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Dr031718 wrote:
> U.S. Supremes Eye Licensing Of The Waterfront Watchdog
> 
> Marlon Brandio On the WaterfrontGang Land Exclusive!The U.S. Supreme Court
> appears poised to decide the fate of the Waterfront Commission, which has
> been combating mob influence on the New York and New Jersey docks since
> 1953, just before Marlon Brando and his hoodlum pals appeared in the
> Oscar-winning movie, On the Waterfront.
> 
> If it takes the case, the High Court will consider whether the state of New
> Jersey can pull out of the bi-state compact as its legislature voted to do
> three years ago, claiming the commission was outdated and unnecessary. The
> commission has been fighting to stay in business, arguing that the mob
> threat is still alive and well on the docks.
> 
> The commission's position was upheld in a June 2018 decision in New Jersey
> Federal Court. But that ruling was reversed last year by the 3d Circuit
> Court of Appeals. Until last month, the Supreme Court was considering only
> a technical issue as to whether New Jersey was a "sovereign
> state" that could not be sued by the Commission. But on April 5, the
> court "invited" the Justice Department "to file a brief in
> this case expressing the views of the United States."
> 
> That move is seen by both sides of the issue as a positive development for
> the embattled waterfront watchdog.
> 
> The request by the court, which accepts less than 3% of the 7000 or so
> appeals that it gets each year, indicates that it is considering whether to
> weigh in on the case. But it also wants to get the view of the federal law
> enforcement officials who have been convicting mobsters and corrupt
> International Longshoremen's Association officials with the help of the
> Commission in the past decade.
> 
> Susan WigentonBoth facts are viewed as positive for the commission.
> Technically, the commission needs the high court to first consider its
> appeal, a so-called Petition for a Writ of Certiorari, or the 3d Circuit
> ruling that vacated its victory in New Jersey Federal Court would go into
> effect.
> 
> The commission also needs the Supreme Court to reverse the 3d Circuit
> ruling and uphold the ruling by Judge Susan Wigenton that stopped New
> Jersey from pulling out of the 68-year-old compact with New York.
> 
> By seeking input from the Justice Department, the Supreme Court is
> indicating that it is interested in the merits of the case, not only the
> technical issue that the 3d Circuit cited in its ruling. In her ruling,
> Wigenton stated: "It is in the public interest for the Commission to
> continue its investigatory and regulatory work."
> 
> In her 23-page decision, the judge noted that in 2014, Thomas (The Hook)
> Leonardis, a $256,000 a year ex-president of ILA Local 1235 had pleaded
> guilty, "along with numerous other ILA union officials" to being
> part of an "extortion conspiracy of their own union members on behalf
> of the Genovese Organized Crime Family."
> 
> Thomas LeonardisIn addition, Wigenton wrote, the WC had "undertaken
> scores of investigations that have led to the conviction of hundreds of
> individuals who were conducting illicit activities in the Port, including,
> but not limited to, drug trafficking, theft, racketeering, illegal
> gambling, loansharking, and murder."
> 
> Former New Jersey state senator Raymond Lesniak, who began championing the
> WC's ouster from the state in 2010 and sponsored bills that passed both
> houses of the state legislature in 2014, remains a fervent supporter of the
> fight to free the state of what he called "strongarm tactics"
> that have "hurt the ability of New Jersey businesses to service their
> clientele efficiently."
> 
> "I am very much a supporter of the New Jersey State Police taking over
> the functions of the Waterfront Commission," he told Gang Land.
> "I am as against corruption as anyone," he said, insisting that
> "dysfunctional actions" by the Commission "have been an
> impediment to economic development along New Jersey's ports for
> decades."
> 
> Lesniak conceded that the recent request by the Supreme Court asking for
> input from the Justice Department was "not a good thing" for his
> position. "It is a concern of mine since it does seem to indicate that
> they may take the case, and they only take about 2% of the cases."
> 
> Raymond LesniakAsked about being Governor Murphy's leading candidate to
> serve as the state's appointee to the Commission, Lesniak said that's been
> "put aside" to await the outcome of the pending litigation. The
> announcement created some backlash for Murphy last year, since Lesniak has
> been friendly with convicted ILA officials, and remains an unabashed
> supporter of the ILA and the New York Shipping Association, (NYSA), which
> donated $50,000 to his PAC in 2014.
> 
> "I am not rooting for myself to be a Waterfront Commissioner," he
> said. "I'm rooting for it not to exist."
> 
> Neither of the U.S. Attorneys, the ones in Newark and Brooklyn, whose
> offices have worked closely with WC investigators to convict wiseguys and
> corrupt ILA officials of racketeering offenses, as well as mobsters and
> associates of other crimes that began with a tip, or other help, from the
> WC, would talk to Gang Land about the situation — not even about already
> completed cases.
> 
> Kicking the Waterfront Commission out of New Jersey, "would be
> tragic," said Robert Stewart, the former head of the Newark Organized
> Crime Strike Force. "The ILA has an 80 year history of uninterrupted
> labor racketeering and corruption. The ILA is a totally captive labor
> organization of the mafia," and the WC does "an excellent
> job" of "rooting out the Mafia from the ports."
> 
> Ronald GoldstockRonald Goldstock, who was named as New York Commissioner
> with a mandate to "clean up the Waterfront Commission" in 2008
> after investigations by inspector generals of both states found
> "serious problems" at the agency including "specific factual
> descriptions of incompetence, waste and other abuses," agrees with
> Stewart. And he disagrees wholeheartedly with Lesniak.
> 
> Goldstock, who retired from the Commission in 2018, told Gang Land that the
> "WC is the only thing that stops the mob from exercising its predatory
> practices against the terminal operators and the longshoremen through their
> influence of the ILA and the NYSA."
> 
> "The WC is the only body that is capable," he continued, "of
> stopping the dishonest union officials and the mob from forcing terminal
> operators to hire connected workers, pay them huge salaries, and require
> little or no work while they steal both money and democratic rights from
> honest workers."
> 
> In public hearings and through criminal prosecutions, the WC showed that
> the "favored few workers earned outsized salaries, some in excess of
> $400,000 a year, with little or no responsibilities," said Goldstock.
> 
> Lee J. Cobb as Johnny Friendly"One shop steward testified he was
> elected unanimously for life, didn't have any required work hours, did not
> know what a CBA (collective bargaining agreement) was, never filed a
> grievance, and indeed was only called upon to keep the workers
> 'in-line,'" he recalled. "And management disclosed that he earned
> more than any other employee."
> 
> Regarding Lesniak's argument that the WC is an "impediment" for
> the New Jersey businesses, Goldstock says the WC is what forces the ILA
> "to live up to its legal obligations" in equal opportunity
> hiring, noting that terminals cannot hire their own workers — they
> "are compelled to use the union as their employment office."
> 
> About Lesniak's argument that he is against corruption, Goldstock noted
> that "the New Jersey government was fond of the WC during the time its
> Attorney General's Office and the NYS Inspector General found it to be a
> moribund, corrupt organization" but that mindset changed in 2009,
> after a shakeup was ordered by then Governors Patterson and Corzine.
> 
> "As soon as the Commission was turned around, when it began to conduct
> investigations, and stop the union and mob from stealing bonus checks from
> workers, and insist on fair hiring practices that allowed women and
> minorities a chance to secure union jobs, they became outraged," he
> said.
> 
> "In the face of indictment after indictment, and in the face of
> defendants admitting their corrupt schemes in open court," said
> Goldstock, "the ILA, NYSA, and State of New Jersey argued that the
> days of On the Waterfront and Johnny Friendly were old news, when they were
> there in living color, staring them right in the face."
> 
> The Story Of Two Franks; Crime Pays For The One Who Flipped
> 
> Frangesco RussoFrangesco (Frankie) Russo must be fuming. He is currently in
> the Metropolitan Detention Center without enough money to pay for a lawyer.
> Meanwhile, his old pal, Francis (Frank) Smookler, who was Frankie's former
> partner in an alleged $100 million ripoff of three Lottery Winners, is
> living large in the home the pair jointly own in the sunny U.S. Virgin
> Islands.
> 
> How large?
> 
> Last week, Smookler earned the Top Angler prize at the Virgin Islands Game
> Fishing Club's Annual Dolphin Derby Day. He got his award after he boated a
> 39.5 pound mahi-mahi, according to All At Sea Caribbean, a Virgin Islands
> publication that chronicles fishing and sailing activities in the
> Caribbean.
> 
> Smookler is free to fish the sparkling blue Caribbean waters thanks to his
> guilty plea in March to stealing $45.6 million of the $100 million lottery
> ripoff.
> 
> Just how he won permission to leave the Eastern District of New York, which
> is where he's supposed to remain while free on bail, is unclear. There is
> no record on the court docket sheet that Smookler had permission to travel
> to the Caribbean, or even that he has copped a plea deal, as Gang Land
> reported in March.
> 
> Captain Joshua Bourg & Francis SmooklerSources say that's because
> Smookler has a sealed cooperation agreement in which prosecutors have
> agreed to seek a lenient sentence for Smookler in return for his testimony
> against Russo, and codefendants Jason (Jay) Kurland, the self-described
> "Lottery Lawyer," and Genovese wiseguy Christopher Chierchio.
> 
> Meanwhile, Smookler is landing other big fish.
> 
> "Francis reeled in the big one" around noon on Sunday April 25,
> said Captain Joshua Bourg, who is in the red shirt standing next to the
> smiling former securities broker in the photo by Dean Barnes.
> 
> "We had an idea it was a bigger one than the other fish we'd caught,
> so we thought we had a chance (at the top prize)," said Smookler, who
> was described in the article as "an avid fisherman, yet first-time
> tournament winner," by reporter Carol Bareuther.
> 
> Smookler caught his prize-winning fish in the waters south of St. John,
> where he owns a 2-bedroom apartment with Russo.The apartment is one of
> several properties that is cited as a fruit of the crimes by Russo and
> Smookler in a court filing by prosecutors Brian Morris, Lindsay Gerdes and
> Andrey Spektor. Along with their Long Island homes and a Miami condo they
> own, the St. John unit is cited for forfeit in court filings by the
> prosecutors.
> 
> The condo, which sources say cost the two Franks about $1 million, cannot
> be sold, but it can be rented or lived in, which is where Smookler has
> resided in recent weeks. Smookler, who agreed to forfeit $3.5 million of
> the money he stole during the 18-month long scheme, did not respond to a
> message that Gang Land left for him with a friendly voice we reached at the
> Sirenusa Condominium. We wanted to ask him if he was thinking of at least
> sharing a few Mahi-Mahi steaks with his poor friend Frank.
> 
> In court filings, the prosecutors stated that, in happier times, the duo
> enjoyed hiring private jets to fly back and forth from New York to their
> ocean hideaways, even after they had lost much of their lottery loot by
> investing it with accused Ponzi scammer-gem dealer Gregory Altieri.
> 
> Francis SmooklerIn June of last year, the prosecutors wrote, "Russo
> nonchalantly approved (a) request to wire $27,000 to Smookler from (a
> company they co-owned) for a private jet to fly him back to New York after
> he spent months away in Miami and St. John, where Smookler and Russo own
> homes together."
> 
> Eleven months later though, while Smookler is still enjoying the fruits of
> his admitted crimes — in a surprisingly unrestrained and blatant manner
> while he waits to finger Russo and the others from the witness stand —
> things are so bad for Russo, that he wants Brooklyn Federal Judge Nicholas
> Garaufis to assign a court appointed lawyer to represent him.
> 
> It's probably true, since most of the cash and other assets of all four
> defendants have been frozen by the feds. But it's a bit surprising that the
> grandson of acting Colombo boss Andrew (Mush) Russo is applying for a
> court-appointed attorney.
> 
> In a letter to Garaufis, Russo's current attorney, James Froccaro, wrote
> that Russo recently told him he was "financially unable to pay"
> the lawyer "to represent him in connection with this complex
> case" and that there had "also been a breakdown in the
> attorney-client relationship between us necessitating" Russo's
> application for a court appointed lawyer.
> 
> As a result, the lawyer wrote, he was seeking permission to withdraw from
> the case, and at Russo's request, was asking the judge to appoint an
> attorney for him.
> 
> The judge ordered Russo to submit a financial affidavit to the court
> justifying his request by today.
> 
> Trump Impeachment Lawyer Turns Now To Little Vic
> 
> Victor OrenaFresh from his impeachment win for ex-President Trump,
> prominent defense attorney David Schoen is preparing for what should be —
> on paper — another easy win: A compassionate release for another ex-New
> Yorker, one who suffers heart disease and dementia. This client is 86, has
> no use of his legs, is a danger to no one but himself, has been behind bars
> for 29 years, and his release was okayed by his warden two years ago.
> 
> But this time, Schoen is up against a prosecutor who has already stated
> that ex-Colombo family acting boss Victor (Little Vic) Orena  should remain
> behind bars for the rest of his life. The odds appear even steeper as the
> newly appointed judge who is considering the case spent more than a few
> years as a mob busting assistant U.S. attorney.
> 
> During a court session with Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Komitee last month,
> Schoen indicated his intention to seek a compassionate release for Orena
> and stated that he doubted that Little Vic could "participate and
> assist counsel" in a resentencing for his 1992 murder and racketeering
> conviction because of his debilitating ailments — whether it was a remote,
> or in-court proceeding.
> 
> Orena currently resides in a prison hospital in Ayer, Massachusetts. The
> facility considers him so infirm, that a fulltime aide has been assigned to
> him there, according to Schoen.
> 
> David SchoenAt trial, Little Vic was convicted of heading a rebel faction
> of the Colombo family that engaged in a bloody war with loyalists of boss
> Carmine (Junior) Persico. The war lasted from 1991 to-1993; 12 persons —
> including two innocent victims — were killed. Orena was also found guilty
> of the 1989 murder of an underling who was caught skimming from his boss.
> 
> Schoen told Komitee that "Orena was approved for compassionate release
> two years ago," but that the warden's decision "was overridden by
> the (Bureau of Prisons) general counsel despite a medical finding that
> (Orena) was clearly eligible for it." Since then, the lawyer said,
> "his medical conditions have significantly deteriorated."
> 
> Noting Orena's ailments and his advancing years — he'll be 87 in August —
> would make it difficult for him to endure a "protracted"
> resentencing process that would take months, and a separate compassionate
> release motion that his client deserved, Schoen raised the idea of handling
> both issues at the same time during the session with prosecutor Elizabeth
> Geddes.
> 
> Judge Eric KomiteeAfter a brief discussion about that scenario, Geddes
> agreed to discuss that possibility with her superiors, and inform the Court
> about the government's position within a week.
> 
> In her reply last week, Geddes gave Schoen a more immediate option. The
> prosecutor wrote that a motion for a compassionate release from the life
> sentence Orena is currently serving "would be ripe for the Court's
> consideration" now since Komitee had not yet vacated Little Vic's gun
> conviction or "ordered a de novo resentencing on the remaining
> counts."
> 
> Schoen told Gang Land that he still hasn't seen the warden's 2019 decision
> that recommends a release under the First Step Act, but he said he will
> file a motion "within a week" using Orena's medical records and
> the denial of the warden's decision by "BOP assistant director/general
> counsel Ken Hyle" to argue that Little Vic deserves a compassionate
> release.
> 
> "Hyle overruled the warden on May 3, 2019," said Schoen, even
> though he found that "Orena unquestionably suffers from multiple
> debilitating medical conditions as defined in the statute and the BOP's own
> policy manual" and was "fully eligible for compassionate
> release," said Schoen
> 
> Judge Jack Weinstein"He unilaterally made himself the judge and wrote
> that 'although he meets the criteria for a RIS' (reduction in sentence) he
> was denying it because 'due to the nature and circumstances of Mr. Orena's
> offense and his criminal history, his release at this time would minimize
> the severity of his offense and pose a danger to the community,'" said
> Schoen.
> 
> Geddes has not stated the government's position on a compassionate release.
> But there's little doubt she will quote the same sentencing remarks of
> trial judge Jack Weinstein to argue against compassion that she made in
> asking Komitee to again sentence Orena to a life without parole term at his
> still-to-be scheduled resentencing for his murder and racketeering
> conviction.
> 
> In that filing, she wrote that Weinstein stated that "harsh terms of
> imprisonment are required to incapacitate (mob) defendants and extract them
> from the net of criminal activity in which they have been enmeshed for
> their adult lives" and that "severe sentences" might deter
> and "save youngsters who might be seduced into the criminal lifestyle
> of these mobsters."
> 
> Weinstein retired from the bench last year at the age of 99 so he doesn't
> get to weigh in on this case. But it's not hard to imagine that the great
> and always creative jurist might just think that letting today's wannabe
> gangsters see a broken and ailing old man with dementia being wheeled out
> of prison might be an even better object lesson in steering clear of the
> mob.

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