NEW YORK — The bosses of New York’s five Cosa Nostra families discussed killing then-federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani in 1986, an informant told the FBI, according to testimony Wednesday in Brooklyn state court.
But while the late Gambino crime boss John Gotti pushed the idea, he had the support of only Carmine Persico, the leader of the Colombo crime family, according to the testimony.
It was in September 1986 that Giuliani staff at the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office prosecuted bosses of La Cosa Nostra families in a case that was the springboard for Giuliani’s reputation as a crime buster. It resulted in the conviction in October 1986 of Persico and two other crime bosses.
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Teen who brought gun to school accidentally fires it
MEMPHIS, TENN. — A teenager who brought a gun to school planning to sell it accidentally fired the weapon in a classroom Wednesday, slightly wounding another student in the arm, police said.
Markees Smith, 15, was charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and carrying a gun on school property, Police Lt. Joe Scott said. Scott said investigators believe Smith brought a pistol to Manassas High School planning to sell it.
“It was in his coat pocket. He had his hand in there, and I think he was just kind of fooling with it, and it went off,” Scott said. “The victim was not an intended target.”
Memphis high schools are equipped with metal detectors, but they are used for random checks and were not being used at Manassas High the morning of the shooting.
NASA’s top official regrets agency’s explanation
NASA’s top official expressed regret Wednesday over his agency’s stated reason for refusing to make public a survey on air-safety problems through the eyes of the nation’s pilots. He dismissed any idea that the space agency would put commercial interests ahead of public safety.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said he disagrees with a senior official’s written reason for refusing to turn over the results of the $8.5 million pilot survey to The Associated Press.
That official, associate administrator Thomas Luedtke, told AP that the information, if publicized, could undermine public confidence in the airlines and could affect the airlines’ profits.
Griffin said in a statement Wednesday: “I regret the impression that NASA was in any way trying to put commercial interests ahead of public safety. That was not and will never be the case.”
Griffin’s spokesman, David Mould, said NASA is still evaluating whether the survey results will be made public.
Woman who poisoned beef gets year of house arrest
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A disgruntled Kmart employee who said she put rat poison in ground-beef packages to get back at the retailer was sentenced to a year of house arrest.
Karen L. Wyndham, 45, pleaded guilty this past summer to one count of tampering and agreed to pay about $4,400 in restitution for the damaged products as well as the cost of the search.
Wyndham, who usually worked in the North Charleston store’s dairy area, had argued with her supervisor after he told her to work in the food market, FBI agents said. Upset about the way Kmart treated its workers, Wyndham told agents, she put rat poison in several beef packages.
An employee conducting a routine inspection April 4 found three packages that had been tampered with.
Nobody bought the tainted packages, and officials said no illnesses have been linked to the tainted products.
