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NY judge gets a view of justice in Bulgaria

BY ANTHONY M. DESTEFANO | anthony.destefano@newsday.com

8:13 PM EDT, May 19, 2008

In his Brooklyn federal courtroom, the mobsters that Judge Nicholas Garaufis sees are often aging, ailing men dressed in ill-fitting jailhouse garb who are on their way to possibly dying in prison.

But during a recent visit to Bulgaria, the gangsters Garaufis spotted on the streets of the capital city of Sofia were well-dressed, well-fed men accompanied by bodyguards.

Bulgarian crime bosses drove around in convoys of late-model stretch Mercedes with vanity license plates symbolizing their crime lord status, he recalled. They even, officials said, openly paid voters the equivalent of $16 to back favored politicians.

The mob so rules the roost in Bulgaria that U.S. officials warn American travelers about organized crime, which in Bulgaria is also heavily involved in international credit card fraud affecting Americans. So, in an effort to embolden reform elements in the Balkan nation's judiciary and justice departments, both the U.S. Department of Justice and State sponsored a trip in November for Garaufis and other officials to the newly minted democratic nation.

There were some surprises. In an interview in his chambers, the 59-year-old jurist from Bayside, who has been a federal judge since 2000, was taken aback by a question asked of him by a law student.

"Had I ever been offered a bribe in a case I had been handling -- that told me volumes about their concerns," said Garaufis.

" 'No,' " was Garaufis' answer to the student.

For most of the past decade, Garaufis has made his mark presiding over scores of cases involving the Bonanno crime family. In June 2006, he sentenced former crime family boss Joseph Massino to life in prison for his role in eight murders. Massino is now a cooperating witness and may at some point show up to testify against his old cronies, including crime captain Vincent Basciano.

Law students, prosecutors and many judges seemed captivated, Garaufis said, by tales about the Bonanno cases and the fact that many informants came forward to testify. But based on what he learned in various forums, Garaufis said it appeared that the Bulgarian legislature has yet to give prosecutors and the courts the tools to effectively prosecute corruption and mob cases. For instance, in a nation where payoffs are a way of life, bribery cases can only be prosecuted if both the person giving the bribe and the recipient are arrested, something that deters witness cooperation, Garaufis said.

There is also a divide between older Communist-era functionaries and younger legal professions, Garaufis said. During one seminar, Garaufis recalled that some older judges talked animatedly among themselves, seemingly ignoring the American visitors.

"I just stopped to ask if they wanted to share with us. I was met with stony silence," he said.

"I am optimistic that there was a whole generation of legal professionals who feel very strongly that Bulgarians need leadership and legislative solutions to help law enforcement, Garaufis said. "Whether politicians will -- that is an open question."