ISGRO GETS 50 MONTHS

U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins sentenced former record promoter Joseph Isgro to 50 months in federal prison Thursday (9/7), the Los Angeles Times reports. Back in June, Isgro had plead guilty to conspiracy and extortion charges in connection with running a loan-sharking business outside Le Grand Passage shopping center in Beverly Hills (hitsdailydouble, 6/1).

Judge Collins also ordered Isgro to pay $356,657 in restitution, representing interest he earned—at 5% a week—from the usurious loans.

Sentenced alongside Isgro were Isgro's chief enforcer Anthony "Uncle Tony" Saitta, who was sentenced to 50 months and ordered to pay $356,657 in restitution, and Isgro's collector Valentino Bartolone, who got a 32-month term and was ordered to pay $344,507 in restitution.

In 1989, Isgro, owner of Private I Records, was indicted on 57 counts of racketeering, conspiracy to distribute cocaine and engaging in "payola." Prosecutors at the time accused him of offering radio stations inducements ranging from cash to prostitutes to get his artists on the air. The Feds spent $10 million and seven years prosecuting Isgro on those charges. A federal judge threw out the case after finding that the prosecutor committed misconduct by failing to disclose evidence that could have been used to exonerate Isgro. The government pursued appeals for nearly a decade.

In his courtroom remarks, Isgro's attorney Donald Re suggested that his client was driven to loan-sharking because of that protracted federal prosecution that left Isgro "busted and broke." Re said the bad publicity "totally destroyed [Isgro's] very successful business, totally destroyed his finances." He added, "This man was slapped in the face and kicked in the gut."

Allegations from the FBI that Isgro is a soldier in the Gambino crime family were denied by Re.