Judge dismisses bankruptcy case

YOUNGSTOWN -- Former mob boss Lenny Strollo's Chapter 13 bankruptcy case has been dismissed, which may clear the way for a civil case against him to proceed.
Judge Kay Woods of U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio signed the order Friday, one day after Strollo and his wife, Antoinette Russo, filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss the case.
Strollo filed for bankruptcy July 25, just before a civil trial was to begin in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in a wrongful death suit filed by the wife of a rival mobster.
Ernie Biondillo was 53 when he was shot in his car on Youngstown's East Side while driving to work in June 1996. Strollo has admitted giving the order to have Biondillo killed because the two were rivals in organized-crime operations in the Mahoning Valley.
Linda Biondillo of Campbell filed a wrongful-death suit in common pleas court in February 2002, alleging Strollo and others were responsible for her husband's death.
An out-of-court settlement was reached in 2004, but Probate Court Judge Timothy P. Maloney said the settlement had to be approved first by the probate court.
The settlement was then tossed and the case was placed back on the civil docket. The civil case was to be heard by Visiting Judge John R. Milligan.