House arrest expected for ticket-fixing judge
Fortunato Perri Sr. made sure his friends received preferential treatment in Traffic Court.
FORMER TRAFFIC Court Judge Fortunato N. Perri Sr., who pleaded guilty in 2013 to federal fraud charges related to a ticket-fixing scam, is unlikely to get jail time when he is sentenced on Friday.
A federal memorandum filed Monday said house arrest was appropriate for Perri, 78, because of his medical condition.
Court-ordered examinations, including an MRI, showed that Perri's health has declined after two strokes.
And, according to a separate sentencing memo filed yesterday by defense attorney Brian McMonagle, Perri also has Crohn's disease and macular degeneration.
"He lives in a dark world and spends most of his waking hours terrified by the rapid onset of dementia," the document says.
McMonagle and Perri's son Fortunato Perri Jr. are partners at the same law firm.
Perri was one of several judges at the now-defunct Traffic Court who faced corruption and fraud charges after alleged ticket-fixing for friends and associates.
One of Perri's most frequent customers was Henry Alfano, a former Philadelphia police officer who owned a car repair shop and two strip clubs: the Oasis and Christine's Cabaret.
Alfano would offer up gifts including porn videos, seafood and free or reduced car repairs.
In exchange, Perri would make sure Alfano and others received preferential treatment and had their tickets dismissed or reduced.
"The defendant's actions are indefensible and played upon the worst side of what is viewed as typical Philadelphia politics, where it is not justice that is important, but who you know," read the government's sentencing memorandum, filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.