s business associates who submitted letters to Kenyon appealing for leniency, portraying the former real estate developer as an honest and fair businessman. Mangano once worked for Jose Feliciano’s entertainment firm.

Jerry Tarkanian, basketball coach at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, portrayed Mangano as a compassionate figure, eager to help young handicapped people with financial and emotional support.

“These traits are incompatible with the government’s characterization of Donald as a ruthless, greedy, self-serving crook,” White said.