Poetic justice: Mobster bites hand that feeds him

As hard as it may be for some people to belief, Mahoning Valley mob boss Lenine Strollo is trying to stiff his lawyers.
Lenny, Lenny, Lenny, it's one thing to break the Mafia's vow of omerta, but not paying your mouthpiece! What's this world coming to?
A story in Tuesday's Vindicator told the sad tale: The law firm of Lipsitz, Green, Fahringer, Roll, Salisbury & amp; Cambria of Buffalo, N.Y., is suing Strollo in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, seeking recovery of $386,890 it says it is owed in legal fees.
We urge the lawyers to go full speed ahead. The suit also names Strollo's wife, Antoinette; his brother Danny; Willowcreek Terrace Co., which the suit states is co-owned by the Strollo brothers; Lenkin Inc., a company owned by Strollo; Antoinette Strollo's son, Raymond Hertz of Poland; and George Malizia, a former Strollo associate or employee whose last known address was in New Castle, Pa.
We think that's a great line-up, and it gave us an idea. If the lawyers want to see their money quickly, they shouldn't wait for a protracted case to work its way through the cumbersome court system. Just schedule the depositions and sell tickets.
They should be able to fill Powers Auditorium with reporters, FBI and IRS agents, students of organized crime and just plain folks who would love to listen to high-priced lawyers question Strollo and his associates about how they may have managed to hide his various assets. They might even be able to cut a deal with Court TV.
The suit claims that Strollo's relatives and friends have been unjustly enriched by personal property Strollo was allowed to keep as part of his plea bargain with the government. It's almost funny to hear the lawyers making that claim. More than two years ago, in this space, we called for the government to seize Strollo's considerable assets.
Rightful owners: As far as we're concerned, his ill-gotten gains do not belong to his family, friends, associates or lawyers. Those assets should belong to the people, the folks who really paid the price for Strollo's years of mob rule.
The taxpayers should have recovered whatever he had. It was they who had to pay for the police investigations of the gambling, drug dealing and murders that were part of Strollo's criminal enterprise. It was they who saw too many of their elected and appointed government officials corrupted by Strollo's bribes.
Strollo's hard-working legal counsel made sure that wouldn't happen by protecting his assets as part of his plea bargain. And now he won't pay up. It's enough to make a self-respecting mob lawyer seek another line of work.