BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | On Sept. 19, Joe Ottomanelli pleaded guilty to one count of disorderly conduct in an incident at Ottomanelli & Sons Meat Market this spring, in which he was accused of giving a black deliveryman a noose.
He pled to a violation, not a crime. It was considered a slap on the wrist, given that the original more-serious charge he was arrested for was aggravated harassment.
Meanwhile, the attorney for a former Ottomanelli employee who was fired in the wake of the incident, told The Villager this week that his client was the “fall guy” in the case.
Joe Ottomanelli was represented by Ron Kuby, the well-known criminal-defense and civil-rights attorney. In what Kuby called a “complex plea agreement” with the Manhattan district attorney, Ottomanelli, 60, entered the guilty plea, and upon completion of three days of community service — in a soup kitchen or food pantry — will be allowed to withdraw that plea Dec. 15, and receive an Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal. If during the next six months, Ottomanelli avoids any new arrests, the charges will be dismissed and the record sealed.
In addition, Ottomanelli must complete one session of the Restorative Justice Program. A D.A. spokesperson descried this as “an educational session with a facilitator to talk about the particulars of what brought the defendant to court, and wider implications of that intolerance in the world.
“It’s a very targeted experience specific to each person and each case,” the spokesperson explained, adding that the program was developed with the Museum of Tolerance. “It’s generally utilized to explore issues of prejudice, diversity and tolerance.
“If he successfully completes all the terms,” the spokesperson said, “he’ll be allowed to take an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal (A.C.D.) with an order of protection,” meaning he must stay away from the complainant.
The assistant district attorney offered Ottomanelli leniency “in light of the defendant’s lack of criminal history and his age,” according to the spokesperson.
Commenters on a Greenwich Village Facebook page have noted that Joe Ottomanelli — the youngest of the Ottomanelli brothers — was always known as a youth for not being, well, the sharpest blade on the butcher block and for having an often-inappropriate sense of humor.
Meanwhile, Victor Sheppard, 36, said that in April, Ottomanelli gave him a noose — the symbol of lynchings — of yellow rope as a “gift,” and told him, “If you ever have any stress, just put it around your neck and pull it. I could even help you with it.”
However, the next month, two of Joe’s older brothers, Frank and Gerry Ottomannelli, told The Villager that another employee, who they identified as Paul, was the one who thrust the rope at Sheppard, and that they had promptly fired him, so the problem had been solved.
“No Ottomanelli would have done something like that,” Frank said at the time.
Similarly, speaking to The Villager last week, Kuby stated, “Joseph Ottomanelli did not hand a noose to anyone, and this false allegation has deeply pained him and his family, who have served the diverse and constantly changing Village community for more than a century. Nonetheless, the incident did take place on his premises and he has repeatedly apologized for it and reiterated that Ottomanelli’s has zero tolerance for bigotry in any of its forms. Ultimately, the criminal case against him, which never should have been brought, will be dismissed. Both the defense and the district attorney agree that dismissal is appropriate.
“There was a noose,” Kuby admitted, though adding, “Joe was not the one who had it or gave it to the complaining witness,” referring to Sheppard.
Asked if Joe Ottomanelli had made harassing statements to Sheppard over several different dates, as the deliveryman claimed to the media, Kuby answered, “no.”
Patch reported Kuby as saying, regarding the noose incident, “It was done as a joke by a different employee but it wasn’t funny and the employee was terminated.”
Asked by The Villager if Paul — instead of Joe — in fact, gave Sheppard the noose and harassed him, Kuby declined comment.
“The case is over,” the renowned radical attorney said at another point. “If there had been a trial, all of these questions would have been answered. But both sides agreed on dismissal. If some lawyer wants to try to turn this into a payday, all of the evidence will come out.”
Wylie Stecklow, Sheppard’s attorney, declined to comment for this article. But speaking to the Daily News after the plea agreement, he said, “When this investigation began in April, we were pleased when it resulted in the arrest of Joseph Ottomanelli for a hate crime. Joseph Ottomanelli pled guilty for his hateful act against Victor Sheppard and will be forced to make amends in the community most affected by his hateful conduct. While we recognize the difficulties in prosecuting these cases to the full extent of the law, we can hope that this result will deter people with hate in their hearts from committing additional racist acts.”
Meanwhile, Joseph Mure, attorney for Paul Durando, the fired Ottomanelli employee, said, “Paul didn’t do anything wrong. Paul actually liked that guy,” referring to Sheppard.
“Paul hasn’t been charged,” Mure noted. “He never will be charged. He was never, never, never involved in the case. The only one who said Paul was part of the case was the defendant. They threw Paul under the bus. Paul was working that day and he was never involved,” he said, adding, “Paul kept his mouth closed. … He tried to stay out of this.”
According to Mure, Durando’s father had a big meat business in the old Meat Market in the Village, and, when the younger Durando became semi-retired, he took his clients with him to Ottomanelli.
“When they basically told Paul, ‘Hey, we don’t need you anymore,’ he didn’t know what happened,” Mure said of the Ottomanellis’ canning his client. “With friends like them, you don’t need enemies.”
Mure said, on the date in question, Durando was not in the back room, where the noose incident occurred, but had gone out into the front room to get some cheese to pack in a box of meat for an order he was fulfilling, so he didn’t see what happened.
The police came to Durando’s home to question him — yet, tellingly, never arrested him, Mure noted.
“It’s an open-and-shut case,” the attorney said. “That’s the reason why Paul was never arrested — because the complainant [Sheppard] saw exactly who did it.
“Paul Durando is a good man,” Mure said. “He’s a family man. And he didn’t deserve to be thrown under the bus.
“Who else do you put the blame on,” the attorney asked, “your brother or Paul? They needed a scapegoat.
“If this guy did nothing wrong,” he said of Joe Ottomanelli, “then why did he plead guilty? Paul wasn’t involved, that’s why Paul wasn’t arrested. Period.”
Although the criminal case is closed, a civil suit can still be filed, Stecklow and Mure both noted. However, it wasn’t clear if one will be.
