The lawyer made famous for defending subway vigilante Bernhard Goetz in 1987 was attacked and beaten a month after the trial on orders from a Colombo mob boss, according to files made public in the ongoing trial of former FBI supervisor Lindley DeVecchio.
Legal eagle Barry Slotnick suffered a broken wrist after a bizarre attack across from City Hall in July 1987 during which his watch was stolen.
Speculation at the time was rampant that the attack was linked to Goetz’s acquittal on charges stemming from the now-famous shooting of four would-be muggers aboard a subway train.
But a week after the attack, Colombo snitch Gregory “The Grim Reaper” Scarpa reported to DeVecchio, his FBI handler, that Colombo boss Carmine “The Snake” Persico – a former Slotnick client – was responsible.
“The source also said that the attorney Barry Slotnick was given the recent beating on orders from Carmine Persico for some perceived failures connected with his legal duties with respect to the Colombo family,” reads the memo, dated July 17, 1987.
Slotnick himself doubted the truth of the tip.
“I know it’s not true,” he told The Post. “It’s absurd. It really was a mugging. The police did uncover the fact that there was an article in the newspaper earlier noting that I wore a $25,000 watch. I was attacked and one of the people who attacked me grabbed my watch.”
The 600-page file of tidbits and notes passed from Scarpa to DeVecchio, introduced into evidence last week, mostly contained updates on mob activity.