Nelson Serrano - Background

Background

On December 3, 1997, Frank Dosso, Diane Patisso, George Patisso, and George Gonsalves were found shot execution-style at the Erie Manufacturing plant in Bartow. Diane Patisso, a young state prosecutor, had gone to pick up her brother Frank and her husband George at the factory that evening, and prosecutors say she was murdered to prevent her from identifying the killer.

Although there was no clear physical evidence at the scene to link anyone to the crime, relatives of the victims immediately suspected Nelson Serrano, another partner in the business, who had been in a bitter dispute with the others. Dosso and Gonsalves accused Serrano of graft, then theft. There were disagreements about the distribution of assets and accusations that there were two sets of books. During the summer of 1997, Nelson Serrano opened a separate business checking account with a different bank and deposited two Erie checks totaling over $200,000. Serrano instituted a civil suit against his partners. Ultimately, Serrano was removed as president by a vote of the other two partners, for failure to repay the $75,000 to each of his partners. Thereafter, the locks were changed on the building. In July 1997, five months before the killings. Shortly before Serrano was ousted, Phil Dosso and George Gonsalves had fired his Serrano’s son, Francisco. Prosecutors said Serrano was angry because Gonsalves and Felice "Phil" Dosso, the third partner in the business, had ousted him and his son from Erie Mfg and its sister company, Garment Conveyor Systems. Numerous Erie employees testified to the strained relations between Serrano and the other two partners, particularly Serrano‘s dislike of Gonsalves. Serrano made statements indicating that he wished Gonsalves were deceased. Authorities said both Serrano men had motive to commit the murders, but Francisco Serrano provided an alibi. His father told authorities he was in an Atlanta hotel room with a migraine headache all day, so no one saw him or talked to him. But law enforcement agents found his fingerprint on a parking garage receipt at Orlando International Airport dated 3:49 p.m. on Dec. 3, about two hours before the slayings occurred. That piece of evidence, they said, broke his alibi.

Serrano claimed that he was 500 miles away on a business trip in Atlanta, Georgia, when the killings occurred. However, the prosecutors convinced the 12-member trial jury that Serrano had flown by airliner to Florida under assumed names to commit the premeditated murders, and then he had quickly flown back to Atlanta from a different major airport, in order to attempt to establish an alibi by appearing on the security video cameras of the hotel that he checked into. Serrano had tricked his nephew, into providing him with a rental car (under a pseudonym) to reach the other airport. Although Bartow, Florida is midway between the major airports in Tampa, Florida, and Orlando, Florida evidence was not shown to positively prove this trip and murders could be possible during rush hour traffic. Serrano's index fingerprint was found on the airport parking ticket, revoking his alibi. Furthermore, no videotape from the hotel cameras shown Serrano was where he said he was while four people were being slayed in Bartow, other than his arrival.

Florida vs. Serrano Timeline of the crime DECEMBER 3, 1997 12:21 p.m. Nelson Serrano is captured on La Quinta Hotel's surveillance video in Atlanta 1:36 p.m. Allegedly using his son's name, Juan Agacio, Serrano boards Delta Flight 1807 bound for Orlando 3:05 p.m. Delta Flight 1807 lands in Orlando 3:49 p.m. Parking garage ticket from Orlando International Airport with Serrano's fingerprint is stamped 5:00 p.m. Maria Dosso calls her husband, Frank Dosso, son of Serrano's former partner Phil Dosso, at Erie Manufacturing and Garment Conveyor Systems in Bartow, Fla. 5:05 p.m. Erie employee Karen Stevens clocks out along with David Catalan. 5:20 p.m. Diane Patisso leaves Bartow courthouse and heads to the office, approximately five minutes away. 5:45 p.m. Maria Dosso, who was expecting her husband to arrive at 5:30, calls the office. 5:50 to 6:15 p.m. Witness John Purvis working at a nearby company notices a man dressed in a suit standing on the sidewalk outside of Erie Manufacturing. Purvis notes the man did not appear to have a car. 7:28 p.m. Passenger John White, an alias allegedly used by Serrano, checks in at Tampa International Airport. 7:34 p.m. Phil Dosso calls to 911 to report discovering the dead bodies of his son, Frank Dosso, his daughter, Diane Patisso, her husband, George Patisso and his other business partner, George Gonsalves 7:36 p.m. First police officer arrives at the scene 8:20 p.m. Flight leaves Tampa bound for Atlanta 9:49 p.m. Flight arrives in Atlanta 10:17 p.m. Serrano is captured on the surveillance video La Quinta Hotel in Atlanta

During the trial, Serrano's lawyers fought for a mistrial, claiming that that Serrano was illegally deported from Ecuador to the United States. Serrano is an Ecuadorian citizen by birth and a naturalized American citizen (in 1971). At the time in 1971, he had to renounce his Ecuadorian citizenship in order to obtain his United States citizenship. E Serrano was arrested in Ecuador and then, according to the Ecuadorian government and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ( adivision of the Organization of American States), illegally deported back to Florida for his murder trial. Documents concerning this issue were presented during trial and were confirmed by the Ecuadorian Ombdsman through his testimony. However, after examining these documents, Judge Roberts denied the defense motion, finding no cause to dismiss the case based him being a U.S. citizen being legally deported by Ecuadorian authorities to face justice in the United States.

Ecuadorian officials, seeking his return to that country, claimed Serrano had been beaten and kept in a dog kennel at the airport in Quito after his arrest in Ecuador. Police say Serrano received a minor injury from a fall as he boarded the airliner. An American Airlines flight attendant who witnessed this incident refused entry to the Florida officials but the flight Captain allowed them to board. During the trial, Judge Roberts denied a defense motion for a change of venue despite the fact that one of the victims, Diane Dosso Patisso, was an Assistant State Attorney for Polk County. The judge however, hid this information from the jury.

The Dosso's and Patisso's have set up a foundation to honor their slain loved ones:

Serrano's son, who had also worked at the Bartow plant, claims that his father is innocent, and he has set up a web site, in defense of his father.

Serrano is on death row awaiting four counts of premeditated murder and four administrations of death by lethal injection. He is currently being held at a male only maximum security facility at the Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida.