GL NEWS 6/11/2020

[Bklyn21]

This Week in Gang Land
By Jerry Capeci

Mikey Spat: I Didn't Do It, But I've Done The Time, And It's Time I Went Home
Gang Land Exclusive!Michael SpataroMob associate Michael (Mikey Spat) Spataro may still be behind bars, but he's doing nicely when it comes to friends and advocates.

Spataro already has legendary ex-U.S. Marshal Michael Pizzi in his corner, as he fights a wrongful conviction that has him serving extra time for a questionable murder conspiracy conviction.

But now he's getting some awfully good lawyering from federal defender Amanda David. Last week, she filed a compelling legal argument detailing why Brooklyn Federal Judge Sterling Johnson should do the right thing — throw out Spataro's faulty 2006 weapons conviction, and send him home.

Spataro has already spent 16 years in prison for a crime that he most likely didn't commit — being part of a murder conspiracy plot against Colombo capo Joseph (Joe Camp) Campanella, a mob turncoat.

But even if Spataro did commit that crime, and a second one for assault, David wrote, he's already served 14 years for those crimes. Johnson, David urged, should do the right thing and vacate Mikey Spat's ten year sentence for an invalid weapons conviction, and let 53-year-old Mikey Spat go home since he's also served a few extra years for that wrongful conviction.

Michael PizziAnd if the veteran jurist thinks sending Spataro home is the wrong thing to do, he should check out what fellow senior federal judge Charles Haight did the other day. Faced with a similar set of facts from a 1996 trial where two defendants were found guilty of murder conspiracy, two murders, and attempted murder, Haight did his homework, bit the bullet, and sent them home.

Haight tossed the weapons conviction and, on May 26, gave them time served. The Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office, which had opposed the motion to throw out the conviction, declined to appeal the ruling.

Like Judge Johnson, Haight is an octogenarian who was appointed to the federal bench by a Republican President. Johnson, 86, was named by George Bush in 1991; Haight, 89, by Gerald Ford in 1976. And like Johnson, Judge Haight, who sentenced the duo to a total of 30 years, had also rejected several prior efforts by them to reverse their convictions on a variety of grounds.

But last fall, when the Supreme Court ruled that murder conspiracy was not a "crime of violence" under federal law, and invalidated weapons convictions linked to a murder conspiracy charge, the case came back to him again. This time, Haight took a long hard look at the trial record. In a 33-page decision, the judge threw out the conviction for the so-called "924c count" that had required him to add a minimum term of five years to the prison term he had meted out.

In both cases, the government agrees that the 924c conviction based on the murder conspiracy count is invalid. If the defendants had been convicted of only two counts, murder conspiracy and the 924c weapons count, the weapons conviction, as well as its sentence — in Spataro's case it was ten years — would have been vacated. Case closed, and the defendants are released.

Sterling JohnsonBut here's where it gets tricky. In both cases, prosecutors argue that the jury could have based its 924c guilty verdict on other charges lodged against the defendant. In Spataro's case, prosecutors argue that, for all they know, the jury may have based its 924c conviction on an assault count, which is a "crime of violence" under federal law because its elements include either "the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another."

There's a little bit of whistling in the wind here by the feds.

In the Haight case, prosecutors made the exact same wishful thinking argument because the duo was also convicted of two murders, and an attempted murder.

Charles HaightJudge Haight agreed that jurors may have based their 924c conviction on "murder and attempted murder in aid of racketeering, which are crimes of violence" under federal law, or that they "aided and abetted" those crimes, which are also crimes of violence.

But since the jury was not asked to explain whether its 924c conviction was based on the murder conspiracy, or either of the two murders, or the attempted murder, there was no way of knowing if the jurors believed they were involved in the murders, or the attempted murder, the firearms conviction must be vacated, the judge ruled.

This was especially so, Haight wrote, because jurors could have convicted the defendants, who each claimed they weren't present during the shootings, under the "Pinkerton theory of liability," which permits a jury to convict defendants for "foreseeable substantive crimes committed by co-conspirators."

"In an effort to obtain guilty verdicts," Haight wrote, "the Government pled, undertook to prove, and argued to the jury every theory of criminal liability the evidence and law allowed." The defendants, the prosecutors argued, were "direct participants," or "aiders and abetters," or "co-conspirators" who were guilty "under that hybrid of substantive and conspiracy law, the Pinkerton theory," the judge wrote.

Joseph CampanellaBut while "the prosecution succeeded" and the defendants were convicted on all counts, Haight wrote, "the record reveals that the jury might have relied upon one or more invalid bases for its guilty verdicts." Since the Supreme Court's recent ruling on the 924c count "would clearly disqualify jury verdicts of substantive guilt based on the Pinkerton theory of liability," Haight wrote, "those convictions and sentences are hereby vacated."

Gang Land always liked Haight, who never talked down to anyone in the courtroom — including gangsters and working stiffs — even though we sometimes needed a dictionary to follow his very eloquent phrasing. This ruling confirms it.

On Spataro's behalf, David packed lots of pretty good ammunition into her three-page filing. She wrote that Mikey Spat's 924c conviction is "legally invalid and (his) consecutive ten-year-sentence" must be vacated because the jury was told it could convict him of the weapons count if it found him guilty of murder conspiracy or assault and "was never asked" by the Court to specify which count it relied on.

In addition, wrote David, Spataro's conviction for "assault is not a crime of violence in this case" because "the jury received a Pinkerton instruction" which permitted it to find him "liable for substantive offenses" of co-conspirators if, as key witness Giovanni (John the Barber) Floridia testified, Mikey Spat had no role in the 2001 shooting of Campanella.

Giovanni Floridia"This is particularly relevant to Mr. Spataro," David wrote, since he "was never alleged to have personally participated in the charged shooting or even to have been present for the shooting that is the factual basis for the underlying assault."

Without mentioning Judge Haight by name, the attorney cited the judge's decision to vacate the 924c convictions of the defendants in his 1996 trial because the jury's "general verdict prevented the Court from knowing the basis" for its decision, and asked Johnson to vacate her client's 924c conviction for the same reason and "resentence Mr. Spataro to time served and immediately release him."

In addition, David wrote, Johnson should give "great weight" to Spataro's meritorious record of achievements while behind bars, including his excellent conduct and completion of more than 30 courses, "ranging from physics and business law to plumbing and home improvement."

Spataro's mom died while he's been behind bars. But his three children, "who were 10, 7 and 5 when he was convicted and sentenced," David wrote, "are now adults and want a relationship with their father that expands beyond prison visits and letters" and "he is eager and desperate to be present in their lives and the lives of his loved ones, which include his wife, brother, uncles and his elderly father."

The DNA of prosecutors is to never give up a stat, so Gang Land expects the U.S. Attorney's office to again oppose Spataro's release. But as Mike Pizzi, the former Brooklyn crime fighter who believes that Mikey Spat was framed by prosecution witness John the Barber Floridia, said two weeks ago, "It's time for Judge Johnson to do the right thing in this case."

Different Post-Prison Roads For Persico Cousins; Teddy To Brooklyn; Michael To Saugerties
Michael PersicoMichael Persico, the businessman son of the late Mafia boss Carmine (Junior) Persico was quietly released into "community confinement" by the federal Bureau of Prisons last month a few days before his cousin, Colombo capo Theodore (Skinny Teddy) Persico, moved out of his halfway house and officially returned to his old Brooklyn haunts.

Codefendants in the same racketeering case, the cousins copped plea deals on the same day back in 2012. But they had widely divergent prison terms for their different crimes: Michael, 63, got five years for loansharking while Teddy, 56, got 12 for a mob rubout. And today, they're each taking a different route back into the outside world.

Teddy Persico, whom many federal and local mob busters view as a viable candidate to take over the reins of the Colombo family, has returned to the southern Brooklyn neighborhoods of Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, and Bay Ridge where his late uncle Carmine and his predecessor crime family boss, Joe Colombo, each held court.

Theodore Persico Jr.Michael Persico, however, seems to have cut most of his ties — and all of his financial ones — to the Borough of Churches. Michael has his sights set on upstate Ulster County, where the Persico clan has a country estate on a sprawling compound in Saugerties, whose residents, business folks and town officials praised him as a generous, upstanding member of the community in numerous letters to his sentencing judge.

Back in 2014, while he was awaiting sentencing in a plea deal that is still the envy of New York wiseguys, Michael indicated that his desire to remain in his native Brooklyn was waning when he sold the property on 86th street where his limousine company was located to his business partner John Dileo for $1 million.

If there was any doubt about his intentions, it ended while Persico was housed in Allenwood, a low security Pennsylvania prison following his 2017 sentencing. While there, he not only sold the Dyker Heights home where he lived with his three children, he also divested himself of eight other Brooklyn properties he owned, including the large $3 million Victorian-style home on 11th Avenue that was once home to his dad. His mother Joyce still lives there and the home is still owned by the Persico family.

And, according to Property Shark, an online real estate database, these days Michael Persico is the listed owner of 20 properties in Saugerties that include row houses, commercial buildings, and apartment houses worth too many millions of dollars for Gang Land to even begin to calculate.

Sarita Kedia & Michael PersicoSources say Michael, who was officially released from prison on May 14 was not required to spend any time at a halfway house like his cousin Teddy and many other inmates who earn an early release under the Bureau of Prison's Residential Reentry Management program (RRM). The sources say he is already residing at one of the homes he owns in Saugerties.

Three months before his release, Michael informed probation officials that he wanted to serve his three years of post-prison supervised release in the Northern District of New York, where his Saugerties properties are located. The request was approved by his sentencing judge.

The sources say Michael, whose release is being supervised and monitored by the Philadelphia RRM field office, is one of the 6,646 inmates in the BOP's reentry program whose entire stay is under "home confinement." As of Tuesday, there were 13,372 inmates in the reentry program, according to the BOP.

An attorney who handles wiseguy cases but has no involvement or knowledge about Michael's situation told Gang Land he is "not surprised" that the BOP gave Persico home confinement rather than "place him in a halfway house where COVID-19 problems have risen all over the country."

There have been four coronavirus cases — none fatal — at the Brooklyn halfway house where Teddy Persico, and 78-year-old Colombo wiseguy Joel (Joe Waverly) Cacace, another contender for boss of the family, were housed until last month. The facility is one of 24 halfway houses whose residents have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the BOP.

The BOP declined to discuss Michael Persico's release. He could not be reached. Persico's main attorney, Sarita Kedia, who was linked romantically to her client by prosecutors in 2012, did not respond to phone or email queries from Gang Land.

Meanwhile, sources on both sides of the law say that longtime Persico family stalwart, Andrew (Mush) Russo, 85, remains the family's acting boss.

Wiseguy Wins COVID-19 Get-Out-Of-Jail Card And He Contracts The Coronavirus At Home
Eugene CastelleFor a while, Luchese mobster Eugene (Boobsie) Castelle was very happy about getting what he wished for: On April 1, he won an unusual prison furlough due to fears he would contract the COVID-19 virus in Danbury Federal Prison. This was nine months after he had begun serving a 77 month prison term for racketeering, so there was reason to celebrate.

Then, suddenly, he wasn't so happy.

That's because after a 14-day quarantine at his home, Castelle tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. The test was ordered by his judge on a request by the government and probation officials to ensure that technicians who were assigned to electronically monitor his "home incarceration" would not be exposed to the coronavirus during the installation at Boobsie's Staten Island home.

When the test turned up positive, Manhattan Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein ordered the wiseguy to undergo another 14 day quarantine and agreed to put off the electronic monitoring installation until May 18.

John CastellucciHis next test was negative, so things are good with Boobsie, and with the folks at the probation department now that the electronic monitoring gizmos have been installed without fear of contracting the feared killer bug from Castelle.

"He had some very difficult days, but he's completely recovered now and he's optimistic about his appeal," said Castelle's trial attorney Gerald McMahon.

In April, over objections from the government, Hellerstein wrote that because of Castelle's "ailing health and the concomitant risk" to him stemming from "the COVID-19 pandemic," he was ordering Boobsie to be released pending appeal on a $500,000 bond.

Last year, Boobsie gambled and lost when he turned down a plea deal to gambling charges for a likely sentence between eight and 14 months and was found guilty at trial and sentenced to 77 months. He is appealing his conviction, as well as his prison term, which is greater than the 51-to-63 months called for by his sentencing guidelines.

Judge Cathy SeibelCastelle's mobster brother, capo John (Big John) Castellucci, wasn't as lucky — or perhaps as unlucky — as Boobsie was when he sought a compassionate release or sentence reduction after serving nine months of a 37 month prison term he received for racketeering from White Plains Judge Cathy Seibel.

Seibel rejected his request out of hand. She also accused Castellucci of pulling a scam on the BOP by enrolling in his prison's Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) in order to get a 12 month-reduction in his prison term when he had no drug or alcohol issues, according to the Pre-Sentence Report she had received.

If the PSR was accurate, the judge wrote, Big John's "admission to RDAP suggests that someone at the BOP was fooled or compromised or monumentally careless, and that that RDAP bed should have gone to someone with a genuine substance abuse problem."

The judge ordered the government to forward her ruling to the warden at the Fort Dix prison where Castellucci is serving his term. Big John's release, which includes credit for his RDAP participation, is currently set for next March. If it is found to be a scam, his release date would pushed ahead to March of 2022, according to the filings in his case.

[Bklyn21]

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[JohnnyS]

thanks for posting Bklyn.

[gohnjotti]

I guess this is a sign that we shouldn't take Capeci's titles as gospel. Joe Campanella was a soldier at the time of the shooting in question (2001) and was only a very briefly-serving acting captain in around 1993. Not sure why Jerry labelled him a capo, or a mob turncoat, given that he was neither at the time. Well, I get why Capeci called him a mob turncoat, but it would've been good to explain that Campanella was a stand-up guy at the time of shooting.

Regarding the Colombo news, interesting stuff about Michael dropping all ties to Brooklyn. At the time of his 2010 arrest, Michael was an on-paper owner, or part-owner, of Romantique Limousines, Bella Luna Pizzeria, and Dyker Park Bagels. Romantique was taken over by Michael's legitimate cover, John Dileo, who has been a target of grand jury subpoenas on multiple occasions relating to the Persicos.

Michael has been investing in Saugerties since long before his arrest with Mark Burns, a guy who made his fortunes on Wall St. and Madison Avenue in both finance and advertising. The pair of them owned a building leased to a vintage clothing store, which was forced to close due to (among other things) a skunk living under the building and Persico/Burns raising the rent by 17%. Even though Hudson Valley One sort-of vilified them in this article (https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2011/12/26/ ... irls-club/) they somehow failed to do any sort of back-up research on Michael Persico to learn that he was a longtime Colombo associate and mob prince.

[NYNighthawk]

So are they still linked romantically Sarita and Michael?

[Bklyn21]

I guess this is a sign that we shouldn't take Capeci's titles as gospel. Joe Campanella was a soldier at the time of the shooting in question (2001) and was only a very briefly-serving acting captain in around 1993. Not sure why Jerry labelled him a capo, or a mob turncoat, given that he was neither at the time. Well, I get why Capeci called him a mob turncoat, but it would've been good to explain that Campanella was a stand-up guy at the time of shooting.

Regarding the Colombo news, interesting stuff about Michael dropping all ties to Brooklyn. At the time of his 2010 arrest, Michael was an on-paper owner, or part-owner, of Romantique Limousines, Bella Luna Pizzeria, and Dyker Park Bagels. Romantique was taken over by Michael's legitimate cover, John Dileo, who has been a target of grand jury subpoenas on multiple occasions relating to the Persicos.

Michael has been investing in Saugerties since long before his arrest with Mark Burns, a guy who made his fortunes on Wall St. and Madison Avenue in both finance and advertising. The pair of them owned a building leased to a vintage clothing store, which was forced to close due to (among other things) a skunk living under the building and Persico/Burns raising the rent by 17%. Even though Hudson Valley One sort-of vilified them in this article (https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2011/12/26/ ... irls-club/) they somehow failed to do any sort of back-up research on Michael Persico to learn that he was a longtime Colombo associate and mob prince.

I PM'D you . I took a bunch of photos thos morning of Colombo spots etc. Some didn't come out too GOOD but I'll get them out to you over the next few days , Having a lil trouble uploading and posting. I was approached at Samperi's spot and told No pics lol

[mafiastudent]

I have a lot of things to say about this issue of Gang Land. There were some things not reported regarding Castelucci and btw that compassionate release denial happened on May 30. But I'm writing something up, so fair warning on that. Also news on DiNapoli.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for the post Bklyn

[NYNighthawk]

Fuck that other shit - the real question is : 'is he banging her"?

[Cheech]

Capeci forgot to copy and paste an old Locascio article

[Adam]

I'm curious about this Persico "compound" in Saugerties. Not that I want to google maps it(I kind of want to google maps it), but for whatever reason the term "compound" gets thrown around a lot for mob guys. Kinda think it comes from the Godfather movies.

[stubbs]

I'm curious about this Persico "compound" in Saugerties. Not that I want to google maps it(I kind of want to google maps it), but for whatever reason the term "compound" gets thrown around a lot for mob guys. Kinda think it comes from the Godfather movies.

It’s an old real estate term, made famous by the Kennedy family, ie “Kennedy Compound”, meaning a large piece of land that has many houses on the same property.