Arrest Mobster In '76 Killing Of Court Officer

By REUVEN BLAU

Thirty-two years after the murder, police Feb. 7 arrested an alleged soldier in the Gambino crime family for the shooting death of decorated Court Officer Albert Gelb.

DENNIS QUIRK: May get justice at last.

"It took a long time, but now we got him," said Dennis W. Quirk, president of the New York State Court Officers Association, shortly after the indictment against Charles Carneglia, part of a massive case against organized crime that charged 61 of his cohorts with other wrongdoing, was announced.

Special Case for DA

Mr. Quirk recalled speaking with Mr. Gelb the night before he was shot to death in his car near his house on March 11, 1976. Officer Gelb, who was 25, had just worked in night court in Brooklyn, where he walked then-Criminal Court Judge Richard A. Brown to his car.

Now the Queens District Attorney, Mr. Brown said the case carries special meaning to him. "That was the last I saw of him, that night he was shot and killed," he told the New York Times.

Mr. Quirk noted that Mr. Gelb was slain four days before he was set to testify against Mr. Carneglia, whom he arrested for pulling out a gun during a dispute at a restaurant in Queens.

"From the very beginning we accused the Carneglia crew," the union president said.

After the killing, the union offered a $5,000 reward, to no avail. A 1986 racketeering case brought by Federal prosecutors that included the Gelb murder ended in acquittals for then-Gambino Crime Family boss John Gotti, as well as Mr. Carneglia and other mob subordinates. It was later learned that a juror hearing the case had been bribed.

The COA later created a yearly award for public service in Mr. Gelb's name.

A bronze plaque with Mr. Gelb's picture and name also was placed in the lobby of the Brooklyn Criminal Courthouse at 120 Schermerhorn St.

"We are very glad that the FBI and various Federal, state and local officials kept working on this case for all these years," Mr. Quirk said. "It sends the message to organized crime that if you want to attack or kill a law enforcement person - sooner or later we are going to get you."