'Shoot Him'

A conviction in a Mob killing

Mob executions normally go unpunished. But the work of New York detectives and Bronx County prosecutors produced a conviction last week in the killing of a federal witness. The team did what the FBI and Justice Department had failed to do: show that Nat Masselli, 31, had been slain last year in an effort to impede a federal investigation into allegations that Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan had ties to organized crime.

New York-area Mafiosi had expected Masselli to testify in Special Federal Prosecutor Leon Silverman's probe of Donovan's activities as an executive of New Jersey's Schiavone Construction Co. Nat worked for his father William, 56, a convicted hijacker who owned an excavating firm that had subcontracts with Donovan's firm. Testimony in the Bronx County trial showed that Salvatore Odierno, 68, and Phil Buono, 68, Mafia soldiers, had met Nat Masselli last August to talk him out of cooperating with Silverman.

The prosecution's key witness, produced by Detectives Michael Geary and Larry Doherty, testified under an assumed name, William Burns. A longtime informant, Burns claimed that Odierno talked freely about the Masselli killing when the two were inmates last year at New York's Riker's Island jail. According to Burns, Odierno got mad when Masselli, sitting beside him in a parked car, rejected a deal in which the Mob would cancel loans to the Massellis if the pair would pledge silence in the Donovan investigation. Burns said that when a device that looked like a tape recorder fell from Masselli, Odierno yelled, "My God, the [expletive] is wired. Shoot him, Philly." Buono, seated in back, did so, according to Burns. The jury convicted Odierno of manslaughter. Buono, charged with murder, is scheduled to go on trial this week.

Donovan's name emerged several times in the Odierno trial. Burns testified: "Sal said that Mr. Donovan was just another construction operator, who was looking to buy contracts and then would run out of money, and would need money."

Summed up Prosecutor Martin L. Fisher: "The motive behind this crime is the protection of Mr. Odierno and Mr. Buono, their associates and their connections in high political office. That connection, the people assert, is Mr. Raymond Donovan."

Donovan, twice cleared by Silverman on charges of links with gangsters, may soon have a chance to rebut Fisher. He has been listed by Buono's lawyers as a potential defense witness in the alleged triggerman's murder trial. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.