GREGORY SCARPA

MAFIA BOSS

When Gregory Scarpa Sr., a high-ranking member of the Colombo crime family, contracted AIDS from an unscreened blood ransfusion, he became the first mafia boss living with HIV.

Scarpa, a resident of Brooklyn, New York, was 58 when he was hospitalized for a hernia operation in 1986. Declining to receive blood transfusions from strangers, he asked that donors be ound among his family and associates. The hospital's store of blood was pre-screened for HIV, but Scarpa's physician, Dr. Angelito Sebollena, did not screen Scarpa's personal donors. One of them, Paul Mele (who later died of AIDS), passed his HIV on to Scarpa, who in turn filed a $1.5 million malpractice suit against Dr. Sebollena and the hospital where the operation was performed.

In November 1991, during a civil war between the Persico and Orena factions of the Colombo mob, Scarpa, a Persico ally, narowly escaped death when hitmen shot and missed him. In August 1992, according to reporter Jonathan Larsen, the AIDS-stricken Scarpa settled his medical suit out of court for $400 thousand and surrendered to authorities on outstanding racketeering warrants. Dr. Sebollena, meanwhile, had been arrested for the attempted murders of two other male patients. A hitman claimed the doctor had hired him to kill the men, who were suing Sebollena for sexually molesting them while they were sedated for operations.

Scarpa was placed under electronic house arrest awaiting rial, but in December 1992 he left his home and participated in a nidnight mob shoot-out that cost him his left eye. Like many people with AIDS, he remained active in his chosen career. Next Card 52: JERRY SMITH: Football Player