Former Mob Boss to Pay Last Respects to Dad in Courthouse Garage

It won't be the first time a prisoner paid final respects to a loved one in a garage.

A jailed former mob boss whose request to attend his father’s funeral was denied due to security reasons will still get to pay his final respects to his deceased dad – in the courthouse garage.

Thomas Gioeli (Tommy Shots) will be transported from the Metropolitan Detention Center to the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse to say farewell to his father, Salvatore, who died on Friday. He was 81.

Tommy Shots, accused in six murders, including the killing of a city police officer, issued a plea last week to Brooklyn Federal Judge Brian Cogan that he be allowed to attend his father’s wake and funeral service on Long Island, accompanied by U.S. Marshals.

Prosecutors opposed Gioeli’s request, writing in a letter to the judge that the U.S. Marshals Service should make the final determination, but consider the potential flight risk and threat to the community posed by the former boss of the Colombo crime family, reports the Daily News.

Ultimately, U.S. Marshals agreed to bring Salvatore Gioeli’s body to Brooklyn for a private viewing by his son after the wake in Farmingdale, rather than incur the risks associated with taking Tommy Shots to the funeral home. After the 20-minute viewing in the courthouse garage, Gioeli’s father will be returned to Farmingdale for burial in Pinelawn Memorial Park.

Though Gioeli reportedly whined that he would not be able to attend his father’s funeral mass with his mother, wife and daughters by his side, his courthouse wake won’t be the first for a prisoner. There have been roughly a dozen similar services over the years, reports the News.

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