Politech archive on U.S. v. Scarfo: http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=scarfo --- Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 10:10:29 -0500 To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private> From: David Sobel <sobelat_private> Subject: Scarfo Plea Bargain http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/2769774.htm Posted on Fri, Mar. 01, 2002 Scarfo's high-tech case ends with plea The FBI had fought a bid by the mob boss' son for details on the top-secret device used to monitor his computer. By George Anastasia Inquirer Staff Writer NEWARK, N.J. - The son of jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo pleaded guilty to a bookmaking charge here yesterday, quietly ending a run-of-the-mill underworld gambling case that had taken on national significance because of the top-secret technology the FBI used to gather evidence against him. Throughout a two-year pretrial debate, authorities vigorously opposed defense lawyers' attempts to get detailed information about a computer monitoring device, a so-called keystroke recorder, that was used to break a coded computer file where the younger Scarfo allegedly stored gambling records. Prosecutors contended that to disclose how the technology worked would have jeopardized national security. Nicodemo S. Scarfo, 36, entered the guilty plea during a brief hearing before U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano. Scarfo admitted supervising a gambling operation in North Jersey for about a year, beginning in the summer of 1998. [...] --- http://news.com.com/2100-1023-848173.html Plea turns legal heat off PC surveillance By Reuters February 28, 2002, 2:50 PM PT Reputed mobster Nicodemo Scarfo Jr. pleaded guilty to illegal gambling Thursday in a New Jersey federal court, ending the case that inadvertently produced the first ruling supporting the government's right to spy on personal computers. According to the plea agreement, Scarfo, 36, of Belleville, N.J., agreed to serve a minimum 33 months in prison and not to contest a longer term that may be imposed when he is sentenced June 10 by U.S. District Court Judge Joel Pisano. Scarfo, who remains under house arrest until the sentencing, also agreed to two to three years of supervised release following the jail term. He may also be fined as much as $250,000, or twice the gross proceeds from the illegal bookmaking operation he admitted he ran between 1998 and 1999 from his Belleville office. [...] The case began as a commonplace bookmaking case until defense attorneys demanded disclosure of FBI secret surveillance of the office computer Scarfo used to keep track of bets. Then, as the first such case in federal courts, it drew national attention to the issue of computer privacy rights vs. law enforcement's right to use secret computer technology. [...] --- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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