Feds recommending house arrest for Fortunato Perri Sr.

The only Philadelphia Traffic Court judge convicted on corruption charges tied to the court's ticket-fixing culture may just walk away with one of the lightest sentences in the case.

In court filings this week, prosecutors pushed for house arrest for Fortunato N. Perri Sr., the court's 78-year-old former administrative judge, who admitted he helped toss dozens of citations in exchange for gifts of seafood and pornography.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Friday and could face up to two years under federal sentencing guidelines.

But, argued Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Wzorek, a sentence of home confinement would be both just and humane, considering Perri's advanced age and ill health.

"The defendant's shame . . . should be great," Wzorek wrote in a sentencing memo. "In this case, however, the government submits that justice requires a noncustodial sentence because of [Perri's] many medical problems."

Perri's attorney, Brian McMonagle, added in his own memo to the judge that two recent strokes, chronic Crohn's disease, blindness, and dementia had left his client all but housebound already.

"The simple question presented in the sentencing of this citizen is whether our society requires a 78-year-old stroke victim suffering from dementia and blindness, and who has no prior criminal record, to be imprisoned for a nonviolent crime for which he immediately pled guilty," McMonagle wrote.

The government's sentencing recommendation stands in contrast to the punishments Wzorek and cocounsel Denise Wolf sought for four of Perri's Traffic Court colleagues, all of whom received prison terms of about two years for convictions on lesser charges such as perjury or lying to the FBI.

(Kenneth Miller, a suburban magistrate judge who often filled in at Traffic Court, was sentenced to probation earlier this year after also admitting a role in the corruption scheme.)

Perri and Judges Michael Lowry, Robert Mulgrew, Willie Singletary, and Thomasine Tynes were accused in 2013 of routinely dismissing tickets for friends, family members and political allies - a practice that prosecutors said deprived the city and state of untold revenue in lost fines and fees.

Perri pleaded guilty in 2013 to counts of conspiracy and mail and wire fraud. The others challenged the government's case in court and largely won.

Jurors bought the portrait the government painted of Traffic Court as an institution plagued by favoritism, but later said they did not believe the judges' unethical behavior amounted to a federal crime. Though they acquitted the judges on corruption counts, the panel convicted Lowry, Mulgrew, Singletary, and Tynes of lying to authorities investigating the case.

"Unlike many of his codefendants that went to trial, mocked the government's case, and celebrated their acquittals, Mr. Perri accepted responsibility for his crime," McMonagle wrote in his memo Tuesday.

But Perri, more than any of his colleagues, was the most invested in the system that court employees referred to as requests for "consideration."

A high school dropout and former state representative, Perri was appointed to Traffic Court in 1997 and joined what his lawyer described as a corrupt ticket-fixing machine that was already in place.

Yet he was the only judge whom prosecutors accused of accepting bribes in exchange for his influence.

Even after his retirement in 2007, Perri was caught on FBI wiretaps calling - in between meals and episodes of The Jerry Springer Show - his former personal assistant to fix tickets.

"I still got a little connection," Perri was recorded telling one friend while discussing a ticket in 2011. "You want me to look into it?"

Perri's relationship with businessman Henry "Eddie" Alfano also raised eyebrows.

Alfano, who owns a towing and auto-repair business and serves as a landlord to two South Philadelphia strip clubs, plied Perri with gifts of free auto repair, contracting work, shrimp, crab cakes, and porn in exchange for his help with several citations. Perri once steered a no-bid towing contract to Alfano's business.

Alfano pleaded guilty to 13 counts of conspiracy and fraud last year, and is scheduled for sentencing in October. Prosecutors have recommended a sentence in his case in excess to the seven months suggested by federal sentencing guidelines

And while prosecutors have urged mercy for Perri, they argue he shares no less in the blame.

Perri's "actions are indefensible and played upon the worst side of what is viewed as typical Philadelphia politics, where it is not justice that is important, but who you know," Wzorek wrote. "[His] shame, as an integral part of that system for many years . . . should be great."

McMonagle took a more sympathetic view.

"After these tragic events, he lost his pension, his reputation, and his health," the lawyer said. "However, he proved that by accepting responsibility for his mistakes he would never lose his dignity."

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Five former Traffic Court judges have faced sentencing on charges tied to the court's long-standing practice of fixing tickets for the powerful and politically connected. They include:

Michael Lowry: Convicted last year of one count of perjury, but acquitted on conspiracy and multiple fraud counts, he was sentenced to one year, eight months in prison.

Robert Mulgrew: Convicted last year on one count of perjury, but acquitted of conspiracy and on multiple fraud counts, he was sentenced to one year, six months in prison.

Willie Singletary: Convicted last year on one count of making false statements to the FBI, but acquitted on conspiracy and multiple fraud counts, he was sentenced to one year, eight months in prison.

Thomasine Tynes: Convicted last year on two counts of perjury, but acquitted on conspiracy and multiple fraud counts, she was sentenced to two years in prison.

Fortunato N. Perri Sr.: Pleaded guilty in 2014 to one count of conspiracy, one of mail fraud count, and two of wire fraud. He is to be sentenced Friday. Prosecutors have recommended house arrest.

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