A federal judge sentenced the leader of a two-decade art and memorabilia theft ring Thursday to eight years in prison.
Senior U.S. District Judge Malachy E. Mannion, clearly angry after listening to theft victims testify, also ordered Thomas Trotta to serve three years probation after his release and pay $2,759,073 in restitution. The money will go to the 20 museums and other venues he burglarized.
Mannion said he doubts Trotta will ever be able to repay that much but ordered measures to chip away at the total anyway.
He said half Trotta’s pay as an inmate — minus an allowance for phone calls — will go toward restitution. So will $300 a month of any pay Trotta earns after his release.
What Trotta did, Mannion told the thief, was “pretty terrible.”
Mannion sent Trotta back to prison where he’s been since last year because he violated terms of his pre-sentencing release.
Trotta pleaded guilty to theft of major artwork in July 2023 and agreed to cooperate in capturing other ring members.
A self-admitted thief and burglar, Trotta led a ring that lasted 20 years. Its local targets included the Everhart Museum and Lackawanna Historical Society in Scranton, the Country Club of Scranton in South Abington Twp., and Keystone College in LaPlume Twp.
The ring planned thefts together that Trotta then carried out, almost always alone. He stole an unauthenticated Jackson Pollock painting and an authenticated Andy Warhol painting from the Everhart; a 100-year-old Tiffany lamp from the historical society; famed professional golfer Art Wall Jr.’s trophies and other awards from the country club and baseball hall of famer Christy Mathewson’s jersey and two of his player contracts from Keystone.
Trotta also stole nine World Series rings and seven other championship rings belonging to baseball hall of famer Yogi Berra from the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center in Little Falls, New Jersey. From the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York, Trotta stole championship boxing belts that belonged to middleweight champions Tony Zale and Carmen Basilio.
None of the loot was recovered and the belts and rings were melted down and sold for cash.
The ring unraveled when police arrested Trotta for drunken driving in 2019. By then, he admitted to suffering from an addiction to painkillers.
Federal prosecutors charged him and either others as ring members. Three — Joseph Atsus, Damien Boland and Nicholas Dombek — were found guilty of various crimes in the ring on Feb. 7. They’re all awaiting the completion of background reports before they’re sentenced.
A jury acquitted Alfred Atsus, Joseph Atsus’ brother, of all charges the same day. Trotta testified against all four, all of whom were friends since childhood, at their month-long trial.
Three others pleaded guilty to single counts, including Trotta’s sister, Dawn Trotta, a mother of two who lives in Covington Twp. Mannion sentenced her to 15 months in prison and $200,000 restitution Wednesday and ordered her to report April 4.
Last month, Mannion sentenced two others — Frank Tassiello, 52, of Scranton, and Ralph Parry, 47, of Covington — to probationary sentences.
The other ring member, Daryl Rinker, pleaded guilty to a single count in June 2023, but died of natural causes last April.
Trotta’s lawyer, attorney Joseph D’Andrea, acknowledged his client “lived a life of crime,” but portrayed him as the son of corrupt former police officer father who burned down a building for the Mafia, turned to burglary and used his 11-year-old son as a lookout on thefts.
“He had a very, very perverse upbringing,” D’Andrea said.
Trotta, 49, Moscow, referred to himself as “a scumbag” and said he learned first hand the pain he inflicted while watching victims cry as he testified at the trial.
“I (saw) how much pain I caused you,” he said. “I know I don’t deserve it, but I pray that one day you guys can forgive me for what I did.”
With Trotta often looking down and downcast as they spoke, his victims showed no mood for forgiveness.
Haley Zale, the great-niece of Tony Zale, wept and dabbed her face with a tissue as she described the years she spent scouring the internet, distributing fliers and “cold-calling pawn shops” trying to find the stolen belts.
Zale, an actress, said she stopped acting as the theft produced anxiety and depression and scorn from Boxing Hall of Fame backers who blamed her for criticizing the hall for failing to aggressively search.
“I became public enemy number one,” she said.
After the nine were charged, Trotta appeared on the television program “60 Minutes” and gave interviews to Sports Illustrated and The Atlantic magazines.
As he prepared to announce the sentence, Mannion called Trotta’s crimes “pretty terrible” and highlighted the thief’s “chutzpah” in granting the interviews that essentially mocked the victimized families. The judge said he found them “offensive.”
“I was flabbergasted when you showed up on ’60 Minutes,’” Mannion said before using the same language about the other interviews.
He said he took into account Trotta’s upbringing, but said the burglar will soon turn 50.
“You’re not some kid who’s just 11 years old,” he said. “You’re a grown man.”
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