GOP Lawyer Beats Head-Butt Rap

GOP lawyer beats head-butt rap in White Plains
The Journal News by Richard Liebson - April 11, 2009

WHITE PLAINS, NY - The case against a Republican lawyer accused of head-butting a lawyer and former state Assembly candidate during a brawl at a posh city restaurant has been dropped.  City Judge Brian Hansbury dismissed the misdemeanor third-degree assault charge against Anthony Mangone yesterday. Prosecutors said alleged victim Massimo "Max" DiFabio had withdrawn his complaint and declined to cooperate. Mangone, 35, once a top aide to former state Sen. Nicholas Spano, R-Yonkers, was arrested Dec. 23 after he and two other men allegedly fought with DiFabio at BLT Steak, a restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 221 Main St. DiFabio, 45, ran an unsuccessful campaign for the 88th Assembly District on the Republican and Conservative lines in 2000.

According to a police report, DiFabio told cops he was at the steakhouse about 10:30 p.m. when Mangone and two other men confronted him and called him names. He said Mangone pushed him and threw him to the ground and one of the men kicked him in the head. When he got back to his feet, DiFabio said, Mangone head-butted him in the face. DiFabio was treated for a split lip and bloody nose at White Plains Hospital Center. Mangone was picked up at his Purchase home a few hours later. The other men were never identified or charged. Mangone, who denied the accusations, could not be reached for comment yesterday. According to court documents obtained by The Journal News, DiFabio wrote a letter to the Westchester County District Attorney's Office, requesting that the charge be dismissed. "I want to assure you that I arrived at this decision knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently," his letter stated. "My decision was not brought about by any threats or intimidation or coercion of any kind. I have not been offered or received any monetary compensation of any kind..."

In the papers, prosecutor Steven Vandervelden states that he contacted DiFabio to see if he would be willing to discuss the evidence in the case and that DiFabio "stated unequivocally that he had no desire for this prosecution to continue." In one conversation, DiFabio apparently told Vandervelden that he would not discuss the evidence unless he was subpoenaed. In his written request that the case be dismissed, Vandervelden stated that, without DiFabio's cooperation and testimony, it could not be sufficiently prosecuted. DiFabio also could not be reached for comment. This is the second time Mangone has escaped prosecution. In 2002 he agreed to plead guilty after admitting that he opened sealed absentee ballots and wrote in the names of Spano and a Republican judicial candidate in a 2000 Green Party primary. A grand jury voted not to indict him and charges were never filed. rliebson@LoHud.com