Strollo prediction wrong, but ...

Imprisoned mob boss Lenine "Lenny" Strollo will be back home by the end of 2008 if he behaves himself and if the grim reaper doesn't claim his blackened soul first.
The fact that Strollo, who ran a criminal enterprise specializing in murder, was not freed last Tuesday means this writer was wrong in predicting Jan. 11 that the mobster would get a pass from federal Judge Kathleen O'Malley. It was suggested that Judge O'Malley would conclude that the five years Strollo has been in federal custody, and his cooperation with the U.S. attorney's office and the FBI were punishment enough.
In making the prediction, however, this writer expressed the hope that he would be proved wrong.
Here's what was written: "So why begrudge Strollo his freedom in the twilight of his life? Because a Mafia boss by any other name is still a criminal. It doesn't matter how sorry he is for his sins -- remember he testified that murder was part of his business -- and how important he has been to the federal government's crackdown on government corruption and organized crime in the Mahoning Valley."
It was pointed out that Strollo agreed to become a government witness only after he was nabbed by the FBI along with a bunch of his hoodlum friends.
Got a break
But while the prediction of the mob boss's release from prison was proved wrong, his sentence of 12 years and eight months -- he has already served five years -- represents a break that no murderous mobster deserves. Strollo could have been put away for 15 years, but as Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Morford, whose notches on his prosecutorial belt include former Congressman James A. Traficant Jr., former Mahoning County Prosecutor James A. Philomena and former county Sheriff Phil Chanced, put it, "When Lenny Strollo told us something, it was like money in the bank. ... Lenny Strollo has done everything he promised."
Judge O'Malley was also swayed by Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains' decision not to insist on the maximum prison term. In December 1996, then prosecutor-elect Gains was the target of a mob hit sanctioned by Strollo.
However, Strollo's operatives went outside the family for the hit men. Gains was shot and wounded, but the gun jammed before the shooter could finish him off.
Since then, the prosecutor has had no qualms about telling anyone who would listen that he "took a bullet for the community."
Strollo has testified that he put the hit on Gains because mobsters knew they couldn't expect any cooperation from him, like they had received from Philomena. With Gains out of the way, the Mafia could have their own man in the prosecutor's office, Strollo testified.
But Gains told reporters Tuesday that it was Mahoning County -- and not he -- that was the true victim of the shooting. The botched hit represented a stranglehold the Mafia had on the Valley and the extent to which it had infiltrated government.
The judge was impressed with Gains' refusal to play the victim card -- the way the daughter of murdered mobster Ernie Biondillo had done.
Strollo had ordered the hit on business rival Biondillo.
The county prosecutor, who is seeking re-election this year to a third four-year term, got a lot of mileage from his appearance at Strollo's sentencing.
But seeing as how he no longer considers himself a victim, the voters of the county will be spared his "I took a bullet for the community" speech on the campaign trail -- and an invitation to take a peek at his scars from the bullet wounds.
That's about the only silver lining from last week's court proceedings.
Strollo must have been smiling -- on the inside, of course -- when prosecutor Morford said that the mob boss's information "was like money in the bank."
After all, the federal government has allowed Strollo to keep all his blood money and to retain ownership of his Canfield house.
Comfortable life
So, if he makes it out of prison at the age of 77 -- as Billy Joel sings, "Only the good die young" -- he will have a comfortable life to which to return.
For this parasite, crime has paid.
Therein lies the problem with the federal government's willingness to play "Let's Make a Deal" with the dregs of society. The deals usually mean that such individuals, who are a cancer on their communities, walk away with little more than a slap on the wrist.
Twelve years and eight months is a break for someone who has spent his adult life in the underworld.