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December 28, 2006

Court upholds conviction of man nabbed in FBI sting

BOSTON -- A federal appeals court today upheld the conviction and sentencing of Anthony Gobbi, a Boston man charged with providing protection for a supposed cocaine shipment from behind the wheel of a black Cadillac outside a Providence hotel.

Gobbi was one of three men snared in a reverse sting operation, in which an FBI agent posing as a wealthy businessman arranged protection through Robert Nardolillo, described in the court’s decision as a “suspected underworld figure.”

Gobbi, 37, of Marion Street in Boston, was convicted of conspiring to distribute cocaine and attempting to possess cocaine with intent to distribute it. And in April, U.S. District Judge William E. Smith sentenced Gobbi to 13 years and four months in prison.

Gobbi’s lawyer appealed, arguing there was insufficient evidence Gobbi tried to possess cocaine and that the judge should not have admitted certain evidence. The defense lawyer also contended Gobbi’s sentence should not have been increased based on the presence of a gun at the hotel and the conclusion that Gobbi committed perjury.

But the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the appeal. “Concluding, as we do, that Gobbi’s arguments are devoid of merit, we affirm the judgment below,” Judge Bruce M. Selya, the court’s only Rhode Islander, wrote in a 25-page opinion.

Gobbi is now at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, N.J., according to the federal Bureau of Prisons' Web site.

-- Journal staff writer Edward Fitzpatrick

Posted by Andrea Panciera  at 5:02 PM | Permalink

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