Inmate gets life sentence for killing mob member in prison
October 15, 2012
Stephanie Lanza locked eyes with her uncle's killer and bade him a bitter goodbye.
"Knowing that you'll never see the outside world again makes me smile," Lanza said Friday before a federal judge sentenced Allen Archie Hurley to life in prison for stabbing her uncle 92 times at U.S. Penitentiary-Canaan in Wayne County.
A jury found Hurley, 46, guilty in June of voluntary manslaughter for stabbing to death fellow inmate Joseph O'Kane on April 25, 2010, at the high-security federal prison.
Serving a 37-year sentence, the convicted bank robber from Maryland drove a sharpened, pencil-thin object through the brain of O'Kane, an associate of the Gambino crime family who was imprisoned for life on murder and racketeering charges.
Before U.S. District Judge Robert D. Mariani handed down his sentence, Lanza and O'Kane's sister and brother-in-law were given the chance to address the defendant.
They spoke beside a large color photo of O'Kane dressed in a tuxedo, which was facing Hurley.
Hurley stood about 10 feet away from them next to his public defender, Thomas Thornton.
As they spoke, the shackled inmate rested his elbow on a table and kept an open hand pressed against his chin, his gaze also fixed on each family member as he or she spoke.
"You're so-called life is basically over," said O'Kane's brother-in-law, Michael Lanza, 53, of Queens, N.Y. "Enjoy your death in prison."
The life sentence was mandatory because of Hurley's prior felony bank robbery convictions.
In a verbose speech, Hurley said he did not commit the crime and acted in self-defense.
"I defended my life, my liberty," Hurley said, calling the federal court system a "court of so-called justice."
He whistled loudly as he was escorted out of the courthouse.
"I say to you Allen Archie Hurley, you burn in hell," Lanza said.
Hurley plans to appeal his conviction.
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