Judge Denies Compassionate Release For Ex-Colombo Associate John Pappa, Who Murdered Four

It looks like ex-Colombo associate John Pappa still might break the record for serving one of the longest prison sentences in US criminal history.

Pappa was part of the hit team that rubbed out John Gotti ally Joseph Scopo.

Pappa, who committed four murders at the age of 19 and was convicted and sentenced to multiple life sentences when he was 21, filed a motion for compassionate release on December 19, 2022. 

Pappa asked the Court to grant him a sentence reduction under Section 3582(c)(1)(A) based on what he argued were "extraordinary and compelling circumstances":

-- his upbringing and youth at the time he committed the crimes of conviction;
-- the fact that a life sentence in his case will be unusually long given his young age at the time of his convictions, which, in turn, "creates a sentencing disparity" when compared to "nationwide sentencing practices for those convicted of murder in federal court";
-- the sentencing court's inability to consider the mitigating circumstances of Pappa's youth and upbringing because of the mandatory Sentencing Guidelines that applied at the time of his sentencing;
-- and his extraordinary rehabilitation while incarcerated

Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Pamela Chen denied the would-be wiseguy's request, noting in her May 30 ruling that his crimes were “brutal and senseless” and signaling that she didn't buy the remorse he sought to show at one of his hearings.

“The court cannot shake the impression, after observing and listening to defendant over the course of the two-hour April proceeding, that he feels no remorse about committing the four murders nor empathy for the victims or their families,” Chen wrote.   “Defendant’s statements … felt hollow and performative.”

Pappa, 50, will continue to serve the two life sentences (plus 65 years) he was slammed with for committing four hits back in the mid-1990s (when he was 19 years old).

Pappa was nabbed at a wedding rehearsal on Staten Island (by Tommy Dades) in 1997. (One of his four victims was the brother of the man getting married.)

As noted in the ruling:

Between June 1992 and December 1997, Pappa was involved in drug trafficking and racketeering and was personally involved in four murders related to his association with the Colombo crime family, as per Judge Chen's ruling, which is available online in its entirety here.

In October 1993, as part of a three-man "hit-team" assembled by Eric Curcio, the head of a crew of "rising associates" of the Colombo Family, Defendant killed high-ranking Colombo Family member Joseph Scopo on October 20, 1993, when Curcio, Pappa, and John Sparacino ambushed him as he was returning to his home.

Although Sparacino sprayed the vehicle that Scopo was in with gunfire, Scopo managed to exit the vehicle and flee on foot. Defendant pursued Scopo and shot at him, hitting him three times and killing him. After the Scopo murder, Sparacino began taking credit for the murder even though it was Defendant (Pappa) who had actually killed Scopo. This prompted Defendant and Curcio to agree that Sparacino had to be killed so that Defendant and Curcio could claim credit for the Scopo killing. Although there was at least one failed attempt to kill Sparacino thereafter, the plan to kill Sparacino did not come to fruition until August 1994. In the meantime, in June 1994, Defendant and Curcio worked together to murder one of Sparacino's close friends, Rolando Rivera because Rivera had revealed to his girlfriend a warning that Curcio had given Rivera about staying away from Sparacino, which suggested that Sparacino might soon be killed. When Curcio advised Defendant about Rivera's act of indiscretion, the two men agreed that Rivera had to be killed. Defendant and Curcio arranged a meeting with Rivera, and on June 7, 1994, the three men drove together in a stolen van to Staten Island. Just after the van crossed into Staten Island, Rivera was shot four times. Defendant and Curcio then pushed Rivera, who was still alive, out of the moving van. Though Rivera was found alive that night by an off-duty police officer, he died a short time later.

In July 1994, the plan to kill Sparacino was revived after it was reported to Curcio that Sparacino had openly disparaged Defendant and Curcio at a night club about the two men taking credit for the Scopo murder. After learning of this incident from Curcio, Defendant solicited his friend, Calvin Hennigar, who had assisted Sparacino in distributing drugs on Staten Island, to help kill Sparacino.

Defendant and Hennigar were partners in a retail drug business that distributed large quantities of marijuana, cocaine, and ecstasy between June 1992 and December 1997.

On August 13, 1994, Hennigar lured Sparacino to Hennigar's Staten Island home where Hennigar shot Sparacino in the back of the head, killing him. Two days later, Defendant and Hennigar transported Sparacino's corpse in a stolen car to another location in Staten Island and set the car on fire. An autopsy later revealed that Sparacino had been hog-tied and his body mutilated; a flap of skin had been cut from Sparacino's face and his penis had been severed and placed in his mouth. In October 1994, after suspecting that Curcio had not properly credited Defendant for the Scopo killing and that Curcio might have killed one of Defendant's close friends who had been a member of Curcio's crew, Defendant killed Curcio. Defendant initially but unsuccessfully tried to recruit several organized crime associates to assist with Curcio's murder, leaving Defendant to murder Curcio alone. On October 4, 1994, Defendant ambushed Curcio at his place of business, shooting him more than ten times in the face, chest, and hand, killing him.

On December 30, 1997, Defendant was indicted in a superseding indictment on eleven felony counts. The murders of Scopo, Rivera, Sparacino, and Curcio were charged as predicate acts for the racketeering offense.

In May 1999, Pappa was convicted at trial.

In November 1999, he was sentenced to six concurrent life sentences, one on each of the two racketeering counts and the two murder counts, one on the drug trafficking count, and one on the drug trafficking conspiracy count. He also received concurrent sentences of ten years on the two murder conspiracy counts and consecutive sentences of five and 20 years on the two firearm counts.

In denying the compassionate release request, Judge Chen noted:

"The four murders committed by Defendant were brutal and senseless. Defendant killed Sparacino and Curcio for taking credit, or possibly taking credit, for a murder that Defendant had committed and wanted credit for, and Defendant killed Rivera for a single act of indiscretion. Defendant's conduct in ordering and/or carrying out the four murders was unusually cold-blooded, calculating, and ruthless. The murders of Rivera and Sparacino, in particular, demonstrate unusual depravity and cruelty, and in the case of Sparacino, sadism. Rivera was shot multiple times and then thrown from a moving vehicle while still alive. Sparacino was not only shot in the back of the head, but he was hog-tied, a flap of skin was cut off his face, and his penis was severed and placed in his mouth.

"The depravity of Defendant's conduct with respect to Sparacino's murder is heightened by Defendant's close relationship with the Sparacino family at the time of the murder and Defendant's continued relationship with the family after the killing, as the family mourned their loss and the search for Sparacino's killer ensued. At the April proceeding, Sparacino's mother tearfully berated Defendant's "cruel and barbaric actions," explaining that Defendant "sat at my table on many occasions and was treated as a family member. He actually looked me straight in the eye and expressed concern and confusion about my son's disappearance knowing full well the atrocities he committed; the location of his mutilated body."

Sparacino's cousin described Pappa and his conduct this way:

The man who murdered my cousin was charming and personable. He was also devious and cunning. He used these traits to keep himself close to my Aunt Rose [Sparacino's mother] and my cousin, Sal [Sparacino's brother], knowing full well the atrocity he had committed.

While our family searched for my cousin, John [Sparacino], his killer was in my aunt's house pretending to aid the search. When [Sparacino's] body was found in a horrific state, his killer remained close to my cousin, Sal, never showing a moment of guilt or remorse over what he had done, only caring if any suspicion was on him. He sat at my aunt's table knowing the vicious and brutal way that he had killed [her] son.