Supreme Court rules against member of New York crime family who ordered hit

March 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed Friday that just because a person in New York State only hires someone to commit murder doesn't mean that person isn't guilty of a violent crime.

That was confirmed by a 7-2 majority of the Court, with only Justices Neil Gorsuch and Ketanji Brown Jackson in dissent.

Salvatore Delligatti, described by the Department of Justice as an "an associate of the Genovese Crime Family," had hired "gang members to kill a suspected police informant and gave them a loaded revolver to carry out the job," the case docket explains.

Delligatti had moved to dismiss a charge of conspiring and attempting to commit murder in aid of racketeering, because in New York that includes attempted second-degree murder which "requires proof that the defendant intentionally caused the death of another person," and "it necessarily involves the use of physical force."

New York State law Section 924(c)(3)(A) defines a "crime of violence" as a felony that "has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another."

The opinion of the Court was delivered by Justice Clarence Thomas who wrote that "federal felony qualifies as a predicate crime of violence" if the crime involves the use, attempted use of threat of physical force, and if the nature of a crime involves the risk that physical force could come into play.

Gorsuch delivered the dissent, in which he posed a scenario where a lifeguard chooses not to save a swimmer in distress. "The lifeguard may know that his inaction will cause death," he wrote, then asked if for whatever reason the lifeguard chooses to do nothing, "does the lifeguard's offense also qualify [under New York State law] as a 'crime of violence."

To that. Gorsuch added, "The Court thinks so. I do not."

Delligatti was sentenced in 2018 in Manhattan federal court to 25 years in prison for racketeering activity, conspiring and attempting to commit murder in aid of racketeering, conspiring to commit murder-for-hire and other related offenses.