The Staten Island man who has been charged with assaulting his wife over a cable bill may be facing upgraded murder charges, according to police. Thomas Scala was arrested this week and accused of beating his wife in a post-Thanksgiving fight that may have led to her death. The family members of deceased wife Blanche Scala say that their 38-year-marriage was always a nightmare: "Her husband is the essence of evil - mean, vile and arrogant, a horror. He beat the crap out of her," said Camille Leone, Scala's sister.
Authorities believe that Scala, who has a history of health problems, was enraged that his wife didn't visit him while he was hospitalized over the Thanksgiving holiday—and in particular, that she didn't spring for premium cable: "Yeah, he argued with her over the cable. He argued with her over all those stupid things," said Gloria Sellitto, another of the victim's sisters. The sisters say that Scala confided in them about the horrors of the marriage during that Thanksgiving weekend, days before her husband allegedly threw an ashtray at her head and set her on fire. "She told us that he started pushing her around, that he choked her and she was scared to go to sleep at night. We told her not to live there anymore, to come live with one of her sisters. But she was very loyal to him," said Leone.
Prosecutors are trying to build a case for manslaughter or murder charges—the medical examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by rebleeding due to blunt impact.
