125K judgment awarded in suit against Strollo

YOUNGSTOWN -- A judge has ruled that Ernie Biondillo's widow be paid 125,000 by the man who ordered the mob hit on him more than 10 years ago.
Visiting Judge John R. Milligan noted that the parties involved in the wrongful death lawsuit reached a settlement. Linda Biondillo filed the civil lawsuit against Lenny Strollo and his wife, Antoinette. Strollo's wife lives in Canfield Township; he's been in federal prison since December 1997.
Linda Biondillo could not be reached.
The judge, in an order filed Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, said the settlement is pending probate court approval.
The wrongful-death action was filed in 2002 against Lenny Strollo, the former mob boss who testified to ordering Biondillo's murder in 1996.
Aside from Strollo, the lawsuit originally included Bernard Altshuler, who planned the killing; and Jeff Riddle, Cleveland Blair and George Wilkins, who carried out the hit. All are serving prison sentences for their roles in mob-related activities, including Biondillo's murder.
Biondillo, then 53, of Campbell, was shot in his car on the city's East Side while he was driving to work on June 3, 1996.
Strollo has testified that he and Biondillo were mob rivals and admitted giving the order to have Biondillo killed.
A similar lawsuit was filed in May 1999, but was voluntarily dismissed by the Biondillo family Feb. 5, 2001.