The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear an appeal from Salvatore Delligatti, a Genovese crime family associate who is challenging a 2018 conviction on a gun charge that added five years to his prison sentence. Delligatti was convicted of attempted murder for hatching a plot to kill a local “bully” who was “terrorizing” a gas station that Delligatti and his associates frequented, reports CNN. Delligatti hired members of the Crips gang through an intermediary to carry out the killing and gave them a .38 revolver. Police intercepted the gang members before they were able to carry out the killing. Delligatti was convicted of several crimes and sentenced to 25 years in prison – including five years for the gun charge. That charge was based on a law that prohibits people from possessing a gun as part of a “crime of violence.”
Delligatti, as “Fat Sal,” argues the underlying crime in his case doesn’t qualify as a crime of violence. Federal appeals courts have split over how to apply the charge in similar circumstances. The Justice Department – though it opposes Delligatti’s argument – agreed that the Supreme Court should take up his appeal to provide clarity for lower courts. The justices have limited the circumstances under which prosecutors may seek enhanced prison sentences for a “crime of violence.” In a decision Delligatti relies on, a 7-2 high court majority ruled two years ago for a Virginia defendant who was convicted of the gun charge for using a gun in an attempted robbery. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Delligatti’s conviction.