Lloyd MacMahon

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) _ U.S. District Judge Lloyd F. MacMahon, a former assistant U.S. attorney who participated in several famous organized crime cases in a 30-year career, died Saturday of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 76.

In 1955, MacMahon successfully prosecuted Mafia boss Frank Costello for income tax evasion. He was appointed to the federal bench in 1959 by President Eisenhower.

In 1961, he presided over the trial and drug trafficking conviction of Bonanno crime family boss Carmine Galante and several other defendants who were unruly in court, shouting obscenities and throwing things.

MacMahon had them handcuffed, shackled and gagged so the trial could resume, an action many judges view as a precedent for judges establishing control of courtrooms.

MacMahon was a graduate of the Cornell University School of Arts and Sciences and the Cornell School of Law. He served as a lieutenant in the Navy during World War II.