It seems like you can’t go away for even a few days. If you do, you miss something good.
Take this weekend, when folks in Connecticut discovered that Senate Minority Leader Louis Deluca (R-Naturally) was arrested and has now pled guilty to misdemeanor threatening charges. I was in Maine, and missed the unfolding story, an Oscar winner if ever there was one.
Lou goes hat in hand to James Galante. Can Galante help him save his innocent granddaughter from the abusive man with whom she is entangled?
Sounds like a movie you’ve already seen, doesn’t it?
Melancholy notes on a trumpet open ”The Godfather,” along with an undertaker’s emotional insistence that ”I believe in America.” He is talking to a man in shadow, seeking revenge against the punks who brutalized his daughter. The man, of course, is Don Vito Corleone. Why didn’t you come to me in friendship, he asks? And not until the undertaker kisses his hand and calls him Godfather does he grant his request.
Later on, the undertaker repays his debt, but he’s got nothing on Lou:
DeLuca told the undercover operative that “anytime [Galante] needs anything, within my power, that I can do, I will do.” Later in the conversation, DeLuca said he was “shocked” when Galante was indicted because “he is not a careless guy.” When the undercover operative suggested that Galante got indicted because someone “spilled something,” DeLuca replied that “it had to be some bastard, but, you know, he’s not a careless man.”
Believing that the undercover operative was a Galante employee, DeLuca left instructions on how to arrange future meetings “if you guys need me anymore.” The best way to make contact, DeLuca said, was through a third party because his “relationship” with Galante was a secret.
DeLuca met the undercover operative a second time, on September 7. He promised that “I’ll keep my eyes open.”
“And understand that anything that could hurt [Galante], I’ll try to blunt it as best I can.” He promised to be helpful in killing legislation or state regulations that could adversely affect Galante’s business interests. “I can’t influence it at this point, because it’s out of my hands,” DeLuca told the undercover operative, “but if it gets to the point where I have appointments, I can influence it that way. You know … if it’s a commission … generally I get an appointment.”
Of course, this being Connecticut, things have to be more comic than tragic. It turns out that Galante never really delivered for DeLuca, he just told him he did.
Meanwhile, the right side of the Connecticut blogosphere, that pathetic rump, overflows with sympathy for poor Lou. After all, it’s totally undestandable that a guy would turn to a mobster to beat the crap out of someone that the cops wouldn’t even arrest. I refuse to link to this, but take my word that Chris Healy really wrote this:
Senate Republican Leader Louis DeLuca’s arrest yesterday on charges of threatening to assault is a misdemeanor accusation prompted by his frustration over physical abuse heaped on his granddaughter by her boyfriend. Many people in this area will tell you, one of the great mysteries of domestic abuse, is the inability to provide protection to the abused when they don’t prosecute their tormentors. 

From this endless doubt and uncertainty of what would happen to his granddaughter, Sen. DeLuca sought out help from someone he shouldn’t have – James Galante, a reputed mobster and trash hauler from Danbury who is under federal indictment for racketeering.
It should be noted that at the time DeLuca sought Galante’s help in “talking” to the abuser, Galante was not under indictment nor were his mob ties validated by the prosecutors.
…
We are all fallible, this writer included. We all make mistakes in life and try to make amends for them if we are ready to ask forgiveness. Lou has asked for forgiveness and he is entitled to it. This is a personal matter. The undercover FBI agent who had infiltrated the Galante empire, tried to offer DeLuca a bribe and the senator refused. And while some of DeLuca’s comments in the affidavit raise questions, no one has accused DeLuca of doing anything other than try and protect his family.Lou DeLuca is a gentleman, a good father, grandfather, civic volunteer, political leader and friend to all. He has always been there for people who need him and loyal to a fault. We should all pray for him and hope the best for him and his family who he loves so much and tried to protect.
Absolutely, Chris. We all couldn’t agree more, knowing as we do that you’d extend the same loving sympathy to a Democrat who sought help from an as yet un-indicted mobster. And lest we forget, DeLuca was charged with a mere misdemeanor only because the state police prevented an actual assault by Galante’s thugs. Had Deluca gotten what he wanted, he’d be facing felony charges.
P.S. Lest anyone read any ethnic slurs into the above, rich as it is with Italian surnames, I claim immunity, as my mother’s family hearkens from Sicilia. Family legend has it, in fact, that my grandfather came here to avoid killing a man at the Mafia’s behest. I do not vouch for the truth of the story, by the way.
