by Dr031718 » Thu Jan 12, 2023 4:33 am
Wiseguy Lawyer To Feds: Club A Steakhouse Assault Case Is Too Tough To Swallow
Federal prosecutors allege that the assault by Genovese wiseguy Anthony (Rom) Romanello against the owner of a legendary Manhattan steakhouse back in the Spring of 2017 qualifies as a federal loansharking crime.
But Romanello's lawyer is asking where's the beef?
In a feisty courthouse filing, defense attorney Gerald McMahon says the federal loansharking indictment against his octogenarian client is nothing but an old misdemeanor assault charge that the feds repackaged as an extortion. The indictment should be dismissed because it is "not a federal crime," writes McMahon.
The feds' real motive, the lawyer states, stems from a decade-old effort to get Romanello to testify against Genovese capo Anthony (Tough Tony) Federici, who died last year before the feds could nail him for any criminal activity.
Romanello, 85, is charged with punching Bruno Selimaj in his Club A Steakhouse on East 58th Street to coerce him to pay a nephew's $80,000 gambling debt. But McMahon claims Rom only gave the legendary owner of the Club A eatery a knuckle sandwich in his swank eatery after Selmaj told the mobster he "didn't have the guts" to punch him.
During an angry rant to FBI agents after his arrest, Rom admitted punching Selimaj "in the mouth." The punch came amid a heated discussion about money that Selimaj's nephew owed a Queens bookie. But Romanello only threw the punch, wrote McMahon, after the restaurant owner, "who may have been high on cocaine," hurled insults at Rom and "challeng(ed) his manhood."
"This was not an extortionate collection of credit, but rather an argument between two elderly gentlemen" who have known each for more than 30 years, McMahon wrote. The lawyer noted that the confrontation ended in a one-punch assault by Rom against Selimaj who suffered "no visible injuries." The assault charge was dismissed a day after it was filed.
To back up his claim, the lawyer cited excerpts from an FBI report about Romanello's "unsolicited remarks," and interviews that agents had with codefendant Luan Bexheti, an Albanian bookmaker who had gambled with Selimaj's nephew and was present during the centerpiece event of the case.
Rom "became angry" when Selimaj told him that "the Italians were 'washed up' and" stated, "Fuck you, fuck the Italians, and fuck the mob," the mobster told the arresting officers, he wrote.
Then, the FBI report stated, when "Romanello told the victim that (he) wanted to hit him," Selimaj told Rom that he "didn't have the guts" to punch him. "Shortly thereafter," the excerpted report concluded, "Romanello punched the (restaurateur) in the mouth" and "described the victim as [having] 'coke dripping down his nose.'"
In interviews before and after Bexheti was arrested, McMahon wrote, he told agents that he was a runner for a Queens bookie who had been stiffed out of an $80,000 gambling debt by a Selimaj nephew and his brother-in-law. Bexheti also suggested that his bookmaker "ask Romanello for help because he knew that Romanello and Selimaj were long-time friends."
McMahon wrote that "Bexheti thought that Romanello was doing (Bexhati's bookie) a favor" by asking Selimaj to pay his nephew's gambling debt. Bexhati stated that during the spat at the Club A Steakhouse, the lawyer wrote, "Selimaj told them he was not going to pay the gambling debt; Romanello told Selimaj: 'I feel like punching you.' Selimaj told Romanello that he 'had no balls' and Romanello then punched him one time and left the restaurant."
Citing the discovery material, McMahon contends his client is innocent. He also argues that the five year "pre-indictment delay" in charging Romanello with a crime, coupled with the government's "vindictive" effort to put Rom behind bars because he refused to cooperate against Federici, his "friend of 60 years," are other good reasons the judge can use to throw out the case.
Citing court records from two prior prosecutions against Romanello, the lawyer wrote that the loansharking case is part of a "pattern" of "extraordinarily delayed and extraordinarily flimsy" charges that the feds began hitting Rom with in 2010 after he told two FBI agents he would "not become a cooperating witness for the government."
Since then, the lawyer told Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Komitee, "the government has been engaged in a campaign of prosecuting Romanello in the hope of 'flipping' him to become a cooperating witness against Federici." McMahon argued that the three "unprecedented, delayed, selective and vindictive prosecutions" of Rom "should compel dismissal of this indictment."
McMahon wrote that the prosecution "campaign" against his client began in late 2010, about five months after Rom rebuffed FBI agents George Khouzami and Brian Driscoll when they visited him at his home. The agents "told him that he would be arrested on an old gambling charge if he did not" agree to cooperate against Federici, who died of lymphoma two months ago, according to McMahon.
Romanello, who sources say was sponsored for induction into the Genovese family by Tough Tony and was given control over his rackets so Federici could devote his time to running the Park Side restaurant in Queens, was indicted along with Bexheti, and Genovese soldier Joseph Celso, six months before Federici died.
In December of 2010, Romanello was indicted on racketeering conspiracy charges for running a 1990s bookmaking ring that involved three racketeering acts between January 1990 and December 1999. That indictment was also filed in hopes that Rom would knuckle under and flip against Tough Tony, McMahon wrote. "According to the government," McMahon wrote, Federici was "a powerful Genovese capo."
Rom still refused to flip, and pushed for a speedy trial. On the eve of trial in June of 2011, McMahon wrote, the feds upped the ante with a new indictment. The racketeering conspiracy was extended until 2006, and the indictment alleged that Romanello, or a cohort, had possessed a handgun during the 16-year stretch, a charge that carried a mandatory minimum of five years in prison upon conviction. That delayed the start of trial for six months.
McMahon wrote that "it does not appear in the record," but while the case was pending before Judge I. Leo Glasser, the defense lawyer "had conversations with agent Khouzami and an AUSA" and "they expressed great interest in having defendant cooperate" against Federici. But Romanello refused.
Rom was undeterred. He turned down a plea deal calling for 33-to-41 months, the lawyer wrote. But on the eve of trial in January 2012, he took a plea deal of 10-to-16 months. Glasser, who stated at the mobster's sentencing that he found it "troublesome" that Romanello had been set for trial on a bookmaking charge that was lodged "13 years ago," gave him probation.
Noting that Romanello had been a "bookmaker since he's been about 28 years old," Glasser said he didn't know why the feds had waited "more than ten years to arrest and prosecute him." The judge added that while the 10-to-16 month plea deal was "appropriate" since "bookmaking can't be considered terribly serious," he felt that probation was "sufficient" in Romanello's case.
This time, the government was undeterred. It obtained another loansharking-extortion indictment against Rom, McMahon wrote, noting that he "distinctly remembers telling" the judge in that case, Carol Amon, that the case against his client "was extraordinarily weak." He was proved correct on November 30, 2012, he wrote, when Romanello was acquitted after a five-day trial.
Ten years later, McMahon wrote, the same Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office continued the same "pattern of filing charges that are extraordinarily delayed and extraordinarily flimsy" by waiting "almost five years" after "the alleged criminal conduct had occurred and been videotaped" before it filed charges without providing any "explanation, legitimate or otherwise," for the delay.
The lawyer opined that the feds were waiting "and hoping" that his client would "allegedly commit" another crime "so they could charge Romanello with a racketeering violation" before the five-year statute of limitations ran out. But they "brought yet another gambling/extortion indictment" when Rom failed to accommodate them, he wrote.
McMahon noted that the long delay in Romanello's 2010 indictment "so vexed Judge Glasser, who called it 'troublesome' and a 'significant problem for me,' that he sentenced defendant to a noncustodial sentence." The lawyer asked Judge Komitee to "dismiss the indictment and send a message to the government that excessive pre-indictment delay will no longer be countenanced."
The delay, McMahon argued, has caused "actual prejudice" for his client because Federici, a possible witness in the case has died, and it's likely that "eyewitnesses to the altercation in the Club A restaurant" no longer work there. And Romanello, "now five years older," McMahon wrote, "has seen a noticeable diminishment in his cognitive and physical abilities, including his ability to prepare for and possibly even testify at trial."
If the judge declined to toss the case, the lawyer wrote, Romanello's case should be severed from Bexhati's. "The information provided by Bexhiti to law enforcement in his two interviews," McMahon wrote, "was highly exculpatory for Mr. Romanello. Defendant would like to have Bexhiti testify at his trial."
He's Convicted Of Whacking A Mob Loanshark; But He'll Get To Keep A Cool $750Gs
A federal judge has indicated she is unlikely to order the mob associate convicted of robbing and murdering Luchese loanshark Vincent Zito to forfeit the $750,000 in Zito's loanshark funds that prosecutors say was the motive for the 2018 murder.
Instead, Brooklyn Federal Court Chief Judge Margo Brodie has ordered Gambino gangster Anthony (Fat Anthony) Pandrella, who was convicted in June, to pay back a mere $30,000 to Zito's family representing the value of the watches he stole. But the judge indicated she will not order Pandrella to forfeit the 750K.
The judge also indicated during a court session last week that she was inclined to deny a request by Zito's three children for $247,400 in additional restitution for lost salaries and medical expenses that federal prosecutors Kristin Mace and Matthew Galeotti said the children were entitled to as victims of the crime.
Stealing $750,000 "is not a crime that he was found guilty of," Judge Brodie told Galeotti during oral arguments with defense lawyers Jonathan Savella and James Froccaro regarding the government's requests for restitution from Pandrella.
Pandrella, 63, was videotaped entering Zito's Sheepshead Bay locked home at 8:10 AM and leaving at 10:23AM on October 26, 2018. Several hours later the 78-year-old loanshark was found shot to death on his living room floor. Pandrella was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the killing, which he steadily denied.
Brodie said that while Pandrella's goal of keeping the $750,000 in loanshark funds that prosecutors say Zito gave his killer for safekeeping "may have been the motivation" for the murder, "the case law makes clear that I cannot order restitution" since Fat Anthony was not charged or convicted of that crime.
During the session, Brodie seemed to agree with the arguments by lawyer Savella that the $750,000 that his client was accused of stealing was not a legitimate loan that Zito, or his children, had the right to obtain through restitution, since they would not be able to obtain the money through a civil lawsuit.
"If the $750,000 is a legitimate loan the family can collect on it" through a lawsuit, Brodie said. If she were to "order restitution, it would be a windfall" for Erica, Samantha and Joseph Zito, said the judge. "I can't award restitution" for the $750,000, she said.
Brodie also questioned the government's position that Zito's children were "victims of the crime" who were entitled to restitution since they did not suffer any "bodily injuries" or lose any income due to child care or other relevant expenses they incurred during the government's investigation of the crime or its prosecution.
The judge also knocked down the government's restitution request of $50,000 for the watches that Pandrella was convicted of stealing when he killed Zito, agreeing with the defense position that the witness who gave Zito four watches as collateral for his loan had testified that they cost "between $28,000 and $30,000."
Brodie reserved a final decision on the requests for the additional $997,500 in restitution requests until she reviews additional legal briefs she agreed to accept from the government and Pandrella's attorneys.
Colombo Skipper Guilty In 20-Year Construction Workers' Union Shakedown
Colombo capo Richard Ferrara has broken the ice. Ferrara is the first of seven family wiseguys charged with the 20-year-long extortion of a Queens based construction workers union to plead guilty to racketeering charges including the shakedown of Local 621 of the United Construction Trades & Industrial Employees Union (UCTIE).
Ferrara was appointed by late family boss Andrew (Mush) Russo to supervise the actions of fellow capo Vincent (Vinny Unions) Ricciardo, the architect of the extortion scheme in 2021, while the feds were investigating it, according to court filings. Just before Christmas he agreed to a so-called global plea deal calling for a recommended prison term of 46-to-57 months.
As part of Ferrara's plea agreement with the feds, the 60-year-old mobster agreed to forfeit three illegal handguns, including a semiautomatic pistol with a defaced serial number, that FBI agents seized at his Brooklyn home when they arrested him in September of 2021.
Ferrara was released from detention a year ago on a $10 million bond secured by three shopping centers on the Jersey Shore that he co-owns with his brother Theodore.
He is slated to be sentenced in May. And while defendants usually receive prison terms within the guidelines that are preserved in a signed plea agreement by the defendant, his lawyers, and the prosecutors, Ferrara's deal, like five others in the case, is contingent on 12 defendants agreeing to plead guilty by last month.
That did not happen. So if prosecutors decide to play hardball with the mob capo, his recommended prison term rises to 51-to-63 months. And while the government has agreed not to ask Judge Hector Gonzalez to impose any sentence above 63 months, Ferrara has agreed not to appeal any sentence of 97 months or less as excessive.
A slew of other Colombo mobsters now await trial for extorting some $600,000 from Local 621 and its president from 2001 until 2021. They include Vinny Unions, underboss Benjamin (The Claw) Castellazzo, consigliere Ralph DeMatteo, capo Theodore (Skinny Teddy) Persico, and soldier Michael Uvino.
Mob associate Domenick Ricciardo, a cousin of Vinny Unions, has also pleaded guilty to taking part in the UCTIE shakedown. Ricciardo's plea deal numbers are 30-to-37 months, but like Ferrara's they could rise. In Domenick's case, to 33-to-41 months. His cannot appeal sentence is 51 months.
Trial for the five remaining mobsters in the extortion scheme awaiting trial, and for three mob associates charged with lesser crimes, is currently scheduled for October. That could happen sooner, if as expected, others agree to plea deals.
[size=150]Wiseguy Lawyer To Feds: Club A Steakhouse Assault Case Is Too Tough To Swallow[/size]
Federal prosecutors allege that the assault by Genovese wiseguy Anthony (Rom) Romanello against the owner of a legendary Manhattan steakhouse back in the Spring of 2017 qualifies as a federal loansharking crime.
But Romanello's lawyer is asking where's the beef?
In a feisty courthouse filing, defense attorney Gerald McMahon says the federal loansharking indictment against his octogenarian client is nothing but an old misdemeanor assault charge that the feds repackaged as an extortion. The indictment should be dismissed because it is "not a federal crime," writes McMahon.
The feds' real motive, the lawyer states, stems from a decade-old effort to get Romanello to testify against Genovese capo Anthony (Tough Tony) Federici, who died last year before the feds could nail him for any criminal activity.
Romanello, 85, is charged with punching Bruno Selimaj in his Club A Steakhouse on East 58th Street to coerce him to pay a nephew's $80,000 gambling debt. But McMahon claims Rom only gave the legendary owner of the Club A eatery a knuckle sandwich in his swank eatery after Selmaj told the mobster he "didn't have the guts" to punch him.
During an angry rant to FBI agents after his arrest, Rom admitted punching Selimaj "in the mouth." The punch came amid a heated discussion about money that Selimaj's nephew owed a Queens bookie. But Romanello only threw the punch, wrote McMahon, after the restaurant owner, "who may have been high on cocaine," hurled insults at Rom and "challeng(ed) his manhood."
"This was not an extortionate collection of credit, but rather an argument between two elderly gentlemen" who have known each for more than 30 years, McMahon wrote. The lawyer noted that the confrontation ended in a one-punch assault by Rom against Selimaj who suffered "no visible injuries." The assault charge was dismissed a day after it was filed.
To back up his claim, the lawyer cited excerpts from an FBI report about Romanello's "unsolicited remarks," and interviews that agents had with codefendant Luan Bexheti, an Albanian bookmaker who had gambled with Selimaj's nephew and was present during the centerpiece event of the case.
Rom "became angry" when Selimaj told him that "the Italians were 'washed up' and" stated, "Fuck you, fuck the Italians, and fuck the mob," the mobster told the arresting officers, he wrote.
Then, the FBI report stated, when "Romanello told the victim that (he) wanted to hit him," Selimaj told Rom that he "didn't have the guts" to punch him. "Shortly thereafter," the excerpted report concluded, "Romanello punched the (restaurateur) in the mouth" and "described the victim as [having] 'coke dripping down his nose.'"
In interviews before and after Bexheti was arrested, McMahon wrote, he told agents that he was a runner for a Queens bookie who had been stiffed out of an $80,000 gambling debt by a Selimaj nephew and his brother-in-law. Bexheti also suggested that his bookmaker "ask Romanello for help because he knew that Romanello and Selimaj were long-time friends."
McMahon wrote that "Bexheti thought that Romanello was doing (Bexhati's bookie) a favor" by asking Selimaj to pay his nephew's gambling debt. Bexhati stated that during the spat at the Club A Steakhouse, the lawyer wrote, "Selimaj told them he was not going to pay the gambling debt; Romanello told Selimaj: 'I feel like punching you.' Selimaj told Romanello that he 'had no balls' and Romanello then punched him one time and left the restaurant."
Citing the discovery material, McMahon contends his client is innocent. He also argues that the five year "pre-indictment delay" in charging Romanello with a crime, coupled with the government's "vindictive" effort to put Rom behind bars because he refused to cooperate against Federici, his "friend of 60 years," are other good reasons the judge can use to throw out the case.
Citing court records from two prior prosecutions against Romanello, the lawyer wrote that the loansharking case is part of a "pattern" of "extraordinarily delayed and extraordinarily flimsy" charges that the feds began hitting Rom with in 2010 after he told two FBI agents he would "not become a cooperating witness for the government."
Since then, the lawyer told Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Komitee, "the government has been engaged in a campaign of prosecuting Romanello in the hope of 'flipping' him to become a cooperating witness against Federici." McMahon argued that the three "unprecedented, delayed, selective and vindictive prosecutions" of Rom "should compel dismissal of this indictment."
McMahon wrote that the prosecution "campaign" against his client began in late 2010, about five months after Rom rebuffed FBI agents George Khouzami and Brian Driscoll when they visited him at his home. The agents "told him that he would be arrested on an old gambling charge if he did not" agree to cooperate against Federici, who died of lymphoma two months ago, according to McMahon.
Romanello, who sources say was sponsored for induction into the Genovese family by Tough Tony and was given control over his rackets so Federici could devote his time to running the Park Side restaurant in Queens, was indicted along with Bexheti, and Genovese soldier Joseph Celso, six months before Federici died.
In December of 2010, Romanello was indicted on racketeering conspiracy charges for running a 1990s bookmaking ring that involved three racketeering acts between January 1990 and December 1999. That indictment was also filed in hopes that Rom would knuckle under and flip against Tough Tony, McMahon wrote. "According to the government," McMahon wrote, Federici was "a powerful Genovese capo."
Rom still refused to flip, and pushed for a speedy trial. On the eve of trial in June of 2011, McMahon wrote, the feds upped the ante with a new indictment. The racketeering conspiracy was extended until 2006, and the indictment alleged that Romanello, or a cohort, had possessed a handgun during the 16-year stretch, a charge that carried a mandatory minimum of five years in prison upon conviction. That delayed the start of trial for six months.
McMahon wrote that "it does not appear in the record," but while the case was pending before Judge I. Leo Glasser, the defense lawyer "had conversations with agent Khouzami and an AUSA" and "they expressed great interest in having defendant cooperate" against Federici. But Romanello refused.
Rom was undeterred. He turned down a plea deal calling for 33-to-41 months, the lawyer wrote. But on the eve of trial in January 2012, he took a plea deal of 10-to-16 months. Glasser, who stated at the mobster's sentencing that he found it "troublesome" that Romanello had been set for trial on a bookmaking charge that was lodged "13 years ago," gave him probation.
Noting that Romanello had been a "bookmaker since he's been about 28 years old," Glasser said he didn't know why the feds had waited "more than ten years to arrest and prosecute him." The judge added that while the 10-to-16 month plea deal was "appropriate" since "bookmaking can't be considered terribly serious," he felt that probation was "sufficient" in Romanello's case.
This time, the government was undeterred. It obtained another loansharking-extortion indictment against Rom, McMahon wrote, noting that he "distinctly remembers telling" the judge in that case, Carol Amon, that the case against his client "was extraordinarily weak." He was proved correct on November 30, 2012, he wrote, when Romanello was acquitted after a five-day trial.
Ten years later, McMahon wrote, the same Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office continued the same "pattern of filing charges that are extraordinarily delayed and extraordinarily flimsy" by waiting "almost five years" after "the alleged criminal conduct had occurred and been videotaped" before it filed charges without providing any "explanation, legitimate or otherwise," for the delay.
The lawyer opined that the feds were waiting "and hoping" that his client would "allegedly commit" another crime "so they could charge Romanello with a racketeering violation" before the five-year statute of limitations ran out. But they "brought yet another gambling/extortion indictment" when Rom failed to accommodate them, he wrote.
McMahon noted that the long delay in Romanello's 2010 indictment "so vexed Judge Glasser, who called it 'troublesome' and a 'significant problem for me,' that he sentenced defendant to a noncustodial sentence." The lawyer asked Judge Komitee to "dismiss the indictment and send a message to the government that excessive pre-indictment delay will no longer be countenanced."
The delay, McMahon argued, has caused "actual prejudice" for his client because Federici, a possible witness in the case has died, and it's likely that "eyewitnesses to the altercation in the Club A restaurant" no longer work there. And Romanello, "now five years older," McMahon wrote, "has seen a noticeable diminishment in his cognitive and physical abilities, including his ability to prepare for and possibly even testify at trial."
If the judge declined to toss the case, the lawyer wrote, Romanello's case should be severed from Bexhati's. "The information provided by Bexhiti to law enforcement in his two interviews," McMahon wrote, "was highly exculpatory for Mr. Romanello. Defendant would like to have Bexhiti testify at his trial."
[size=150]He's Convicted Of Whacking A Mob Loanshark; But He'll Get To Keep A Cool $750Gs[/size]
A federal judge has indicated she is unlikely to order the mob associate convicted of robbing and murdering Luchese loanshark Vincent Zito to forfeit the $750,000 in Zito's loanshark funds that prosecutors say was the motive for the 2018 murder.
Instead, Brooklyn Federal Court Chief Judge Margo Brodie has ordered Gambino gangster Anthony (Fat Anthony) Pandrella, who was convicted in June, to pay back a mere $30,000 to Zito's family representing the value of the watches he stole. But the judge indicated she will not order Pandrella to forfeit the 750K.
The judge also indicated during a court session last week that she was inclined to deny a request by Zito's three children for $247,400 in additional restitution for lost salaries and medical expenses that federal prosecutors Kristin Mace and Matthew Galeotti said the children were entitled to as victims of the crime.
Stealing $750,000 "is not a crime that he was found guilty of," Judge Brodie told Galeotti during oral arguments with defense lawyers Jonathan Savella and James Froccaro regarding the government's requests for restitution from Pandrella.
Pandrella, 63, was videotaped entering Zito's Sheepshead Bay locked home at 8:10 AM and leaving at 10:23AM on October 26, 2018. Several hours later the 78-year-old loanshark was found shot to death on his living room floor. Pandrella was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the killing, which he steadily denied.
Brodie said that while Pandrella's goal of keeping the $750,000 in loanshark funds that prosecutors say Zito gave his killer for safekeeping "may have been the motivation" for the murder, "the case law makes clear that I cannot order restitution" since Fat Anthony was not charged or convicted of that crime.
During the session, Brodie seemed to agree with the arguments by lawyer Savella that the $750,000 that his client was accused of stealing was not a legitimate loan that Zito, or his children, had the right to obtain through restitution, since they would not be able to obtain the money through a civil lawsuit.
"If the $750,000 is a legitimate loan the family can collect on it" through a lawsuit, Brodie said. If she were to "order restitution, it would be a windfall" for Erica, Samantha and Joseph Zito, said the judge. "I can't award restitution" for the $750,000, she said.
Brodie also questioned the government's position that Zito's children were "victims of the crime" who were entitled to restitution since they did not suffer any "bodily injuries" or lose any income due to child care or other relevant expenses they incurred during the government's investigation of the crime or its prosecution.
The judge also knocked down the government's restitution request of $50,000 for the watches that Pandrella was convicted of stealing when he killed Zito, agreeing with the defense position that the witness who gave Zito four watches as collateral for his loan had testified that they cost "between $28,000 and $30,000."
Brodie reserved a final decision on the requests for the additional $997,500 in restitution requests until she reviews additional legal briefs she agreed to accept from the government and Pandrella's attorneys.
[size=150]Colombo Skipper Guilty In 20-Year Construction Workers' Union Shakedown [/size]
Colombo capo Richard Ferrara has broken the ice. Ferrara is the first of seven family wiseguys charged with the 20-year-long extortion of a Queens based construction workers union to plead guilty to racketeering charges including the shakedown of Local 621 of the United Construction Trades & Industrial Employees Union (UCTIE).
Ferrara was appointed by late family boss Andrew (Mush) Russo to supervise the actions of fellow capo Vincent (Vinny Unions) Ricciardo, the architect of the extortion scheme in 2021, while the feds were investigating it, according to court filings. Just before Christmas he agreed to a so-called global plea deal calling for a recommended prison term of 46-to-57 months.
As part of Ferrara's plea agreement with the feds, the 60-year-old mobster agreed to forfeit three illegal handguns, including a semiautomatic pistol with a defaced serial number, that FBI agents seized at his Brooklyn home when they arrested him in September of 2021.
Ferrara was released from detention a year ago on a $10 million bond secured by three shopping centers on the Jersey Shore that he co-owns with his brother Theodore.
He is slated to be sentenced in May. And while defendants usually receive prison terms within the guidelines that are preserved in a signed plea agreement by the defendant, his lawyers, and the prosecutors, Ferrara's deal, like five others in the case, is contingent on 12 defendants agreeing to plead guilty by last month.
That did not happen. So if prosecutors decide to play hardball with the mob capo, his recommended prison term rises to 51-to-63 months. And while the government has agreed not to ask Judge Hector Gonzalez to impose any sentence above 63 months, Ferrara has agreed not to appeal any sentence of 97 months or less as excessive.
A slew of other Colombo mobsters now await trial for extorting some $600,000 from Local 621 and its president from 2001 until 2021. They include Vinny Unions, underboss Benjamin (The Claw) Castellazzo, consigliere Ralph DeMatteo, capo Theodore (Skinny Teddy) Persico, and soldier Michael Uvino.
Mob associate Domenick Ricciardo, a cousin of Vinny Unions, has also pleaded guilty to taking part in the UCTIE shakedown. Ricciardo's plea deal numbers are 30-to-37 months, but like Ferrara's they could rise. In Domenick's case, to 33-to-41 months. His cannot appeal sentence is 51 months.
Trial for the five remaining mobsters in the extortion scheme awaiting trial, and for three mob associates charged with lesser crimes, is currently scheduled for October. That could happen sooner, if as expected, others agree to plea deals.