Cool Hand John: Ex-Islanders owner Spano gets 10 years in prison for grand theft, forgery

Not satisfied with life without barbed wire, armed guards and contraband items hidden in bodily orifices, former Islanders owner John Spano will return to prison, where he has spent many years of his adult life.

Spano was sentenced to 10 years for grand theft and forgery for defrauding a laundry company in Ohio out of thousands of dollars in phony accounts. Spano started out as a driver for Image First cleaners after being released from his prison stint for buying the Islanders with Monopoly money. He eventually worked his way up to salesman, where he forged a portfolio of fake contracts.

Why he did this is anyone's guess.

"He didn't make a dime off of it," said defense attorney Walter McNamara. "This one he didn't try to make money. This one he didn't try to take money. This one he was just plain stupid."

McNamara added, "This is bad. This is rotten. He obviously didn't learn his lesson the first time. But I don't think a long prison sentence is appropriate."

This will be Spano's third fraud conviction (I think. I could be wrong) and Judge Eugene A. Lucci thinks he deserved a lifetime achievement award for his years dedicated to making people believe he had access to money he clearly didn't.

But the judge added that Spano deserves a lengthy sentence because of his criminal history.

"You spent 10 or so years in prison on two different cases," Lucci said.

Between this conviction and his stint in jail for scamming the NHL out of one of their franchises, Spano did four years for a mail fraud case, also in Ohio.

Spano, as usual, was apologetic and contrite upon being caught, a song Islanders fans have heard and seen on film before. We look forward to his next criminal scheme, where upon a dedicated segment of fans will surely insist they wished he still owned the team.