Son of absolved man asks for more
Conviction led to 'destroyed' life
A week after a federal judge ordered the government to pay $101.7 million to four men who were wrongfully convicted of a 1965 gangland slaying, lawyers urged her yesterday to increase the sum awarded to the son of one of the men who died in prison.
US District Judge Nancy Gertner awarded $28 million to the estate of Louis Greco, who died behind bars in 1995 at age 78 after serving 28 years.
But in a motion filed yesterday, lawyers told the judge that all that money will go to his former wife, who abandoned the couple's two young boys and moved to Las Vegas after he was convicted of murder.
Attorneys for Greco's son, Edward, 50, who is recovering from lung cancer in a New Orleans nursing home, argued that he deserves more than the $250,000 he was awarded because "his life was destroyed" by his father's wrongful conviction and years of imprisonment.
In emotional testimony during the trial, Edward Greco said his mother sank into depression after his father was convicted of the slaying of Edward "Teddy" Deegan, drank heavily, beat him, and stopped shopping for groceries or doing laundry.
"There was no food in the house," said Greco, who described surviving by eating leftovers from classmates' school lunches and having no clean clothes to wear.
At 13, Greco and his brother, Louis Jr., 15, went to live with an aunt, but when she died of kidney disease four years later, he said he started living on the streets and selling drugs and never fulfilled his dream of going to college.
Roberta Werner, who divorced Greco in 1970, testified during the trial that she was unable to cope after his conviction and became deeply depressed. She left her sons with her husband's sister because she thought they would be better off living in a new town where people didn't know their father was a convicted murderer, she testified. Later, she reconciled with her husband and children, writing to Greco in prison and visiting him after she remarried.
In an interview last week, Edward Greco said his father told him he was leaving what little money he had to his oldest son, Louis Jr., because he had difficulty taking care of himself; Edward, meanwhile, was working at the time.
Lawyer Howard Friedman said that when Louis Jr. committed suicide in 1997, his mother inherited his estate because he didn't leave a will.
So unless the will is challenged, Friedman said Werner will get the $28 million awarded to Louis Greco's estate and the $250,000 awarded to her son, Louis Jr., in addition to the $50,000 that was awarded to her for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In a telephone interview last night, Werner said she has been taking care of Edward for years by sending him money and will share her portion of the award with him.
"He had a very hard life," Werner said. "No matter what happens, I'm going to take care of my son."
Lawyer Daniel Deutsch, who represents Werner, said that although her lawyers don't agree with all of the statements contained in the motion filed yesterday, "we recognize that Eddie Greco, like all of the plaintiffs, has suffered terribly and we wish him well."
In her ruling last week, Gertner found that the FBI knew that Louis Greco, Peter J. Limone, Joseph Salvati, and Henry Tameleo had been framed for Deegan's murder by a notorious hitman the FBI had recruited to testify against them, while withholding evidence of their innocence from state prosecutors. Limone served 33 years in prison; Salvati served 29 years and seven months; and Tameleo died behind bars.
Gertner awarded $250,000 each to Limone's four children and Salvati's four children.
In the motion filed yesterday, Friedman and Chicago lawyers Michael Rachlis and Edwin L. Durham said they didn't want to miminize the loss suffered by the children of Limone and Salvati, but argued that, unlike Edward Greco, they continued to have one nurturing parent at home as their mothers kept the families together.
Shelley Murphy can be reached at shmurphy@globe.com. 