MAHONING COUNTY Judge holds up sale of property held by Strollo

The apartment complex is the focus of a civil suit between the Strollo brothers.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A judge has held up the possible sale of some assets held by former mob leader Lenny Strollo until a wrongful death lawsuit against Strollo is settled.
Judge Timothy P. Maloney of Mahoning County Probate Court issued the order Thursday. It prevents Strollo, his wife, his brother and their business partnerships from selling, liquidating or in any other way transferring ownership of Willowcreek Terrace apartments in Beaver Township.
An attorney for the family of Ernie Biondillo, a former mob rival of Strollo's, says the property could be used to satisfy a civil suit the Biondillo family is pursuing against Strollo and others.
Strollo has admitted giving the order to have Biondillo killed because the two were rivals in organized crime operations. Biondillo was 53 when he was shot in his car on Youngstown's East Side in June 1996.
Settlement thrown out
Biondillo's wife, Linda, filed a wrongful death suit in February 2002 against Strollo and the men he'd hired to kill her husband. She settled the suit out of court earlier this year for $50,000.
Judge Maloney threw out the settlement, though, because lawyers hadn't first sought probate court approval as required by Ohio law. Biondillo's daughter, Melissa Rich, said at the time that she believed Strollo had more assets so he should have been able to pay more.
Her husband, Atty. Michael J. Rich, filed a motion this week in probate court asking Judge Maloney to stop the sale or transfer of the Willowcreek Terrace property for that reason.
Ownership of Willowcreek Terrace has been the subject of a civil lawsuit between Strollo and his brother, Dante, in common pleas court. Dante Strollo is not involved in the wrongful death lawsuit.
Court records say a settlement had been reached whereby the Willowcreek property was to be transferred to Lenny Strollo and a certificate of deposit for $372,448 was distributed to his wife, Antoinette Russo.
Atty. Rich said in court documents that Lenny Strollo and Russo have asked Dante Strollo to transfer his partnership interest in the property to Russo "in an obvious attempt to circumvent the reach of [Lenny's] creditors, including the estate of Ernest Biondillo Jr."
Judge Maloney's order also prohibits the county recorder's office from accepting any filings related to the Willowcreek Terrace property until the matter is resolved.
bjackson@vindy.com