Craig DePalma, 35, was scheduled to go on trial Oct. 16 on criminal contempt charges for refusing to testify against reputed Gambino crime family captain Michael DiLeonardo.
The case against the nude dance club - which featured strippers, mobsters and pro athletes - ended in January when a federal judge sentenced former owner Steve Kaplan to 16 months in prison and 400 hours of community service.
Kaplan pleaded guilty in August 2001 to racketeering charges after being portrayed by prosecutors as a star-struck profiteer who prostituted dancers to star athletes to raise the profile of the club, cheated customers and funneled profits to the Gambino family.
DiLeonardo was acquitted of all counts in the Gold Club case, but has since been charged in New York on new racketeering charges.
DePalma was compelled to testify under immunity before a grand jury investigating the Gold Club but later refused to take the stand at the trial.
He was found hanging in his cell last week and taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was listed Tuesday in critical condition, Atlanta lawyer Jack Martin said.
DePalma remained in Grady's intensive care unit, handcuffed to a bed with a police guard, the lawyer said.
``Either there is something intolerable about the conditions (at the penitentiary) that would cause someone to try and take their own life, or someone else, for their own reason, wanted to do Mr. DePalma harm,'' Martin said.
Martin said that he felt confident DePalma could beat the contempt charge, which was to be tried before U.S. District Judge Charles Pannell.
``Why would someone who we had every reason to believe would be acquitted of these charges do something like try to commit suicide?'' Martin asked. ``Obviously, an independent investigation is necessary.''
DePalma was housed in the penitentiary's Detention Center Unit, which holds inmates awaiting trial or transfer to another prison and inmates who need to be in protective custody.
Penitentiary spokeswoman Mary Mitchell refused to confirm that DePalma had been injured and hospitalized, citing prison privacy guidelines. She said that penitentiary policy requires every inmate in the Detention Center Unit be observed once every 30-minute period.
Three years ago, DePalma pleaded guilty in New York to racketeering and extortion and is still serving a six-year prison sentence. His plea was entered in the same case that produced a guilty plea by former Gambino boss John A. ``Junior'' Gotti.
DiLeonardo was indicted in the Gold Club case for extorting money from a New York strip club. But DePalma has said he made it clear to Gold Club prosecutor Art Leach that he was not going to testify at trial.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/10/189115