Demanding Justice For Court Officer Murder, 33 Years After Crime

The Chief-Leader/Eric Weiss OUT FOR JUSTICE, 33 YEARS LATER: Court Officers Association President Dennis Quirk led a delegation of his members to Brooklyn Federal Court for the trial of an alleged Mafia enforcer accused of murdering Court Officer Albert Gelb in 1976.

Court Officers Association President Dennis Quirk spoke with Court Officer Albert Gelb the night before he was murdered March 11, 1976 after working the late shift in Brooklyn. Mr. Quirk was aware of the threats made on Mr. Gelb's life for the previous 11 months after the Court Officer had embarrassed and arrested a reputed mobster.

Four days before Mr. Gelb was set to testify in a trial, Mr. Quirk identified his body in the morgue after he was found behind the wheel of his car, shot four times in the chest and face in Queens. The Court Officers Association put out a $5,000 reward at the time, but it was never claimed.

A Long Wait for Justice

In the 33 years that passed before Charles Carneglia, a reputed member of the Gambino crime family known as Crazy Charles, would stand trial for the murder of Mr. Gelb in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, the New York Yankees won six World Series and six Presidents were elected. For Mr. Quirk, a shadow hung over his union even as an award named after Mr. Gelb was given annually, and a Brooklyn courthouse was dedicated in his memory.

Therefore, it was incongruous to see the union president in the overflow courthouse cafeteria with dozens of other Court Officers straining to hear the opening arguments Jan. 29 broadcast on a flat-screen television. On the 10th floor, his members had a strong presence in the courtroom, in suits rather than uniforms, but Mr. Quirk did not venture into the courtroom, as is customarily done by Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick J. Lynch when accused copkillers are tried.

Instead, he sat within spitting distance of the TV, cracking his knuckles like a man restraining his emotions as Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Seifan mentioned Mr. Gelb in her opening argument.

"[Mr. Carneglia] chose murder as a way to punish Gelb for daring to stand up to a mobster," she said. "To the defendant, killing a Court Officer was a badge of honor."

In Judge Jack Weinstein's chambers, the Court Officers were not in uniform because Mr. Quirk did not want to appear to influence the jury. He said there were about 60 of them there for the first day of the trial.

'They'll Know We're There'

"People are going to know we are there," he said of his members, who wore state court pins on the lapels of their suits. "The most important thing is to convict this prick and to see [him] rot in prison. The death penalty would be too good for [him]."

Inside the Federal court chambers, Court Officers sat as engrossed by the testimony as the jurors who faced Mr. Carneglia, dressed in his white sweater, which matched his slickedback white hair and beard. Without uniforms, they could have been any family members or friends of the five people whom Mr. Carneglia has been accused of murdering.

Court Officer Joe Parrinello sat forward on the wooden bench in the last row of the court with his right hand over his mouth and his left hand on his knee as a Federal Investigator, John Carillo, who was on the witness stand, testified about the Mafia code of silence. The prosecutor did not need to mention that this code had kept Mr. Gelb's death a mystery for more than three decades.

'Helped Woman Being Harassed'

Silence is what Mafia members allegedly wanted from Mr. Gelb in the first place. Off-duty, Mr. Gelb, who was described as active and energetic, was eating at a diner when Mr. Carneglia and some associates starting giving a waitress some trouble. The highly-decorated Court Officer intervened and ultimately arrested Mr. Carneglia when he saw that he was carrying a gun. "Here he was in a diner and a woman was being harassed," Mr. Quirk said. "He didn't have to interject himself, but he did."

Mr. Quirk said that Mr. Carneglia told Mr. Gelb that he had embarrassed him in front of his friends and there would be retribution. "'I'm going to kill you for this,' " Mr. Quirk said the mobster told Mr. Gelb.

Soon after the arrest, threats began in an attempt to coerce silence from the 25-year-old Court Officer. Mr. Quirk said Mr. Gelb told him he would not be intimidated by the threats and was prepared to testify. He was gunned down four days before the court date after walking now-Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, who was then a Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge, to his car following a night-court shift.

'Hope He Suffers Every Minute'

"It's taken us a long time to get here today," said Mr. Quirk. "The law-enforcement community in New York has worked on this case for 33 years. We've gotten close to making arrests several times. We're convinced the U.S. attorney in this case has a tremendous case and we'll get a conviction and they will send him away to a Federal maximum [security] prison where I hope he will serve a long time and suffer every minute of every day."

Mr. Quirk said the arrest and the start of the Carneglia trial has begun to bring closure to Mr. Gelb's sister, Emily Gelb, who will attend parts of the trial but didn't come to a dedication at Brooklyn Criminal Court because she wasn't ready for it. "It will bring closure to me when I see the bastard suffer," Mr. Quirk said outside court flanked by a bevy of Court Officers. "When he gets sent to Marion [the Federal penitentiary where Mr. Carneglia's old friend and boss, John Gotti, died] and I know he's locked down 24 hours a day and he can't see outside, that will bring some closure. But I'll never forget identifying that body in the morgue and I'll never forget Albert Gelb."