Skinny Joey Merlino Forces Fed's Hands
Last year, the Fed's invited Skinny Joey Merlino to what they said was gonna be one helluva party. Only now they wanna cancel. Well, too bad for them, Joey says. Now, he's gonna force them to throw it.
Bradley Sirkin, one of the East Coast LCN Enterprise case's wild cards, was a former driver for Philadelphia Mafia boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino.
He had extensive ties to the Mafia -- was associated with several crime families. He seems to have been one of the key threads running from New York to Florida. This mean anything?
He's agreed to a guilty plea in the EasIt Coast-whatever case in Manhattan Federal Court.
He also copped in Federal court in Tampa. Sirkin said he committed conspiracy to commit health care fraud in what is viewed as a strong case against him and seven co-defendants (unlike the case in New York).
Merlino refused to cop and is seeking to push the Fed's to trial, unless he's holding out for a better deal or for the Feds to drop the charges, period, which isn't completely impossible. The Feds have -- or had -- if Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities research was correct -- a term for this kind of case, one in which a turncoat has deleted evidence (or is a pedophile etc.). The technical term is "piece of shit."
Gang Land News reported today that it's looking increasingly like Merlino "will be the only defendant in the five family indictment of 46 wiseguys and mob associates who is willing to roll the dice and go to trial on racketeering conspiracy charges as a member of a made-up entity the feds have dubbed the East Coast LCN Enterprise."
Merlino is one of eight who opted out of a mass plea negotiation caused by the alleged misconduct of three FBI agents.
As per a global plea deal, 37 defendants plead to reduced charges.
GLN reported that Merlino "likes to boast that he has never taken a plea deal in his life," and that he's "telling anyone who'll listen that he's not going to start making them now with the feds. It's probably not a bad negotiating posture. Neither the FBI nor the U.S. Attorney's office are eager to try the case, given the airing it will give to FBI misdeeds, so Skinny Joey just may get an offer he can't refuse."
As for the trio of bosses of this fictional entity, Eugene (Rooster) O'Nofrio has declined to even consider a plea offer and like Merlino, reportedly rejected a deal that carried a two-year sentence. He's going to trial, too, apparently.
Pasquale (Patsy) Parello, 72, however, has taken a deal, pleading guilty, indirectly, to three counts of conspiracy to commit extortion. He faces a reported five-year stretch.
Sirkin faces a maximum 10-year sentence in an unrelated Florida case, and 20 years in the New York case. Bottom line, however, is, based on sentencing guidelines, Sirkin probably faces four to five years in prison. He also has to pony up $2.6 million in restitution.
Sirkin interrupted a hearing last year to complain to the judge that he was broke. He'd just finished a 25-year prison stretch in an unrelated case, he explained to the judge.
“Now, I’m home and I can’t afford nothing,” he said. A court-appointed lawyer was sent for.
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| Rather than swallow two years inside Merlino is ready for trial. |
He had extensive ties to the Mafia -- was associated with several crime families. He seems to have been one of the key threads running from New York to Florida. This mean anything?
He's agreed to a guilty plea in the EasIt Coast-whatever case in Manhattan Federal Court.
He also copped in Federal court in Tampa. Sirkin said he committed conspiracy to commit health care fraud in what is viewed as a strong case against him and seven co-defendants (unlike the case in New York).
Merlino refused to cop and is seeking to push the Fed's to trial, unless he's holding out for a better deal or for the Feds to drop the charges, period, which isn't completely impossible. The Feds have -- or had -- if Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities research was correct -- a term for this kind of case, one in which a turncoat has deleted evidence (or is a pedophile etc.). The technical term is "piece of shit."
Gang Land News reported today that it's looking increasingly like Merlino "will be the only defendant in the five family indictment of 46 wiseguys and mob associates who is willing to roll the dice and go to trial on racketeering conspiracy charges as a member of a made-up entity the feds have dubbed the East Coast LCN Enterprise."
Merlino is one of eight who opted out of a mass plea negotiation caused by the alleged misconduct of three FBI agents.
As per a global plea deal, 37 defendants plead to reduced charges.
GLN reported that Merlino "likes to boast that he has never taken a plea deal in his life," and that he's "telling anyone who'll listen that he's not going to start making them now with the feds. It's probably not a bad negotiating posture. Neither the FBI nor the U.S. Attorney's office are eager to try the case, given the airing it will give to FBI misdeeds, so Skinny Joey just may get an offer he can't refuse."
As for the trio of bosses of this fictional entity, Eugene (Rooster) O'Nofrio has declined to even consider a plea offer and like Merlino, reportedly rejected a deal that carried a two-year sentence. He's going to trial, too, apparently.
Pasquale (Patsy) Parello, 72, however, has taken a deal, pleading guilty, indirectly, to three counts of conspiracy to commit extortion. He faces a reported five-year stretch.
Sirkin faces a maximum 10-year sentence in an unrelated Florida case, and 20 years in the New York case. Bottom line, however, is, based on sentencing guidelines, Sirkin probably faces four to five years in prison. He also has to pony up $2.6 million in restitution.
Sirkin interrupted a hearing last year to complain to the judge that he was broke. He'd just finished a 25-year prison stretch in an unrelated case, he explained to the judge.
“Now, I’m home and I can’t afford nothing,” he said. A court-appointed lawyer was sent for.