Putnam DA Charges Zaimi’s Lawyer with Witness Tampering, Bribery
By Janine Bowen
Westchester County attorney George Galgano was indicted Thursday afternoon on several charges including bribing a witness and tampering with a witness.
Galgano, 40, pled not guilty to the two felony charges, as well as misdemeanor charges of conspiracy.
The witness involved was the victim of a sexual assault case that Mahopac restaurant owner Lani “Ariano” Zaimi was tried for. According to Putnam County District Attorney Adam Levy, Galgano, who was Zaimi’s lawyer, offered the witness money in order to get the witness to change their testimony and not appear in court. A family member of the victim disclosed the bribe to Carmel police approximately four months ago, which resulted in launching the investigation.
During the arraignment in Putnam County Court, Judge David Zuckerman set bail at $100,000 cash or bond, and stated that Galgano must surrender his passport.
The prosecution, which was represented by Putnam Assistant District Attorney Andres Gil, had requested that bail be set at $250,000 cash because of Galgano’s ties to other crimes.
In July of this year, Galgano was arrested in Westchester after being found in possession of C-class felony drugs. The charges in that case are still pending, and Galgano met the $10,000 bail set by the Westchester court. In addition, Gil claimed that during an execution of a warrant on Galgano’s home and office, police intercepted a call between Galgano and one of his co-conspirators in which Galgano allegedly threated to shoot an ADA in Putnam County. A text message where he claimed that he was going to “knock over a gas station” was also found.
Galgano’s attorney, Robert Altchiler stated that these alleged threats made over the phone are simply a “PR stunt” by the prosecution to harm his client’s reputation.
“An innocent person is not going to jail in this case,” he stated.
In addition, during the investigation, police found a twelve gauge shotgun under a bed in Galgano’s home, which belonged to one of his alleged co-conspirators. Galgano must surrender this gun, and any other additional weapons he may own, by August 22, under the terms of an order of protection that the prosecution requested on behalf of two women involved in the case.
Galgano must appear in court again on Sep. 4 at 2 p.m. for a preliminary conference as well as on Nov. 13 for determination of readiness.
Following the arraignment, Levy held a press conference, in which he commended Carmel police that worked the case with state police to bring charges against Galgano.
“When an offender’s lawyer violates the law by bribing, tampering, and conspiring with others to interfere with that witness’s rights, my office will use every lawful tool to protect the victim and the integrity of the criminal justice system,” said Levy.
When asked how he felt about the assertion that Levy went after Galgano in order to get back at Galgano and Zaimi, who filed a $130 million lawsuit against Levy earlier this month, citing that Zaimi was targeted and falsely arrested because of his connections with Sheriff Don Smith, Levy stated the claim was “ludicrous.”
“I don’t blame Mr. Galgano’s lawyer for making those statements,” Levy said. “If I were Mr. Galgano’s lawyer, I would be making any statements I could to deflect the attention and focus away from his client.”
