The Bull's Victims Haunt Karen Gravano's Book

The day after "Mob Wives" debuts and the big brawl that followed the premiere last night in New York sent at least one person to the hospital, and one of the new cast members was in court watching Federal Judge Sandra Townes sentence her husband Edward "Tall Guy" Garofalo to seven years in prison for murder conspiracy, extortion and witness tampering. (We still say we have information that the couple has split up; we wonder if perhaps they got back together for dramatic purposes for "Mob Wives" -- the incentive being the paycheck they are both earning for being on the show.)

Next month the judge will sentence Alicia DiMichele, 40, for embezzling union funds from a trucking company she and her husband once owned. The figure has been placed at $40,000.

Alicia was actually arrested over these charges and has already plead guilty to the embezzlement charge.

“I’ve already plead guilty to embezzlement last year, so I’m actually just waiting for the judge to sentence me, so that’s what’s going to happen on that day,” Garofalo told RadarOnline.com in an exclusive interview a few days ago, referring to her sentencing date of Jan. 6.

“Yes I am very nervous,” she confessed. “But I’m a very positive person and I’m just thinking completely positive... "

According to sentencing guidelines, she can get up to six months, but told RadarOnline that the government will not oppose if the judge only gives her house arrest. “But the reality is the judge could give me whatever she feels. If she feels I deserve two years in jail, she could give me that.”

If the judge can sentence Alicia to whatever she wants -- despite the guidelines (which doesn't make a lot of sentence to us) -- then Alicia may be deep in the hurt locker.


Readers of this blog may remember Judge Sandra Townes. In a story about the sentencing of Francis “BF” Guerra, a long-time associate of the Colombo crime family, the same family Alicia's husband belongs to, we wrote about how the gangster had been sentenced to 14 years in prison for selling his own prescription drugs.

But at trial, Guerra had been charged with comitting two murders -- but the jury had acquitted him. Yet the judge sentenced him to 14 years anyway for the selling of prescription drugs.


Read how the Daily News reported on the judge's reaction to the jury's verdict on July 11, 2012: "Federal Judge Sandra Townes seemed puzzled by the result, sending the panel back into the jury room so she could re-read the verdict sheet before it was announced publicly."

Townes is the judge, if you recall, who booted Guerra's 2-year-old boy from the courtroom "because he was talking loudly."


According to a press release, as we also reported: "During the sentencing proceeding, United States District Judge Sandra L. Townes found that, in addition to the crimes of conviction, the government proved by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant had committed numerous additional crimes, including the 1992 murder of Michael Devine and the 1993 murder of Joseph Scopo...

“Years ago, the defendant Guerra chose a life of crime, with murder as his criminal stock in trade. Organized crime has always been about money rather than honor, and recent years saw Guerra move into the equally deadly business of illegal trafficking in prescription drugs,” stated United States Attorney Lynch. “This sentence is a harsh warning to anyone considering introducing these addictive, deadly drugs into our community. This sentence also sends an important message to members and associates of organized crime. We will never stop investigating and prosecuting the murders and other violent crimes they commit..."


We still say that that was frightening -- the ramifications of a judge ignoring a jury's verdict when sentencing someone. Guerra was found guilty of selling prescription pills; the judge sentenced him for committing a double homicide by hitting him with the most years she possibly could via those sentencing guidelines they probably found overseas down in the rubble of the bunker in 1945.


And now Alicia is at the mercy of this same judge. Alicia who had the temerity to appear on Mob Wives -- God knows what she'll be doing and saying on the show, but I bet the judge'll know.

Plus, Alicia owns two boutiques: Addiction Boutique, located in South Jersey and in Philadelphia.
She'd been selling baby clothes and accessories -- and managed to again get herself in trouble after she posted photos of knockoff products from her assortment online.

As the New York Post reported in September: "TV’s newest “Mob Wife” has been selling counterfeit designer goods at two clothing stores she owns, The Post has learned.

"[DiMichele is peddling baby clothes and accessories emblazoned with logos and fabrics associated with Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Burberry at her Addiction Boutiques in South Jersey and Philadelphia."

She is apparently in litigation with Gucci, meaning she's being sued at least in civil court -- no word about anything happening in criminal court about this. And what about the two other designer companies?



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