Michael Coiro
Michael F. Coiro, Jr. criminal defence lawyer; particular, lawyer to former mafia boss John Gotti, since 1968.
Coiro graduated from the Brooklyn Law School in 1953 and must of had as law professor none other than Israel Glasser, who was the judge before whom Coiro appeared as a condemned prisoner, in shackles, and testified in John Gotti's 1992 trial.
The New York Times reported on Coiro's testimony at his former client's trial:
"The prosecution called Michael Coiro, a former lawyer who represented Mr. Gotti for many years and who is now serving a 15-year sentence on a racketeering charge.
"When the prosecutor asked if Mr. Gotti was a good friend of his, the former lawyer leaned forward on the witness stand and replied in a firm, loud voice, 'The best'.
"Mr. Coiro said he gave up his law practice after being indicted in 1983, then went into a garment business and became Mr. Gotti's partner in Scorpio Marketing."
In USA v Corio, the United States Court of Appeal, 2nd Circuit wrote:
"Coiro was a criminal defense attorney whose clients included Angelo Ruggiero, Gene Gotti and John Carneglia, partners in a large narcotics enterprise. Coiro was indicted in 1983...
"The evidence at Coiro's trial, based in part on conversations recorded by the FBI with electronic surveillance, revealed Coiro's involvement in the narcotics organization at least as early as February, 1982. Coiro, who had last represented a member of the enterprise in 1975, now helped them by bribing and facilitating the bribing of law enforcement and other officials to obtain confidential information, by assisting the concealment and laundering of narcotics proceeds, and by otherwise using his position as an attorney to assist other members of the enterprise in avoiding criminal prosecution.... Coiro helped to create false stories to be fed to the authorities, conceal evidence, and influence the testimony of prospective witnesses, in order to obstruct the pending law enforcement and grand jury investigations. The nature of Coiro's commitment to the enterprise can be inferred from a conversation intercepted on May 12, 1982:
"GOTTI: You're not our lawyer, you're one of us as far as we're concerned.
"COIRO: I know it, Genie, and I feel that way. That's a honor."
Paroled after 8 years, Coiro moved to Las Vegas in about 1991 where he died in 2003.
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