This Week In Gang Land
The Attorney Seeking Compassion For Mob Hitman John Pappa Is An Ex-Con Charged with Domestic Violence
When
Colombo gangster John Pappa sought an early release from a life sentence for
four mob murders, he hired a kindred spirit who had spent his own time
behind bars. Before he became an attorney, Shon Hopwood spent 11 years in
prison for bank robberies that grossed $200,000, Gang Land has learned. In
prison, Hopwood became an ace jailhouse lawyer, even authoring two winning
appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court.
After his release in 2008, he obtained a law degree and has since become a law professor at a prestigious law school and was an advisor to President Trump on prison reform.
By 2017, nine years after his release from federal prison, Hopwood had married a woman from his home town in Nebraska, had two young kids, and was a professor at Georgetown Law where he would mentor The Donald's daughter Tiffany who enrolled that same year and who graduated in 2020. (Georgetown officials say Hopwood is currently on leave from the school.)
Judge Reserves Decision On Compassion For John Pappa; Others Voice Their Opinions
His high-powered Washington attorney had done his job. He framed his
longshot motion for an early release from prison for 49-year-old Colombo
gangster John Pappa. But Pappa knew that winning or losing would be up to
him, and so he gave it his best shot. But first, his lawyer answered most of
the issues that the government, and the judge had raised.
Tallest Guy In The Room Gets The Stiffest Sentence In The One-Punch Extortion Case
He was on the other end of the steakhouse bar when restaurant owner Bruno
Selimaj was punched in the mouth over an $86,000 gambling debt that his
relatives owed a Queens bookie. But Genovese wiseguy Joseph Celso ended up
with the stiffest prison term of the three defendants convicted in the seven
year old case.
