Appeals Court Upholds $100+ Mil. Judgment Against Feds
Medford resident Peter Limone, 75, pictured at right, successfully sued the federal government along with three other wrongfully convicted men and in 2007 was awarded the largest judgment for wrongful imprisonment in US history- $101.7 million. File photo courtesy Gatehouse Media, Inc.
FBI Loses Appeal of Civil Suit Won by Wrongfully Imprisoned Medford Man
– Allison Goldsberry
A US appeals court has upheld the $101.7 million judgment against the Department of Justice for a successful civil suit brought against the FBI by a Medford man and three others who spent thirty-three years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit.
Medford resident Peter Limone, 75, Malden resident Joseph Salvati, and the families of Louis Greco and Henry Tameleo successfully sued the federal government and in 2007 were awarded the largest judgment for wrongful imprisonment in US history. Medford lawyer Victor Garo was instrumental in the case and spent more than thirty years working for Salvati pro bono.
The men were framed by the FBI for a 1965 murder they did not commit. Tameleo and Greco died in prison while Salvati and Limone had their sentences commuted in 1997 by Governor William Weld after thousands of pages of documents came out detailing FBI cover-ups and corruption that led to the wrongful imprisonment of the men.
In its opinion, the court affirmed the award although it expressed some reservation over the size of the judgment.
“…we conclude that the awards, though high, are not so grossly disproportionate to the harm sustained as to either shock our collective conscience or raise the specter of a miscarriage of justice,” wrote the court in its opinion.
The court condemned the FBI’s “egregious misconduct” and said it “exhibited a callous disregard for the scapegoats’ rights.” The court also said the agents acted “deplorably” and inflicted “intentional emotional distress” on the men.
Speaking to the Boston Globe, Juliane Balliro, a lawyer for Limone and the Tameleos, said she expected the judgment to be upheld and that the government should pay the award and allow the men to enjoy their remaining years with their families.
“It really is time for the government to put the sordid past of the FBI behind them and just move on,’’ said Balliro.
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