YOUNGSTOWN Hit man suspect appears in court

The defendant is giving up information that could lead to arrests in other old cases.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Robert Dorler Jr. and Dominic Senzarino Jr. were total strangers to each other the night their paths crossed some 23 years ago in Poland Township.
As Senzarino, 47, got out of his car to go into his house on Saginaw Drive in Poland Township, a gunman stepped out of the shadows holding a 12-gauge shotgun and shot Senzarino at least three times. That was Oct. 2, 1980.
Dorler, 67, was arraigned Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, charged with aggravated murder. A county grand jury indicted him in April.
His thin, gray hair combed backward and his cuffed hands linked to a brown leather belt around his waist, Dorler pleaded innocent and said he cannot afford to hire a lawyer. Judge James C. Evans appointed Atty. James Gentile to represent Dorler and set the matter for trial in August.
Dorler already is serving a life sentence in a Pennsylvania state prison for an unrelated murder charge in that state.
Unsolved case
Scott A. Longo, assistant Ohio attorney general, said the case was unsolved until a state task force began looking into a Mahoning County burglary ring in the late 1990s. Information developed during that investigation led to Dorler's indictment in the Senzarino case.
Longo said that Senzarino's death was mob-related and that Dorler was a hired gun, brought in from Medina to kill Senzarino. He would not say who ordered the hit, or why.
"As far as we know, Dorler had never seen Senzarino before," Longo said. "He was just brought here to kill him."
According to Vindicator files, Senzarino was a cousin of Ronald Carabbia, once the reputed leader of organized crime in the Youngstown area.
Longo said he expects the case to be resolved through a plea agreement instead of a trial, though that will have to be worked out with Gentile.
Dorler has been cooperative with authorities during the investigation and has provided information that could lead to arrests for other crimes, including homicides, dating back to the 1970s, Longo said.
Longo and assistant attorney general Stephen E. Maher are also prosecuting Samuel Fossesca, who was indicted last year in the April 1981 killing of 32-year-old Joey DeRose Jr. The same investigation that led authorities to Fossesca also led them to Dorler, Longo said.
Fossesca also is charged with aggravated murder and is awaiting trial in common pleas court.
bjackson@vindy.com