he could have been made. If Daily news says so...maybe they got that info from FBI. Either way hes gone now. Media seemed to want to his death to the DeCicco shooting in Brooklyn. Who knows ? Anyone know what Capo Izzy was under?slimshady_007 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 29, 2020 12:13 pmThis article says Izzi was a soldierRocco wrote: ↑Wed Jul 29, 2020 7:49 amRudy Izzi..killed in Brooklyn in 2007 was a Genovese bookmaker. Not a made guy I don't believe. They never got Coppola on the Ricci murder ...but the judge though he was guilty so he gave Coppola the higher end of a RICO sentencing...and gave him 13yrs. I have to assume the Genovese killed Lagano as well....so if Gatto pulled it off..hes dead so dead end road there. Though I am not sure how many hitters Gatto had at the time. That crew was pretty depleted at the time of his death as far as hitters go. Who knows all kinds of rumors about that hit. If the Lucheses did it..well the NJ crew made two members that yr Ralphs son and Mikes son were made . Who knows??? Doesn't seem like the feds or state of NJ are making it a priority to solve Lagano's murder. To be honest they just want it to go away...Philly d wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 7:59 pmwhat was the izzi hit?tmarotta wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 5:03 pm Frank Lagano actually was killed in 2007. I had also heard that the Genovese Family killed him with the blessing of the Lucchese Family. I know it is unverifiable street talk but I heard it was facilitated by Amuso himself and Bobby Manna through intermediaries. The Genovese have so far gotten away with the Izzi and Ricci murders as well so their batting average post 2000 is pretty good. Bottom line you are right so far no one has gotten indicted for it, interesting to see if anyone ever does.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nydail ... utType=amp
Madonna Caldwell Londonio Sentencing
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Re: Madonna Caldwell Londonio Sentencing
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Re: Madonna Caldwell Londonio Sentencing
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Truth and Lies in the Michael Meldish Murder Sentencing Hearings - Round One
“Benjamin Franklin once said a lie stands on one leg, truth stands on two. Today, I stand on two legs. I am innocent. I had nothing to do with the tragic death of Mr. Meldish. I conspired with no one.”
Those were the words said to the Court by Matthew Madonna, who along with Christopher Londonio and Terrance Caldwell, faced their immediate fate on Monday for their alleged involvement in the 2013 murder of Michael Meldish.
The three men were sentenced to life imprisonment during separate hearings – eight months after being handed a guilty verdict in a trial where the “evidence” presented remains highly questionable.
Steven L. Crea, who was convicted as well during the month-long trial last November, is scheduled for sentencing next week because a video conferencing slot couldn’t be secured for Monday’s date.
The defendants had requested remote sentencing because of the Covid-19 crisis which Judge Seibel granted last week. Caldwell, the accused triggerman in the Meldish murder, chose to appear in person at the U.S. District Court in White Plains, NY and was the first to be handed his expected fate.
Arriving at the nearly empty courthouse dressed in his prison-issued orange jumpsuit, shackled, and escorted by three U.S. Marshals, Caldwell seemed relaxed. After the marshals removed his cuffs, he chatted with his lawyer, George Goltzer, and the two bumped fists – an obvious sign of a strong and respectful relationship formed between Caldwell and his court-appointed counsel. In fact, when Caldwell addressed the Court later, the only thing he said was, “I want to thank my lawyer for representing me. That’s about it.”
And that was about all that happened in terms of pleasantries during the hour-long proceeding. As expected, there was the victim speech given by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagan Scotten, who said that even though Meldish “may have been a criminal…he had a son” who will never see his father again.
But let’s put “may have been a criminal” into a little bit of perspective.
Law enforcement described Meldish as a “stone-cold killer,” who was suspected, as a leader of the notorious Purple Gang – a criminal group that controlled the drug trade in the Bronx and Harlem in the 70s and 80s – of murdering and dismembering over 50 rivals. Police pursued him for more than 30 years but couldn’t bring him to justice even though he had been arrested 18 times. They claimed it was because Meldish had “terrified” witnesses so much, they wouldn’t come forward.
And even though Meldish was found dead in his car with a single shot to the back of the head, Scotten told the court that Caldwell “waited for him to step out of the car” before killing him. So, did Meldish just fall perfectly back into the car in a sitting position with one leg out and one leg in, or did the government get it all muddied up again like their original story ala Frank Pasqua III?
Scotten also wanted to make it clear that he felt Caldwell wasn’t a free-thinking or even a smart man, telling the Court that when Caldwell “became a part of this mafia lifestyle” he became “a victim” of that lifestyle by men “smarter than him” who “took advantage of him.” He then asked the Court to impose the maximum sentence available.
The hearing didn’t have to take as long as it did, either. Judge Seibel more than likely knew what she was going to hand down to Caldwell, but something needed to be put on the record. So, she decided to share every personal detail of Caldwell’s life even mentioning his run-ins with the law as far back as when he was 16-years-old. Run-ins which shouldn’t have even been relevant to the current charges considering Caldwell is now 62.
If that wasn’t enough, she also made disparaging remarks about his mother and father which were totally irrelevant, said that Caldwell has “no family, no children, no relationships,” added that “it’s a sad life that Mr. Caldwell has essentially accomplished,” and slapped him with life sentence after life sentence for the various counts.
It should be noted that afterward Goltzer informed the Court that Caldwell had a 100-year-old aunt who recently passed away with whom he had been close.
MATTHEW MADONNA
About a half-hour later, it was Madonna’s turn at the guillotine, and he didn’t fare any better.
For those not familiar with how video sentencing works, it’s like a Zoom conference where the defendant sits in a video-equipped room in whatever facility he’s at and his lawyers, the judge, and the prosecutors join in via their computer cameras. The family, public, and press listen in via audio and are muted so as not to disturb the proceedings.
Like Caldwell, the government dug deep into the well to make sure it painted the 84-year-old Madonna in the worst light possible. This included adding information from a psych report that was done on Madonna 50 years ago (literally back in the 1950s) to its presentencing report (PSR).
Madonna’s lawyer Andrew Patel requested deletion of three paragraphs that summarized those reports taken a half century ago. And despite Judge Seibel acknowleding that psych tests “have gotten more sophisticated since then,” she still wanted Patel to give her a good reason why she should “strike those paragraphs.”
While Patel gave reasonable explanations as to why 50-year old tests might not be valid and said there were more current reports available but that he wasn’t able to secure them before sentencing, Seibel made it clear that it didn’t matter anyway because “it won’t make any difference to me in sentencing.”
She eventually refused to delete the requested paragraphs but did decide to add a note to the PSR with the information Patel provided.
Patel also objected to two other items in a pretrial report that said the order to kill Meldish came from Madonna and that there was a recording of it, telling the Court that “no recording of such conversation” was put into evidence.
“In fact,” Patel said, “this never happened…The jury heard a great deal of gossip, but no one with first-hand knowledge heard anyone say that.”
Still, AUSA Alexandra Rothman insisted that while there was “no direct evidence,” Madonna was still responsible because of his alleged “position” that she claimed was shown in numerous recordings which made that particular “gossip” valid under the Pinkerton rule – a jury instruction whereby even if they believed Madonna didn’t have any involvement or knowledge about the murder, they could still find him guilty.
And even though Rothman admitted “it’s true, no witness testified” about Madonna’s direct involvement, Seibel believed that the government had proved the point through a preponderance of the evidence. She said that the case was based on “circumstantial evidence” – meaning that it consisted only of testimony from government witnesses like Robert Spinelli.
Spinelli, if you remember, became an informant because he “wanted to get back at Matty” and was given a great deal of taxpayer-funded money to buy and sell drugs and other illegal items (some of which he did on the side without the government’s knowledge.)
He was also sanctioned by the government to set people up, including trying to induce co-defendant Joseph Datello to murder Sean Richard – another government informant – and received many other benefits, which you can read about here, to help the government win its case.
And let’s not forget that Spinelli lied to a New Jersey court one month prior to testifying at this trial for a crime he committed while being a paid government informant. But in this instance, it appears to be a case of rules do not apply.
Yet, the government seemed to revel in discussing Madonna’s alleged prior life of crime, telling the Court it began when he was a mere 15-years old and that “whether or not he pulled the trigger, he is responsible for (Meldish’s) murder.”
But unlike Spinelli, who lied about being college-educated and having a job where he supervised over 20 people, Matthew Madonna actually obtained three degrees while incarcerated over the years, and according to Patel, also “taught math and poetry to other inmates.”
He added that Madonna also did “something unique” when “he asked me to thank my wife for allowing me to come see him.” Patel said that had never happened before in his “30 plus years of doing this.”
Before Seibel went down memory lane and passed down her sentence, Madonna, in a clear, booming voice tinged with a New York accent, cited his Benjamin Franklin quote and politely proclaimed his innocence.
It didn’t impress Seibel. She acknowledged Madonna’s health problems but that’s about the only concession she gave him.
Instead, she said while “there might be cases where a judge would be uncomfortable with imposing life without parole,” she wasn’t one of them.
She even went as far as questioning a 1954 murder conviction of Madonna’s that was apparently reduced to first degree murder and wondered outloud how that happened.
“It’s unclear,” Seibel said, “why it was reduced to first degree murder.”
It’s surprising she didn’t wonder, as Gangland News reported in its June 18, 2020 column, why the Government, specifically AUSA Scott Hartman, was allowed to deceive Madonna’s lawyers that they intended to bring his former associate-turned-informant Nicky Barnes to testify against him at trial – especially when Barnes had already been dead for seven years when Hartman made that revelation.
But as she did with the government’s other unethical behaviors throughout the five-year case, it wasn’t an issue she felt was necessary to bring up. After all, it was Madonna facing the guillotine, not the government. And as has been shown throughout history, the government is never brought to justice for their alleged sins like anyone who is reputed to be involved in organized crime.
Seibel said that Madonna has “very little to be proud about” and wanted to make sure she was “protecting the public” when considering what sentence to impose. It was, she said, a “spectacular” case, the kind of which “hasn’t been seen for a while.”
So, she imposed her sentence including mandatory life, and just for fun added some supervised release terms but concluded that “in all likelihood (Madonna)will never get out of jail.” But just in case, she felt the need to set “conditions.”
CHRISTOPHER LONDONIO
Perhaps the worst sentencing of the day happened to Christopher Londonio, who appeared via video shortly after Madonna.
There were objections by Londonio’s lawyer Louis Freeman over wording in his PSR related to extortion which Freeman believed was “inaccurate and misleading.” Specifically, that Londonio was “heavily and personally” involved in it and that it “would give the wrong impression to a reader in the future.”
In the government’s justification for using those words, Rothman read to the court a lengthy excerpt from a recording where Londonio used numerous expletives while allegedly threatening someone.
Judge Seibel said, “Mr. Londonio’s involvement in this is overwhelming” but decided the word “heavily” could be deleted.
There was also another objection to a paragraph that stated Londonio was “personally involved” in an alleged marjuana deal “that was only discussed, but no action taken.”
Rothman justified the inclusion citing recorded conversations between co-defendant Carmine Garcia and reputed Genovese soldier Salvatore Larca, photos, and another unrelated recording made by Spinelli but said that Londonio ‘failed to show up” for the alleged deal.
When Seibel asked whether evidence of the deal was presented at trial, Rothman admitted “no evidence was introduced at trial that the deal went through.”
In addition, Freeman objected to a paragraph regarding the sale of stolen cigarettes that involved Spinelli and Datello, but not Londonio, and asked for the drug count to be dismissed.
Seibel said, “Although I agree with Mr. Freeman” that the evidence was “not as strong,” she cited a gazillion different case laws to prove her point and denied Freeman’s requests.
Rothman made remarks on behalf of the government, which included the claim that Londonio “wrote a false affidavit for his underboss Crea,” a blatant lie as that was something only said by Seibel during the trial when both Crea and Londonio asked for severance in order for Londonio to testify and refute David Evangelista’s testimony.
Evangelista was the government’s only “witness” to Crea’s alleged involvement in the Meldish murder. And his testimony only consisted of his recollection of an alleged “confession” Londonio made to him while they were incarcerated together in the same cell block at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Evangelista was also the same witness who claimed Londonio was planning an elaborate made-for-tv movie-style escape that involved Londonio’s parents, a family priest, and his wife. The alleged escape was added to the indictment in 2017. However, he was acquitted of that charge presumably because the story Evangelista told to FBI Agent Ted Otto was, well, you can read about it here.
Rothman also claimed that Londonio “…called (Madonna) a father and Matthew Madonna called him a rat.” This is actually partially true. Madonna did allegedly call Londonio a rat.
But, as usual, there’s more to the story, including the government’s years-long attempt to ‘turn” Londonio through numerous methods which included “accidentally” putting him in the GEO facility (well-known throughout the prison system as a “rat jail”) and spreading rumors to the media early-on in the case that the government had informants at the ready. Rumors, by the way, that came out after Londonio and Caldwell were arrested in 2015.
Freeman asked for leniency, stating that Londonio had attempted to garner a plea deal (there was no global plea deal despite other reports stating there was) and to “break ranks, so to speak” and find an 8th amendment violation to give Londonio “hope for the future.”
Londono politely addressed the Court, telling Judge Seibel he had “Nothing to say, your Honor. Thank you.”
Seibel then went through the charges, making the expected comments at each one, including “If it weren’t for people like Mr. Londonio, the mob wouldn’t have reached the level it has.”
She even brought up the escape charge, saying that even though he was acquitted of that charge, she believed he was “at least planning to escape from prison.”
She chided his “sense of loyalty” saying it was “very misplaced,” and said that even if he “wanted to take a plea, he did have another option that he didn’t take.”
“I would fall off my chair if there was no cooperation deal offered,” she added.
Like every other defendant in the case, Judge Seibel showed no compassion for the 46-year-old Londonio.
“I just find it tragic that Mr Londonio is going to do a life sentence,” she said as she handed down her sentence, which, like the others, was over the minimum mandatory guidelines.
“But,” she said, “that is the corner you paint yourself into if you decide to be a wiseguy.”
Like Madonna, she lessened it slightly by adding supervised release guidelines, but added, “I don’t think Mr. Londonio will ever see supervised release.”
She then told Londonio she didn’t “envy ” him and suggested that while imprisoned he “could still do something useful by preventing people from joining that life.”
But in the end, the “fair and impartial” Judge Seibel made one final zinger.
“Your loyalty,” she said, “I hope that keeps you warm at night.”
We’ll be discussing the sentencings in more detail in the first episode of our Stop the Hammer Podcast which should be up later this evening. You can listen on YouTube and elsewhere.
Truth and Lies in the Michael Meldish Murder Sentencing Hearings - Round One
“Benjamin Franklin once said a lie stands on one leg, truth stands on two. Today, I stand on two legs. I am innocent. I had nothing to do with the tragic death of Mr. Meldish. I conspired with no one.”
Those were the words said to the Court by Matthew Madonna, who along with Christopher Londonio and Terrance Caldwell, faced their immediate fate on Monday for their alleged involvement in the 2013 murder of Michael Meldish.
The three men were sentenced to life imprisonment during separate hearings – eight months after being handed a guilty verdict in a trial where the “evidence” presented remains highly questionable.
Steven L. Crea, who was convicted as well during the month-long trial last November, is scheduled for sentencing next week because a video conferencing slot couldn’t be secured for Monday’s date.
The defendants had requested remote sentencing because of the Covid-19 crisis which Judge Seibel granted last week. Caldwell, the accused triggerman in the Meldish murder, chose to appear in person at the U.S. District Court in White Plains, NY and was the first to be handed his expected fate.
Arriving at the nearly empty courthouse dressed in his prison-issued orange jumpsuit, shackled, and escorted by three U.S. Marshals, Caldwell seemed relaxed. After the marshals removed his cuffs, he chatted with his lawyer, George Goltzer, and the two bumped fists – an obvious sign of a strong and respectful relationship formed between Caldwell and his court-appointed counsel. In fact, when Caldwell addressed the Court later, the only thing he said was, “I want to thank my lawyer for representing me. That’s about it.”
And that was about all that happened in terms of pleasantries during the hour-long proceeding. As expected, there was the victim speech given by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagan Scotten, who said that even though Meldish “may have been a criminal…he had a son” who will never see his father again.
But let’s put “may have been a criminal” into a little bit of perspective.
Law enforcement described Meldish as a “stone-cold killer,” who was suspected, as a leader of the notorious Purple Gang – a criminal group that controlled the drug trade in the Bronx and Harlem in the 70s and 80s – of murdering and dismembering over 50 rivals. Police pursued him for more than 30 years but couldn’t bring him to justice even though he had been arrested 18 times. They claimed it was because Meldish had “terrified” witnesses so much, they wouldn’t come forward.
And even though Meldish was found dead in his car with a single shot to the back of the head, Scotten told the court that Caldwell “waited for him to step out of the car” before killing him. So, did Meldish just fall perfectly back into the car in a sitting position with one leg out and one leg in, or did the government get it all muddied up again like their original story ala Frank Pasqua III?
Scotten also wanted to make it clear that he felt Caldwell wasn’t a free-thinking or even a smart man, telling the Court that when Caldwell “became a part of this mafia lifestyle” he became “a victim” of that lifestyle by men “smarter than him” who “took advantage of him.” He then asked the Court to impose the maximum sentence available.
The hearing didn’t have to take as long as it did, either. Judge Seibel more than likely knew what she was going to hand down to Caldwell, but something needed to be put on the record. So, she decided to share every personal detail of Caldwell’s life even mentioning his run-ins with the law as far back as when he was 16-years-old. Run-ins which shouldn’t have even been relevant to the current charges considering Caldwell is now 62.
If that wasn’t enough, she also made disparaging remarks about his mother and father which were totally irrelevant, said that Caldwell has “no family, no children, no relationships,” added that “it’s a sad life that Mr. Caldwell has essentially accomplished,” and slapped him with life sentence after life sentence for the various counts.
It should be noted that afterward Goltzer informed the Court that Caldwell had a 100-year-old aunt who recently passed away with whom he had been close.
MATTHEW MADONNA
About a half-hour later, it was Madonna’s turn at the guillotine, and he didn’t fare any better.
For those not familiar with how video sentencing works, it’s like a Zoom conference where the defendant sits in a video-equipped room in whatever facility he’s at and his lawyers, the judge, and the prosecutors join in via their computer cameras. The family, public, and press listen in via audio and are muted so as not to disturb the proceedings.
Like Caldwell, the government dug deep into the well to make sure it painted the 84-year-old Madonna in the worst light possible. This included adding information from a psych report that was done on Madonna 50 years ago (literally back in the 1950s) to its presentencing report (PSR).
Madonna’s lawyer Andrew Patel requested deletion of three paragraphs that summarized those reports taken a half century ago. And despite Judge Seibel acknowleding that psych tests “have gotten more sophisticated since then,” she still wanted Patel to give her a good reason why she should “strike those paragraphs.”
While Patel gave reasonable explanations as to why 50-year old tests might not be valid and said there were more current reports available but that he wasn’t able to secure them before sentencing, Seibel made it clear that it didn’t matter anyway because “it won’t make any difference to me in sentencing.”
She eventually refused to delete the requested paragraphs but did decide to add a note to the PSR with the information Patel provided.
Patel also objected to two other items in a pretrial report that said the order to kill Meldish came from Madonna and that there was a recording of it, telling the Court that “no recording of such conversation” was put into evidence.
“In fact,” Patel said, “this never happened…The jury heard a great deal of gossip, but no one with first-hand knowledge heard anyone say that.”
Still, AUSA Alexandra Rothman insisted that while there was “no direct evidence,” Madonna was still responsible because of his alleged “position” that she claimed was shown in numerous recordings which made that particular “gossip” valid under the Pinkerton rule – a jury instruction whereby even if they believed Madonna didn’t have any involvement or knowledge about the murder, they could still find him guilty.
And even though Rothman admitted “it’s true, no witness testified” about Madonna’s direct involvement, Seibel believed that the government had proved the point through a preponderance of the evidence. She said that the case was based on “circumstantial evidence” – meaning that it consisted only of testimony from government witnesses like Robert Spinelli.
Spinelli, if you remember, became an informant because he “wanted to get back at Matty” and was given a great deal of taxpayer-funded money to buy and sell drugs and other illegal items (some of which he did on the side without the government’s knowledge.)
He was also sanctioned by the government to set people up, including trying to induce co-defendant Joseph Datello to murder Sean Richard – another government informant – and received many other benefits, which you can read about here, to help the government win its case.
And let’s not forget that Spinelli lied to a New Jersey court one month prior to testifying at this trial for a crime he committed while being a paid government informant. But in this instance, it appears to be a case of rules do not apply.
Yet, the government seemed to revel in discussing Madonna’s alleged prior life of crime, telling the Court it began when he was a mere 15-years old and that “whether or not he pulled the trigger, he is responsible for (Meldish’s) murder.”
But unlike Spinelli, who lied about being college-educated and having a job where he supervised over 20 people, Matthew Madonna actually obtained three degrees while incarcerated over the years, and according to Patel, also “taught math and poetry to other inmates.”
He added that Madonna also did “something unique” when “he asked me to thank my wife for allowing me to come see him.” Patel said that had never happened before in his “30 plus years of doing this.”
Before Seibel went down memory lane and passed down her sentence, Madonna, in a clear, booming voice tinged with a New York accent, cited his Benjamin Franklin quote and politely proclaimed his innocence.
It didn’t impress Seibel. She acknowledged Madonna’s health problems but that’s about the only concession she gave him.
Instead, she said while “there might be cases where a judge would be uncomfortable with imposing life without parole,” she wasn’t one of them.
She even went as far as questioning a 1954 murder conviction of Madonna’s that was apparently reduced to first degree murder and wondered outloud how that happened.
“It’s unclear,” Seibel said, “why it was reduced to first degree murder.”
It’s surprising she didn’t wonder, as Gangland News reported in its June 18, 2020 column, why the Government, specifically AUSA Scott Hartman, was allowed to deceive Madonna’s lawyers that they intended to bring his former associate-turned-informant Nicky Barnes to testify against him at trial – especially when Barnes had already been dead for seven years when Hartman made that revelation.
But as she did with the government’s other unethical behaviors throughout the five-year case, it wasn’t an issue she felt was necessary to bring up. After all, it was Madonna facing the guillotine, not the government. And as has been shown throughout history, the government is never brought to justice for their alleged sins like anyone who is reputed to be involved in organized crime.
Seibel said that Madonna has “very little to be proud about” and wanted to make sure she was “protecting the public” when considering what sentence to impose. It was, she said, a “spectacular” case, the kind of which “hasn’t been seen for a while.”
So, she imposed her sentence including mandatory life, and just for fun added some supervised release terms but concluded that “in all likelihood (Madonna)will never get out of jail.” But just in case, she felt the need to set “conditions.”
CHRISTOPHER LONDONIO
Perhaps the worst sentencing of the day happened to Christopher Londonio, who appeared via video shortly after Madonna.
There were objections by Londonio’s lawyer Louis Freeman over wording in his PSR related to extortion which Freeman believed was “inaccurate and misleading.” Specifically, that Londonio was “heavily and personally” involved in it and that it “would give the wrong impression to a reader in the future.”
In the government’s justification for using those words, Rothman read to the court a lengthy excerpt from a recording where Londonio used numerous expletives while allegedly threatening someone.
Judge Seibel said, “Mr. Londonio’s involvement in this is overwhelming” but decided the word “heavily” could be deleted.
There was also another objection to a paragraph that stated Londonio was “personally involved” in an alleged marjuana deal “that was only discussed, but no action taken.”
Rothman justified the inclusion citing recorded conversations between co-defendant Carmine Garcia and reputed Genovese soldier Salvatore Larca, photos, and another unrelated recording made by Spinelli but said that Londonio ‘failed to show up” for the alleged deal.
When Seibel asked whether evidence of the deal was presented at trial, Rothman admitted “no evidence was introduced at trial that the deal went through.”
In addition, Freeman objected to a paragraph regarding the sale of stolen cigarettes that involved Spinelli and Datello, but not Londonio, and asked for the drug count to be dismissed.
Seibel said, “Although I agree with Mr. Freeman” that the evidence was “not as strong,” she cited a gazillion different case laws to prove her point and denied Freeman’s requests.
Rothman made remarks on behalf of the government, which included the claim that Londonio “wrote a false affidavit for his underboss Crea,” a blatant lie as that was something only said by Seibel during the trial when both Crea and Londonio asked for severance in order for Londonio to testify and refute David Evangelista’s testimony.
Evangelista was the government’s only “witness” to Crea’s alleged involvement in the Meldish murder. And his testimony only consisted of his recollection of an alleged “confession” Londonio made to him while they were incarcerated together in the same cell block at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Evangelista was also the same witness who claimed Londonio was planning an elaborate made-for-tv movie-style escape that involved Londonio’s parents, a family priest, and his wife. The alleged escape was added to the indictment in 2017. However, he was acquitted of that charge presumably because the story Evangelista told to FBI Agent Ted Otto was, well, you can read about it here.
Rothman also claimed that Londonio “…called (Madonna) a father and Matthew Madonna called him a rat.” This is actually partially true. Madonna did allegedly call Londonio a rat.
But, as usual, there’s more to the story, including the government’s years-long attempt to ‘turn” Londonio through numerous methods which included “accidentally” putting him in the GEO facility (well-known throughout the prison system as a “rat jail”) and spreading rumors to the media early-on in the case that the government had informants at the ready. Rumors, by the way, that came out after Londonio and Caldwell were arrested in 2015.
Freeman asked for leniency, stating that Londonio had attempted to garner a plea deal (there was no global plea deal despite other reports stating there was) and to “break ranks, so to speak” and find an 8th amendment violation to give Londonio “hope for the future.”
Londono politely addressed the Court, telling Judge Seibel he had “Nothing to say, your Honor. Thank you.”
Seibel then went through the charges, making the expected comments at each one, including “If it weren’t for people like Mr. Londonio, the mob wouldn’t have reached the level it has.”
She even brought up the escape charge, saying that even though he was acquitted of that charge, she believed he was “at least planning to escape from prison.”
She chided his “sense of loyalty” saying it was “very misplaced,” and said that even if he “wanted to take a plea, he did have another option that he didn’t take.”
“I would fall off my chair if there was no cooperation deal offered,” she added.
Like every other defendant in the case, Judge Seibel showed no compassion for the 46-year-old Londonio.
“I just find it tragic that Mr Londonio is going to do a life sentence,” she said as she handed down her sentence, which, like the others, was over the minimum mandatory guidelines.
“But,” she said, “that is the corner you paint yourself into if you decide to be a wiseguy.”
Like Madonna, she lessened it slightly by adding supervised release guidelines, but added, “I don’t think Mr. Londonio will ever see supervised release.”
She then told Londonio she didn’t “envy ” him and suggested that while imprisoned he “could still do something useful by preventing people from joining that life.”
But in the end, the “fair and impartial” Judge Seibel made one final zinger.
“Your loyalty,” she said, “I hope that keeps you warm at night.”
We’ll be discussing the sentencings in more detail in the first episode of our Stop the Hammer Podcast which should be up later this evening. You can listen on YouTube and elsewhere.