Circumcision of the Heart Ministry
For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit,
and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
Philippians 3:3
 
George Martorano
 
George Martorano is a now in a MEDIUM security federal prison, serving his twenty-sixth year of a life sentence. He was just recently moved from the Max. USP, were he had spent most of his sentence. The Bureau of Prisons can verify that George is the longest serving non-violent first-time offender in the history of the United States, and possibly the WORLD. After being caught with a truck of marijuana, George was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. This was in 1982, when the War on Drugs had strong momentum. Other people who had committed similar crimes received a maximum of twenty years. Manuel Noriega, contrasted with George, is one of the most infamous drug traffickers of all time, yet only received a forty year sentence–with the possibility of parole.

So why was such a harsh sentence handed to George Martorano? We believe that in the prosecution’s effort to send a message to George’s father, Raymond “Long John” Martorano, an alleged mafia figure, he was given the maximum sentence allowed by law; life with no parole. Because he remained silent, they “locked him up and threw away the key,” put him in solitary confinement for four and one half years, and kept him in America’s most notorious prison: Marion, which is completely underground.

Then George began to write. He wrote and published a book about growing up in the old Italian-American neighborhood in Philadelphia, “South Philly.” He now has over twenty works depicting life in prison as well as life on the outside. He teaches reading and writing, yoga, and even counsels suicidal inmates. He has a spotless prison record without an incident of violence in all of his twenty-two years in America’s toughest jails.

By writing to President Obama, saying that a non-violent first time offender such as George deserves a second chance, you will be helping to send him home. Studies show that is costs $40,000 a year in tax payers’ money to keep a federal prisoner. The prisons are overcrowded with non-violent drug offenders who are “warehoused.” Why should this clearly rehabilitated man be kept in jail until the day he dies? If George is released, he plans to help educate young men who are on the wrong path in life. Until then, by writing President Obama, you could help George on his quest for freedom.

Please Visit: http://www.webelievegroup.com/home
Christmas Day Visit
January 9th, 2010 by George Martorano
Every year, for the past 6 I believe, John has come to visit me on Christmas morning. He has come alone, he has come with my sister and niece, he has come with his mom. This year he made it even more special and brought my nephew Robert. I have not spent Christmas with him in over 20 years, thanks Robert. Visiting a federal prison is a “trip” in itself; but on holidays it is crazy. I tell John every year to skip it and come a few days after. Nope, he comes here to get me out of the “cage” for a while. Below are the pictures from this year’s visit. Hopefully this is the last year John and others have to come here for Christmas, it would be a whole lot nicer visiting them in St Pete next year.
July 11, 2007 - Creative Loafing Tampa (FL)
Second Life
Sentenced To Life For Drug Smuggling, George Martorano Spent Decades In Prison With No Hope For Release. Then John Flahive Answered His Call.
By Alex Pickett
Every holiday season, there's a tradition at the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Central Florida, 20 miles south of Ocala. During the month of December, prison officials set up a large holiday backdrop painted with a Christmas tree, wreath and brick fireplace, partially concealing the grey cinderblock wall in a corner of the visiting room. Families and couples line up to have portraits taken with their incarcerated dads and husbands and sons. Smiles are plentiful, if a little hollow.

On a cloudless afternoon in December 2006, two men -- one in a plaid shirt and blue jeans, the other in prison-issued olive drab -- walk up for their turn. John Flahive, 50, glares at the camera, fierce and determined; the inmate, 57-year-old George Martorano, shorter and slightly stooped from a hernia, looks ahead with the weariness of a man who has spent the last 23 years of his life in prison. The two clasp hands.

For the other inmates and their families, the photos are an attempt to relive, if for just a few moments, past holidays spent together on the outside. But all Flahive and Martorano have ever known are the bonds forged in this sterile room, eating cheap food from the vending machines and sitting too long on uncomfortable chairs. 


Read More at:
http://www.november.org/thewall/cases/martorano-g/martorano-g.html