as boss. Sessa ignored Orena's request and forwarded the information to Carmine Persico. At this point, Persico ordered Sessa to murder Orena. On June 20, 1991, Sessa, Zambardi, John Pate, and Hank Smurra went to Orena's Long Island, New York home to ambush and kill him. However, when Orena arrived at the house, he saw the trap, and escaped unharmed. As a result of the attempt, a two-year war erupted between the Persico and Orena factions. On November 29, 1991, Sessa's nephew, Larry Sessa was nearly killed during an ambush; Larry was chased down the street by masked gunmen and jumped into a friend's car. When the Colombo war ended with Orena's defeat, 12 people were dead out of 24 murder targets. On April 8, 1993, Sessa and other Colombo mobsters were arrested while attending a secret meeting outside St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. He had been a fugitive for the previous nine months. Sessa was indicted on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act murder conspiracy charges. Government witness Shortly after his 1993 indictment, Sessa, at the urging of his wife, pleaded guilty to four murders and became a government witness. Sessa went on to testify in eight mob trials. In the summer of 1997, Sessa was released on bail. However, that December, Sessa was arrested for gun possession by a convicted felon, domestic violence against his wife and stealing guns from his son. In 2000, Sessa was sentenced to time already served for the four murders. He told sentencing judge Jack Weinstein, "I hate everything about the life I led, and I hope that it ends soon because it keeps destroying families and kids who are infatuated with it and can't wait to be 'goodfellas.' I wish I could tell them what it really is." In October 2007, Sessa testified at the corruption trial of former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Lindley DeVecchio. DeVecchio, the agent in charge of informant Gregory Scarpa, had the charges against him dismissed after revelations that the prosecution's star witness, Scarpa's girlfriend Linda Schiro, had given an interview denying that Scarpa was involved in the murders. References 1951 births Colombo crime family Consiglieri American gangsters of Italian descent Living people Federal Bureau of Investigation informants People who entered the United States Federal Witness Protection Program