Judge won't seal Dix Hills multimillionaire's hearing

A federal judge has ruled that she will not seal a hearing to determine whether the words of two slaying victims can be used against their alleged killer, Dix Hills multimillionaire Christian Tarantino.

Defense attorneys had argued that a Monday hearing open to the public and media in U.S. District Court in Central Islip would be so inflammatory that it would taint any potential jury pool and deny their client a fair trial.

But U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert, in a ruling Wednesday, said the defense arguments did not overcome the public's right to know under the First Amendment. Any jurors with potential prejudice could be screened out during the selection process, she said.

James Froccaro, of Port Washington, one of Tarantino's defense attorneys, declined to comment, as did federal prosecutor James Miskiewicz.

Prosecutors have charged that Tarantino led a double life as the successful owner of health clubs and as head of a robbery crew affiliated with organized crime that botched a 1994 Muttontown armored car robbery.

After a guard was killed in the robbery, prosecutors say, Tarantino had two other people slain out of fear they would inform on him.

The death of one of those men, Louis Dorval, 30, became known as "the-body-in-the-box" case when fishermen on a charter fishing boat in August 1994 found his remains in a large plastic chest 30 miles south of Fire Island. Dorval, of Elmont and East Meadow, had been shot in the head.

Dorval's body was found the week after a federal indictment charged him and eight people in New Jersey as part of a ring of drugs, car theft and other crimes.

The other person slain after the robbery was Vincent Gargiulo, 34, who was a brother-in-law of Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider.

Gargiulo, of Sunnyside, Queens, was shot in the head in August 2003 at Broadway and West 30th Street in Manhattan, according to court papers. He had been a longtime friend and business partner in health clubs with Tarantino, with whom he had a falling-out over the gym business, court papers said.

Normally, a defendant has a right to confront his or her accusers, but not if prosecutors can show a defendant is responsible for the accuser or accusers not being available to testify. The level of evidence required in Monday's hearing, known as a Mastrangelo hearing, is a preponderance of the evidence, not evidence requiring proof beyond a reasonable doubt.