Isles con man back in prison
Infamous for duping hockey team in 1997, John Spano receives 51-month sentence in 
machine-lease scheme

BY ROBERT E. KESSLER
STAFF WRITER
January 27, 2006

John Spano, the convicted confidence man who almost succeeded in taking over the 
New York Islanders, is back in a familiar place -- federal prison.

Spano, who spent more than five years in prison for fraud in connection with the 
Islanders scam, was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland to 51 
months for a separate fraud scheme he began operating several months after he was 
released in the Long Island case, according to officials.

A tearful Spano asked that he not be sentenced to prison, said he thought of his
latest victims every day and regretted the grief he had caused his family, said
Insp. Steven Bolz, of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Assistant U.S. Attorney James Lynch, when asked yesterday what he thought was
Spano's motivation for getting involved in another fraud scheme so soon after
serving his Islander sentence, said, "Just plain greed. ... [He thinks he is]
just better than anyone else and can get away with it."

Spano's attorney could not be reached for comment.

Spano, who pleaded guilty to five counts of mail fraud, also was ordered to repay
$293,000 to the 39 firms he is accused of victimizing around the country in his
latest confidence scheme, officials said. But officials doubt the victims will 
ever receive any of the money because Spano has no resources and owes millions of
dollars in restitution in the Islander case.

Operating from an office in the Cleveland suburb of Westlake after he was released
from prison, Spano charged firms a fee for purchasing machinery that he would 
supposedly lease to them. But he pocketed the fee instead of buying the machinery, 
officials said.

One of Spano's victims in the Cleveland scheme said she became suspicious of his 
activities when she found a "John Spano" had been convicted in the Islanders case, 
only to have him tell her that he was always getting mistaken for that John Spano.

"He's the cleverest, sneakiest guy," said the victim, Sandra Beard, president of 
Badger Lighting and Signs in Waukesha, Wis., at the time of Spano's arrest in 
February 2005.

Spano controlled the Islanders for several months in 1997 by using forged documents 
to indicate that he had the ability to purchase the team for $165 million, but 
actually used team money for his own expenses.