On Friday, April 13, 2018, Michael Mazzara, 45, of Brooklyn, New York, appeared before U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest for sentencing in Manhattan federal court.
Michael Mazzara’s December 2017 guilty plea
Mazzara had pled guilty to two counts of bank theft before Judge Forrest exactly four months earlier on December 13. The charges related to the theft of cash and property from an HSBC Bank branch in Brooklyn in April 2016, and a Maspeth Federal Savings Bank branch in Queens in May 2016. The deposits of both banks were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
According to court records, Mazzara had signed a plea agreement with the government where he admitted he was the was the leader of the HSBC heist, and agreed to return items stolen from the banks and to make restitution to the victims. Both parties also agreed to a sentencing range of 97 to 121 months in prison.
Mazzara’s burglary crew included Anthony Mascuzzio, Charles Kerrigan, and Christopher Kerrigan.
The thieves stole approximately $330,000 in cash and $100,000 in property from the HSBC bank, and approximately $296,000 in cash and $20 million in property from the Maspeth bank.
At the conclusion of the plea hearing, Judge Forrest ordered Mazzara to be jailed pending sentencing despite the fact that the government did not request it at the time. The government’s reasoning was that Mazzara was making arrangements to return stolen items, but the judge opined that he didn’t need to be outside to collect those items.
Elderly victim reads statement to the court
Prior to Mazzara’s sentencing, the court provided an opportunity for a victim of the Maspeth break-in to address the court. This was the third time that victims addressed the court, with the prior instances occurring right before Christopher Kerrigan’s sentencing on March 30, and Charles Kerrigan’s sentencing on April 11.
Luciana Levy, 94, was a victim of the Maspeth break-in. According to her statement, her family had fled fascist Italy in 1938, and they were forced to leave most of their belongings behind. Levy had been loyal customer of the Rego Park branch since 1961, and she kept all of her “most meaningful and valuable possessions” in a safe depot box at the bank. She lost 65 pieces of jewelry including jewelry belonging to her grandmother and a cherished gold bracelet that her husband had bought for her on their first trip back to Italy in 1946. Levy called the situation one of the most difficult experiences of her life.
Michael Mazzara’s sentencing hearing
Even though Mazzara and the government had agreed to a specific sentencing range, the judge ultimately determines what the sentence will be.
“Basically the only time that he has not been stealing from people is when he’s in jail.”
-Assistant U.S. Attorney David Denton
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Denton argued that the impact of the crime goes beyond monetary value and is also about the significance of the items that were stolen.
Denton emphasized Mazzara’s central role, that he was involved in the planning for the burglaries, and that they used his home for staging and to divide up the proceeds. While he acknowledged that Mazzara had returned cash and agreed to forfeit a boat that was repaired and refurbished with proceeds from the burgalries, he pointed out that Mazzara had done so in order to reduce his sentence through “acceptance of responsibility” credit.
Denton concluded by asking for a lengthy sentence.
“The crimes he committed here are terrible, but he’s a human being.”
-Sanford Talkin, Esq.
Mazzara’s attorney, Sanford Talkin, called his client’s actions inexcusable, but said that he had ultimately taken responsibility for them.
According to Talkin, Mazzara has changed since his arrest two years ago, and he has started to think about the impact of his actions on other people for the first time in his life. Talkin acknowledged that the change was prompted by the hard line taken by the government.
Talkin pointed out that Mazzara had returned cash and other items, and described how he had taken an interest in what the victims had to say. Talkin said that Mazzara had read every victim impact statement and wanted to be in court when the victims spoke. He also revealed that Mazzara had recently received training for counseling inmates on suicide watch.
“I made bad decisions in life. I made bad choices, but I’m not a bad man.”
-Michael Mazzara
When it came time for Mazzara to address the court, he spoke for more than a minute, and the emotion was evident in his voice for much of the time. His first statement was “words cannot describe how sorry I am.”
Mazzara praised his parents, saying they came from a loving family, worked hard and gave him everything they could, but he chose the wrong path. He lamented that he knows he can’t be there for them. Mazzara said he’s a changed person, and that he wants to be there for his son.
Referring to the items stolen from customers’ safe deposit boxes, Mazzara said that if he had anything else he would give it back. His final words were “I’m very sorry.”
“It is a great shame that the defendant, who was able to plan and execute such complicated bank burglaries, didn’t use his talents for other purposes.”
-Judge Katherine Forrest
Before imposing her sentence, Judge Forrest called the burglaries a terrible crime that affected a large number of people. She said that Mazzara is different from the other defendants because he chose the targets and came up with the tools to execute the burglaries. She observed that he was the leader, but it was not the type of crime he could have done alone. Judge Forrest acknowledged that Mazzara had returned certain items including a watch and a diamond necklace that he had purchased with stolen cash.
She also noted that he has been convicted fourteen times, and wondered if there’s something that compels him to do these acts that he can’t control.
In the end, Judge Forrest sentenced Mazzara to 135 months in prison, 3 years of supervised release, payment of restitution, and forfeiture in the amount of the loss, currently estimated at almost $21 million.