Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have brought down their second Mafia boss in three months.
Vittorio "Vic" Amuso, who as boss of the Lucchese crime family had none of the flash of John Gotti but the same propensity for violence, was convicted Monday of murder and racketeering and faces life in prison without parole.Amuso, 58, was found guilty by an anonymous, sequestered jury of ordering the murder of nine men and plotting or trying to murder five others.
Gotti, head of the Gambino family, was convicted of murder and racketeering in April and faces life in prison at sentencing June 23.
"If we can keep this sort of thing up, there may come a time when organized crime won't be such a factor in this city," said U.S. Attorney Andrew Maloney.
The case against Amuso stemmed from an investigation of bid-rigging in the window-replacement industry. It also included allegations of murder and corruption in the trucking, air freight, construction and garbage-hauling industries.