Last of Traffic Court defendants gets probation

The last sentencing in the federal corruption case responsible for the dismantling of the city's Traffic Court turned Monday into a referendum on the merits of old Philadelphia politics of personal favors.

Southwest Philadelphia businessman Henry "Eddie" Alfano - who admitted last year to plying a retired judge with gifts of seafood, car repairs, and porn - was sentenced to three years of probation and a $5,000 fine.

But his lawyers argued Monday that the 70-year-old's efforts to fix traffic tickets on behalf of family and friends was just an extension of the charity he had showered on others throughout much of his life.

"Mr. Alfano committed these crimes out of the goodness of his heart," defense lawyer Carmen Nasuti said.

This was a man, he said, who once anonymously bought a motorized wheelchair for a retired police officer suffering from ALS, and who pulled strings to get a family friend's paralyzed son into an exclusive care facility.

Doing what he could to help others with their traffic tickets was no different, said Mark E. Cedrone, another of Alfano's lawyer.

"Mr. Alfano was one of hundreds - thousands - of consumers of corruption," he said. "All he did was take advantage of what was widely known to be a corrupt system - and not to benefit himself, but to help some other people out."

That, prosecutors insisted, was exactly the problem. Their lengthy investigation exposed Traffic Court as a system of justice on two tracks: one for the politically connected and another for everyone else. Judges routinely dismissed citations or reduced fines for friends, and Alfano was one of the chief beneficiaries.

A former police officer who now lives in Clementon, Alfano maintained a small Southwest Philadelphia business empire that included an auto salvage yard, a garage, a scrap operation, and a towing business. He is also landlord of two strip clubs, the Oasis and Christine's Cabaret, and the Venus Video Adult Superstore.

He routinely relied on his relationship with former Traffic Court Judge Fortunato Perri Sr. to get tickets dismissed. Alfano kept that goodwill flowing by routinely showering the judge with gifts including shellfish and porn videos hidden in the trunk of the judge's car. (Perri was sentenced in July to two years of probation.)

Prosecutors said Monday they could not prove the gifts were part of a quid pro quo exchange.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Wzorek appeared dismayed by several character witnesses who suggested Alfano's gifts to Perri were no different from the free car maintenance, Christmas presents, and anonymous acts of charity he offered others in his community.

"I don't think the defendant gets it - and I'd venture to say most of the people in this courtroom don't get it," Wzorek said.

He urged U.S. District Judge Lawrence Stengel to send a message to those who cling to the city's traditions of machine-style politics. "Keep your petty local politics, your influence, your meddling hands off our justice system," Wzorek said.

Ultimately, Stengel - who has taken a harsh stance so far in sending four ex-Traffic Court judges to prison - granted Alfano a break and spared him a similar fate. He cited the businessman's decision to plead guilty before last year's trial and his honesty in dealing with federal authorities since.

"If this case was about anything, it was about people who should have known better and who had no respect for the law," he said. "Mr. Alfano's failing was to believe and understand that Philadelphia Traffic Court was a corrupt system. That was a belief that sadly he shared with most citizens."