Reputed Mobster Michael Scarpacci Goes Legit, Becomes Successful Car Salesman
By AOL Autos
Michael Scarpaci, a reputed Gambino associate who is about to begin a 25-month sentence after being convicted of a $20 million securities scam, has reinvented himself as quite the successful car salesman. And he's hoping that his newfound skill will help to keep him out of prison, according to the New York Daily News.
Scarpaci has been working at a Long Island Infiniti dealership and his boss, David Fine, does not want to see him go, as the business has been seeing record sales. Fine has recently been lobbying to allow Scarpaci to remain on the payroll until the end of the year. "If allowed to remain with us until the end of the year it will give us ample opportunity to finish well above our factory objectives for 2012," Fine wrote in a letter to Federal Judge Jack Weinstein. "He has had a tremendous impact on our organization."
Scarpaci has already been granted two adjournments. The U.S. Attorney's Office thinks it is well past the time for him to go to prison, but Scarpaci says that he is simply trying to support his wife and kids.
"With my wife going back to work, my children starting school and me going off to handle this situation, it's a lot for my family to swallow," he told the Daily News.
According to Scarpaci, his clients at Infiniti of Manhasset don't know about his criminal past and he has been actively trying to erase that part of his life from the Internet.
"It's so embarrassing for my career," he said.
He said that customers find it easy to trust him, which is unsurprising, as that was his specialty when tricking his unsuspecting victims back in his mobster days. Prosecutors say he was in charge of a huge scam that duped more than 1,000 investors into thinking they were putting money into a fake Wall Street investment company.
Scarpaci sold cars at a Nissan dealership before getting busted for fraud. Apparently, he was quite successful there, too, earning between $250,000 and $300,000 in 2009, according to court papers.
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