By:Jerry Burke
But after a huge break on the Italian-Swiss border, justice has finally been served in connection with the 1990 Westbury drag race that left a mother and grandmother dead and seriously injured a grandfather.
Former Elmont resident Ugo Berardi, now 70, was sentenced last week to 5 to 15 years for the manslaughter deaths of Marsha Singer, 48, and Sara Gerstein, 71. Police say Berardi was drag-racing against the then-17-year-old Saul Portillo along Merrick Avenue in Westbury on Nov. 26, 1990.
Singer, of Dix Hills, and her mother, Gerstein, of West Palm Beach, Fla., had just driven out of the parking lot of a Westbury restaurant with Gerstein's husband, David, when Berardi's car struck their car. Soon afterward, Portillo's car rammed into Berardi's.
Both women died, and Gerstein was left blind in one eye and suffered a paralyzed left arm. He has since died.
According to expert testimony at the 1992 trial, the two men were driving in excess of 80 mph. Portillo, now living in Uniondale, was convicted of two counts of criminally negligent homicide and served sentences of 1 1/3 and four years.
Berardi was a different story. After being convicted of two counts of second-degree manslaughter, two counts of criminally negligent homicide and one count of second-degree assault in July 1992, police say he skipped out on his $50,000 bail, and a warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to appear for his sentencing.
According to Nassau County Assistant District Attorney Robert Biancavilla, not much was known about where Berardi had fled until county authorities discovered that in 1994 he was living in his homeland of San Marino, a tiny land-locked nation surrounded by Italy. Biancavilla said the authorities could do little, however, because unlike its neighbor, San Marino had no extradition treaty with the U.S.
The case sat for eight years, until Interpol, the international law-enforcement agency, informed Nassau officials in March of 2002 that they believed Berardi was still living in San Marino. That October, Interpol confirmed with county officials that the fugitive's warrant was still valid.
A year later, thanks in part to tighter border checks in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, Biancavilla explained, Berardi was stopped as he tried to enter Switzerland from Italy. A routine check by border guards came up with the warrant, and they arrested Berardi last Oct. 13.
Berardi, who was in Swiss custody, fought his extradition to the U.S. for 10 months, but to no avail. Homicide detectives, including Sgt. Dennis Barry, took custody of Berardi from the U.S. Marshals as he arrived at JFK airport at 7:15 p.m. on Aug. 19, after a brief stopover in Washington, D.C. "Despite the fact that the years may pass, we still work on these cold cases," said Barry. "We want justice to be served for the victims."
Police are still piecing together what Berardi, on the run for 11 years, was doing while in San Marino and why he attempted to cross into Switzerland. While on the run, he was sentenced in absentia to 5 to 15 years for each of the two counts of manslaughter and 2 1/3 to seven years for the assault charge. The sentences were ordered by the judge to run concurrently.
Last Friday, Berardi was finally notified of his punishment in person. He is currently being held in the County Correction Center in East Meadow. His lawyer, Stephen Scaring of Garden City, would not comment on the case.
Family members of the victims were present for the long-awaited hearing, and felt relieved after the 12-year delay. "He's finally going to pay for what he did," Mark Singer told reporters outside the courthouse. Singer, now 35, was 21 when his mother and grandmother were killed in the crash.
Nassau Homicide Squad commanding officer Detective Lt. Dennis Farrell was pleased that the process, though delayed, finally worked. "We feel a great deal of satisfaction, particularly for the family," said Farrell. "The trial was sort of an empty victory. What's a conviction without somebody serving the time they were sentenced to?"
