News In Brief

Zaccaro urged property sale to crime figure, paper says

Geraldine Ferraro's husband John Zaccaro urged a real estate investor in 1979 to sell two buildings Zaccaro managed in New York to Joseph LaForte, a major figure in the Gambino crime family, for $60,000, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Sunday. The investor initially agreed, but balked after appraisers told him the properties were worth far more. LaForte sued and the investor subsequently sold the buildings to him for $60,500, the Inquirer said. LaForte resold the buildings in New York's Little Italy 19 months later for $200,000, the Inquirer said.