Gangland News 12/10/20

[mafiastudent]

Philly Mob Conducted Induction Ceremony For An Unwanted Audience

Gang Land Exclusive!Joseph MerlinoWho knew? Back in 2015, while Philadelphia mob boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino was dealing with mob turncoat John (J.R) Rubeo in Florida and New York and allegedly making hundreds of thousands of dollars in a lucrative pain cream insurance fraud scheme, his acting boss was presiding over not-so-secret induction ceremonies in the City of Brotherly Love.

That's what happened on October 15, 2015, according to an indictment filed by the feds in Philadelphia a few days before Thanksgiving against Merlino's reputed underboss. Also charged are an erstwhile rising star in the family, and 13 other members and associates — hit with racketeering charges of gambling, loansharking, extortion and drug trafficking.

By Gang Land's count, this is the fourth time that law enforcement has managed to record what is supposed to be the most secret rite of the secret society. And it's the second Philadelphia initiation rite to be taped. (The first one was back in 1990, so give local wiseguys some credit for keeping things tight for at least 25 years.)

Anthony PersianoThe sources say that the 2015 induction ceremony was recorded by Anthony Persiano, a New Jersey based mobster whose tape recordings in 2017 led to drug convictions in the Garden State of several mobsters who are charged in the Philadelphia case, including Joseph (Joey Electric) Servidio and Carl Chianese.

But what's most amazing about the case is that no one seems to have been terribly concerned about keeping the induction ceremony secret. Not only was it tape recorded by a family defector, but sources say there was a good sized celebratory dinner that night at a classy, aptly named eatery, the Kitchen Consigliere Café, in Collingswood, NJ.

Sources say about 10 wiseguys, who included acting boss Michael (Mikey Lance) Lancellotti, who conducted the ceremony, and underboss Steven (Handsome Stevie) Mazzone, a defendant in the case, dined at the restaurant that is owned and operated by a long time Merlino pal, Angelo Lutz.

Michael LancellottiThe party dined under the watchful eyes of Lutz, along with John Gotti, Lucky Luciano and actors Robert DeNiro, James Galdolfini and Edward G. Robinson, whose portraits are all on a large mural that overlooks the dining room.

Lutz, who owns up to being a good friend of Merlino, Lancellotti, and Mazzone, was kind enough to come to the phone when Gang Land called. He said he has no idea if some of his old friends had a small party at his place back then. Noting that Gang Land was "asking me about something that happened five years ago, if it did happen," Lutz stated that if they did eat at his place that night, he knows he "was not at the dinner table."

The loquacious restaurateur, who was known as Fat Angelo for good reason in the 1990s when he was a bookmaker, was a Merlino codefendant in their racketeering trial back in 2001. Lutz was convicted of bookmaking and extortion by a Philadelphia jury that ignored his testimony in his own defense: "I'm a cook, not a crook."

Following his release from prison a dozen years ago, Lutz opened the restaurant, and today, he is what he claimed to be back then: A cook.

Marnie Hall-Angelo LutzIf you check out the website, you can catch Lutz and co-host Marnie Hall cook up some of the eatery's classic recipes — including Pasta Franzese, a dish that Lutz named for the legendary Colombo wiseguy, John (Sonny) Franzese. You can also hear Lutz tell Hall about some dealings that they had while they were housed together at the federal prison in Milan, Michigan.

"Some of the people you mentioned eat at my restaurant," said Lutz. "The whole persona about the restaurant is built on my past, but my past is my past, it's not what I do now. I never ran from my codefendants since I came home from prison. We remain friends. They eat in my restaurant, and they get a check. And like everybody else they pay their bill."

"Everybody eats in my restaurant," continued Lutz. "The prosecutor who put me in jail eats in my restaurant. I have probation officers who eat in my restaurant. AUSAs, FBI agents, some agents who worked in my case, eat in my restaurant."

Steven MazzoneNot quite everybody though. "You wanna know who can't eat in my restaurant?" Lutz shouted. "Sammy The Bull can't! No rats and liars can eat in my restaurant. I've thrown a couple of them out. I said you gotta be kidding, you got to leave. You're not welcome here. I know what it is to have somebody sit on the stand and make up stories about you."

"Mike (Lancellotti) eats in the restaurant," said Lutz. "He's been here with his wife. I can't remember the last time I saw him — he's had some battles with his health — but Mike's a friend, and he's eaten at the restaurant."

So does Mazzone, who was also a codefendant of Lutz and Merlino in the 2001 trial. "Steve's a friend of mine, a good friend of mine. He's a patron of mine in the restaurant. And he's been a continued friend of mine."

Joseph LicataLongtime reputed wiseguy, John (Johnny Chang) Ciancaglini, also dines at the restaurant, although Lutz said somewhat wistfully that he can't recall seeing him at the Kitchen Consigliere Café in quite a while.

Sources say that during the ceremony, Mikey Lance introduced Joseph (Scoops) Licata as the crime family's consigliere to the newly inducted wiseguys, who included Salvatore (Sonny) Mazzone, the underboss's younger brother, who was also hit with racketeering charges.

Following the October 2015 induction, Steven Mazzone was heard voicing the family's plan to make a big move into Atlantic City, according to detention memos that the feds used to detain him and capo Dominic (Baby Dom) Grande as dangers to the community.

"Got to get a hold back on Atlantic City, buddy! That's what I want," Mazzone stated at one point.

Later, he emphasized the family's need to take back their old rackets. "I don’t want nobody just glomming our fucking shit. You know what I mean? You understand what I'm saying? We're gangsters. I mean, you know, I'm not going to let no sucker take that."

Dominic GrandeGrande was heard instructing another mobster to make sure to "plant the flag" of the Philadelphia bourgata "and regain control of bookmakers and loansharks" in the Atlantic City area, according to court filings by prosecutors Jonathan Ortiz and Alexander Gottfried.

Merlino, who was released from prison earlier this year after completing a two year stretch for an illegal gambling count that was part of the huge 46 defendant Manhattan case that grew out of an FBI sting at the Bronx eatery owned by Genovese capo Pasquale (Patsy) Parrello, is not charged in the current indictment.

Neither is Lancellotti, who accompanied Skinny Joey to a December 2014 Christmas party at Pasquale's Rigoletto and was introduced to Parello and Genovese capo Eugene (Rooster) Onofrio as the acting boss of the Philadelphia family.

Merlino's New York attorney, John Meringolo, teamed up with Philadelphia lawyer Louis Busico this week to represent Steve Mazzone. Meringolo told Gang Land yesterday that Mazzone is not a danger to anyone and the attorney plans to push for his release on bail while he fights the case.

Talkative Genovese Turncoat Faces Up To Five Years Behind Bars

John RubeoMob informant John (J.R.) Rubeo has snitched himself out. Motor mouth Rubeo now faces a return to prison for his very public violation of supervised release (VOSR) thanks to his own boasts on a podcast with two ex-cons that he made more cash committing crimes while working for the feds than he did as a gangster.

Even after Rubeo's boasts were aired, the feds offered little more than shrugs and excuses for their prized cooperating witness. It took an outraged federal judge to call him on it and act quickly to exact punishment.

Rubeo, 45, faces a recommended sentence between three to nine months — and he could get up to five years. That's thanks to Manhattan Federal Court Judge Richard Sullivan who pushed the feds to do their duty after he read that Rubeo appeared on the Johnny And Gene Show with former Gambino associate John Alite and ex-Bonanno gangster Gene Borrello in September.

As prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office quietly stood by, Rubeo said he had associated with the convicted government witnesses before, during and after the podcast in which he described his undercover work for the feds this way: "I was committing more crimes when I was working for them than when I was on the street, and they were paying me $15,000 a month."

Judge Richard SullivanIn a remote proceeding last week, Rubeo admitted having a total of eight discussions with Alite and Borrello in connection with the podcast. He also admitted lying to probation officials when they finally questioned him about the podcast when they were ordered to investigate his dealings with the duo — more than a month after they learned about them.

During the session, Sullivan, who noted he "had a lot of leeway" in deciding an appropriate sentence, told Rubeo he was "troubled" by information he'd recently received indicating that Rubeo, using the "Johnny Baseball" handle, was a professional gambler with plenty of cash even though he hadn't paid the mandatory $600 "special assessment" fee related to his conviction.

The info, including screenshots and links of Rubeo in online postings, was part of a mailing to the judge by Lisa Babick, a freelance writer from Chicago. Babick has followed Rubeo's problems in Gang Land and in the Daily News, where Sullivan first read that Rubeo had violated his post prison bar against meeting with ex-cons after receiving a sweet "time served" sentence.

I got permission from probation"There's a screen shot of you," Sullivan said, "saying 'I got permission from probation to go on the show and reported it before I went on.' This is a communication that you had after you went on the show" which states that "you had permission from probation and you didn't. You admitted that to be false."

Another screen shot "seems to have you boasting about your financial wherewithal," the judge continued, noting that Rubeo was telling a detractor named Doc Holidae that he had a "3500 square foot" home "with one Mercedes and one Range Rover in the driveway."

"And on the next page," the judge continued, "you seem to be offering to wager $100,000 to $100 about whether or not you are using drugs. What's interesting to me is: I didn't know that you had $100,000. I don't think you paid the forfeiture in this case."

At that point, Rubeo was somehow conveniently disconnected from the electronic proceeding "Are you still there?" asked the judge. His inquiry was met by silence for almost a minute, until attorney Louis Fasulo stated he would email and call his client.

About five minutes later, Rubeo returned to the proceeding and began berating a second letter writer to the judge, until Sullivan agreed with Fasulo's suggestion that he respond in writing to that mailing. Then the judge picked up where he had left off in talking about Babick's letter.

Louis Fasulo"One thing I was interested in about the submission from Ms. Babick was a post purportedly from Mr. Rubeo in which he boasts about his Mercedes and his Range Rover and the size of his home, and that he was willing to bet $100,000 on things," said Sullivan. "That strikes me as puzzling because at the time of the violation, Mr. Rubeo hadn't yet paid his $600 special assessment and hadn't made any payments towards his $80,000 forfeiture."

Rubeo was only charged with VOSR "specifications" related to his associations Alite and Borrello, but at his sentencing, Sullivan, who has clearly established that he means what he says in court, stressed that Rubeo had "financial" obligations to deal with during his three years of post-prison supervised release.

"You're going to have a big nut on you in terms of forfeiture," Sullivan said in June of 2018. "You're going to have to pay that down little by little. So you have to let probation know what you're making, what you're paying, all your expenses, all of that. You have an obligation to do that, all right?"

It's likely that during the upcoming holiday season Rubeo will figure out a way to satisfy — or at least begin addressing — the financial obligation that Judge Sullivan first told him about 30 months ago. Now that he's received a pointed reminder, he will presumably be on his best behavior between now and when he faces the music with Judge Sullivan again on January 19.

Judge Goes Missing In The Government Witness From Hell Case

Judge Nelson RomanIf John Rubeo's government work was far from perfect — and it was — then Luchese associate Frank Pasqua III was the government witness from hell. But unlike the judge who stepped up to the plate in Rubeo's case, White Plains Federal Judge Nelson Roman went missing after learning months ago that Pasqua had thumbed his nose at the Court by associating with convicted felons.

Unlike Rubeo's podcast boasts, Pasqua's boasts about his criminal activities on the same podcast about organized crime, the Johnny And Gene Show, have not yet been aired.

Prosecutors were so troubled by Pasqua's actions that they opted not to use him as a trial witness. Most notoriously, Pasqua wrongly named his mobster father as the killer of former Purple Gang leader Michael Meldish. The decision to dump him came after he was nabbed for drug dealing last year for the second time since he cooperated. Despite that performance, Judge Roman sentenced him to "time served" in March and he was released from prison.

As Gang Land reported in July, Pasqua, who met Borrello when they were housed at the same state prison in 2008, videotaped a Johnny And Gene Show podcast during which they boasted of their violent exploits behind bars and again after they were released in 2011 when they took part in a failed murder plot to whack a Bronx-based bookmaker.

Frank Pasqua IIIIf Judge Roman didn't hear about Pasqua's appearance on the podcast from the government or the defense at the time, he certainly learned about it in early September, a few weeks before Judge Sullivan read about Rubeo's session with the convicted felons, in Gang Land's third court filing in our pro se motion to unseal the Pasqua case.

Sources say that during the podcast, Pasqua implicates himself and his father in the plot to kill Meldish. But he doesn't give much detail about the murder plot or what prosecutors claimed was an "honest mistake" by the drug addled gangster when he fingered his father as the gunman in the 2013 killing of Meldish.

"Pasqua said that they never would have killed him if his brother Joey was home," said one knowledgeable source, referring to Michael's younger brother Joseph, a former Purple Gang member who was convicted in 2011 of a 1999 barroom killing and is serving 25 years-to-life at the Eastern Correctional Facility in Napanoch.

Gene BorrelloAlite, who is the driving force of the podcast, told Gang Land there were "several reasons" why he delayed airing Pasqua's podcast for so many months, but he declined to go into them, stating only that he plans to air it next week.

He added that "like Rubeo, Pasqua told me he had permission to appear on the show. I ask all my guests whether they have permission. I hope he does," he said. "I can't understand why Rubeo told me that Probation had okayed it, if they didn't. It makes no sense to me."

Even though prosecutor Hagan Scotten and Pasqua lawyer Avraham Moskowitz each conceded in their August filings that most of the court file should be made public, Judge Roman, for reasons that neither he nor his law clerks have explained, has not acted. Much of Pasqua's case — including the judgement that details his supervised release restrictions — is still under seal.

But sources say that like Rubeo, and most other defendants convicted in mob cases, Pasqua could be hit with a violation of his post-prison supervised release once the podcast is aired. But that's not a guarantee.

Prosecutor Scotten, attorney Moskowitz, as well as Judge Roman, each declined to answer any questions about the case.

On March 13, after he received his sweet sentence of time served, Pasqua, 41, was released from prison. He served 33 months behind bars for a slew of crimes, including heroin dealing in Mississippi and in prison in New York, as well as racketeering and murder conspiracy charges in the Meldish slaying.

[Chopper]

So Joe Licata is the new consigliere after all? Seems Pennisi was right on JL not being Ligambi.

Thanks for posting.

[JohnnyS]

Thanks for posting.

[chin_gigante]

I've emailed Capeci about the Licata thing seeking clarification. I'll let the board know if he replies.

I'm still of the opinion that Ligambi has to be the JL in the indictment.

[dack2001]

Capeci has never really been Philly accurate. Bet he is just piggybacking off of or parroting Pennisi's mistake. Don't believe he would want it or the guys downtown would want him in that position. Scoops is in Nicky Skins transcript saying the big mistake was when Tony Bananas became consigliere. Besides, everybody loves Joe Ligambi.

[TommyGambino]

Pretty sure Capeci is the first to report Lance conducted the ceremony?

[TwoPiece]

lisa babick is mafiastudent right? shout out to her for getting a mention this week

[Tonyd621]

I've emailed Capeci about the Licata thing seeking clarification. I'll let the board know if he replies.

I'm still of the opinion that Ligambi has to be the JL in the indictment.

I don't know how he can not mention Coppola being released.. I mean wtf...thats the type shit we want to hear... you should ask him that. Why he basically copy and pasted one article from mobtalksitdown.com?

[slimshady_007]

Good gangland this week. Now we finally know the full Philly administration. Joey m- boss, Mikey Lance- acting boss, Steve M- underboss, Joe Scoops- consigliere. Wonder who will fill in as acting underboss now that Mazzone is off the streets.

[Chopper]

lisa babick is mafiastudent right? shout out to her for getting a mention this week

That was you mafiastudent? Good stuff.

[dack2001]

You guys can do whatever you want with your media charts, but Capeci is very likely off-base here in regards to Licata. Joey gets off his 4 month jail term in latter 2015, free of supervised release for first time since late 90's. He's repeatedly out in the company of George Borgesi, Joe Ligambi and oftentimes Stevie Mazzone (and 30 guys each night hovering around). Philadelphia, Boca, Jersey Shore, it's Joe Ligambi who is with Joey. Joe Scoops is in Newark, supervising Joey Servidio but he's consigliere? I won't believe it unless its somewhere on a tape with some guy whose in the know saying so.

[johnny_scootch]

You have Capeci and Pennisi both saying it’s Scoops, that’s hard to ignore imo. If it is true Lou Fazzini is probably the captain up in Newark now.

[jmack]

You guys can do whatever you want with your media charts, but Capeci is very likely off-base here in regards to Licata. Joey gets off his 4 month jail term in latter 2015, free of supervised release for first time since late 90's. He's repeatedly out in the company of George Borgesi, Joe Ligambi and oftentimes Stevie Mazzone (and 30 guys each night hovering around). Philadelphia, Boca, Jersey Shore, it's Joe Ligambi who is with Joey. Joe Scoops is in Newark, supervising Joey Servidio but he's consigliere? I won't believe it unless its somewhere on a tape with some guy whose in the know saying so.

I hear you and I agree. My guess is they got it on tape as part of the induction ceremony. We assumed that Lance was the one conducting it, but this is the first time I can recall it being verified.

[chin_gigante]

What's important to take into account is that whenever Anastasia and Schratwieser have discussed this indictment they have consistently referred to Licata as a captain and Ligambi as the JL consigliere. Schratwieser put up an article yesterday calling Licata a captain.

Also, in February 2015, Anastasia reported that Ligambi had stepped down to consigliere. Then there's also the Stefanelli transcripts that have been mentioned here where Licata says he's content being a captain and that the administration should stay in Philadelphia.

[Tonyd621]

I don't see how Licata would even get the consigliere role. Pennisi while credible can be ambigious when discussing things; not to mention on this uninspiring, mediocre at best podcast. Then Capeci probably piggybacking off of that. That philly group is so close. I dnt see how Licata gets the role he stated he didn't want