Philly Mob Case May End in Mistrial

By Ed Scarpo
Big Trial: The case against Philadelphia mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi and six co-defendants appeared to be teetering on the brink of a mistrial Thursday as lawyers met behind closed doors with the judge for several hours to discuss the possible dismissal of up to three jurors who have been deliberating for more than a week in the high profile case.

Lawyers were tight-lipped as they emerged from the session, held in the courtroom but behind locked doors. Jurors were released for the day shortly before 4 p.m. and were told to report to court Friday morning at the usual 8:30 a.m. starting time. But they were cautioned not to begin deliberations.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular This Week

Pagan’s, Alongside Cosa Nostra, Are Booming, State Crime Commission Says

By Ed Scarpo
Image
The current relationship between the American Mafia and the Pagan's is not the only thing about the 1%ers that has evolved since the 1980s, when the outlaw motorcycle club balked at paying the street tax imposed by then Philadelphia boss Nicodemo (Little Nicky) Scarfo.

As of September 2020, the Pagan's, one of the "big four" largest outlaw motorcycle clubs in the US, are undergoing a violent "resurgence," according to a recently published report by the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation (SCI). 
The MC, which uses drones and encrypted communications to avoid detection, has seen an unprecedented surge in membership, nearly doubling in size over the past few years. The Pagan's also are significantly more violent, with experts noting that there have been more violent incidents committed by the Pagan's during a recent 18-month period than during the prior 10 years combined. (Because many incidents go unreported, the tally of brutality is likely m…
Read more

Bath Avenue Crew Rose High, Fell Hard

By Ed Scarpo
Image
Members of the Bath Avenue Crew were as young as 8 years old and probably weren't even aware of what they were doing -- aligning themselves with the biggest, baddest gang in America: Cosa Nostra, specifically the Five Families.
Anthony Spero, former Bonanno consiglieri, was the man for whom they would one day carry out orders that cost some their lives, others, their freedom and all, their souls. At least that's what they said in testimony; it was powerful testimony, however, and it helped put Spero away in an unbelievably circumstantial trial.

At the same time they saw the wiseguys on the street, pulling up to the curbs in their big shiny Cadillacs, loafing around social clubs wearing pricey suits and sporting hundred-dollar haircuts and manicured fingernails.


But the guys presented more than just a cold, distant image to watch; Mafia members interacted with the kids, joked around with them and showed them there were other ways to make it through life. The wiseguys doled out …
Read more

Hoodwinked: Restaurateur on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares Was a Mobster

By Ed Scarpo
Image
Peter (Peter Pasta) Pellegrino, formerly of the Babylon, New York restaurant Peter’s Italian Restaurant, really is -- or was -- a gangster.


The once-promising Bonanno crime family member who appeared in Kitchen Nightmares now calls himself a brokester. And the Bonanno crime family, with which he was once affiliated has disowned him.

So has the rest of New York's Cosa Nostra, according to FBI documents and Peter Pasta himself.

But before all that he appeared on an episode of Kitchen Nightmares in which he acted very much like the mobster he allegedly was trying to become around the time of filming. (See Peter's Italian Restaurant menu here.)






Back then Peter Pasta was an up-and-coming Bonanno associate who "earned" $15 grand a week from bookmaking.

At the time, he also owned two boats that he'd park in a pricey nearby Babylon harbor called Great South Bay.

Gang Land News's Jerry Capeci broke the news about Peter Pasta's mob status, reporting:

Today, like the…
Read more

Self-Proclaimed Genovese Boss Stevie Westside Talked Tough To Woo The Ladies

By Ed Scarpo
Image
Talk about asking for trouble... Stevie Westside from Staten Island (who you most probably never heard of) is in an unenviable position: He was the topic of a not-at-all flattering Daily News story this holiday weekend....  About the only solace we might extend (were he to ask) would be to highlight that it could always be worse: the News could've plastered a big photo of his mug alongside this pic of his house....


Stephen (Stevie Westside) Blanco from Staten Island  brought his girlfriend along with him to collect debts for a Costa Rica-based gambling operation while he allegedly boasted about being a made member of the Mafia. When she wasn't sufficiently impressed, he upped his game by claiming to be a boss with the Genovese crime family. And while she may have bought some of his bullshit, it was when he drugged her and tried to steal $20 grand that she decided to visit an NYPD precinct on Staten Island's south shore and blow the whistle on him. 
While that's an accura…
Read more