Brooklyn prosecutors vouch for ex-Dix Hills mobster

A former Dix Hills mobster and killer who became a major witness against New York's crime families is looking to avoid a life sentence, with the help of the government, when he is sentenced in federal court Friday.

Salvatore "Good Looking Sal" Vitale, 62, is getting the backing of Brooklyn federal prosecutors who filed a voluminous report with the court arguing that Vitale's cooperation was "devastating to the mafia" and worthy of a "substantial" break on sentencing.

Prosecutor Taryn Merkel said in her sentencing memo, which Brooklyn federal judge Nicholas Garaufis unsealed Tuesday, Vitale's cooperation was "groundbreaking by any measure."

Vitale was one of a number of high-ranked Bonanno crime family members who decided to cooperate with prosecutors in 2002 and 2003. What made Vitale's cooperation staggering was that he testified against his close friend and brother-in-law Joseph Massino, then boss of the Bonanno family.

It was mostly on the strength of Vitale's testimony that Massino was convicted of racketeering and complicity in six murders in July 2004. Massino then decided to cooperate and is now scheduled to be a key witness in the February 2011 death penalty trial of his old acting boss Vincent Basciano.

Vitale was close to Massino, who taught him to swim and worked with him on a lunch truck in Maspeth, Queens. Vitale rose from a small time numbers operator to Massino's underboss and confidante. Massino married Vitale's older sister Josephine.

Eventually, Vitale bought a house in Dix Hills where he lived with his wife, Diana, and their four sons. With Vitale in the witness security program, the family moved away in 2003.

It is unclear what sentence Judge Nicholas Garaufis will give Vitale. Garaufis has wide discretion and the government request for consideration of Vitale's cooperation will undoubtedly play a role in the court's decision.

Prosecutors said Vitale provided the FBI with evidence about more than 30 gangland murders or attempted murders, including the killing of Colombo crime family underboss William "Wild Bill" Cutolo, whose body was unearthed in late 2008 on Long Island.

Vitale also told the FBI he took part in a dozen mob murders, well as numerous other crimes.