NEW YORK, March 11 -- A con man whose work as an informant exposed municipal corruption in New York and Chicago was convicted Monday of killing a bank teller who was scheduled to testify against him in a bank fraud case. A Brooklyn federal jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts for Michael Burnett and two accomplices for their roles in masterminding the 1994 slaying of Valerie Vassell, who was shot to death while eating dinner at home with her teenage son. Vassell turned government witness after authorities discovered she was involved in a scam with Burnett. Prosecutors say Burnett, 66, put out a contract against Vassell while he was incarcerated at a Brooklyn jail for the counterfeit check scheme. He allegedly hired Irving Jones, a convicted double murderer, to come up with a team of hit men to carry out the killing. Officials said he was assisted by Manhattan attorney Howard Krantz, who allegedly supplied the gunmen with Vassell's address, a gun and money. Krantz, 67, and Jones, 52, also were found guilty. All three face life in prison without parole at their June 7th sentencing. 'It is difficult to conceive of a more callous act than executing a human being solely for the purpose of escaping prosecution for bank fraud,' U.S. Attorney Zachary Carter said when the charges were filed. 'This murder was commissioned for the sole purpose of obstructing justice,' he said after the verdict. A state jury has indicted the alleged gunmen, Steven Brown and Branford Crute, on murder charges.
Described by his own attorney as a 'mercenary,' Burnett was something of an expert at escaping prosecution for white-collar crime, juggling his roles as lawbreaker and informant to secure reduced sentences in exchange for damaging testimony. In the mid-1980s he played a crucial role in an FBI investigation of bribery in New York City Parking Violations Bureau contracts, a probe that culminated with the suicide of Queens Borough President Donald Manes and the conviction of Bronx political boss Stanley Friedman. During the same period, Burnett was also involved in a corruption probe in Chicago and the information on bribe-taking that he provided led to the indictment of more than a dozen city officials. Burnett, who was often paid thousands of dollars for his information, has been the target of murder investigations in Florida, New York and the Midwest over the years. Prosecutors said Burnett has been linked to the deaths of William Callahan, an associate, and Wendy McDade, a chorus girl, who were found shot to death in Wisconsin in 1981. In addition, he has been connected to four other people who disappeared in the 1970s: Florida accountant Max Broussard, whom Burnett met in prison; Florida widow Anne Sessa, who was supposed to take a vacation with Burnett; Long Island financier Charles DeStefano, who was being questioned by officials investigating one of Burnett's scams; and Florida resident Adelaide Stiles, who invested $30,000 in a Burnett scheme. Burnett was indicted in Stiles' death, but the charges were ultimately dropped. Officials never brought charges against him in the other cases.
