Gangland 4/14/2022

[Dr031718]

Judge Tells Feds: Put Up Or Shut Up — Name The Agent Who Fears Vengeance If A Geezer Gangster Gets Compassion After 34 Years Behind Bars

Gang Land Exclusive!Mark ReiterSomewhere out there is a former federal agent who lives in fear that a wheel-chair bound 74-year-old Gambino gangster who has been in prison for more than 30 years will seek revenge on him if he's ever released.

At least, that's one of the rationales offered in court by federal prosecutors as to why Mark Reiter, a major heroin trafficker who was convicted in 1988 of "kingpin" drug counts along with the murders of three potential witnesses, should be denied a compassionate release from prison.

Now, a federal judge in Manhattan has told prosecutors to Put Up or Shut Up. Judge Vernon Broderick has ordered the government to identify the agent — along with any others who took part in Reiter's prosecution who believe that the former drug dealer will "attempt to exact retribution" if released.

Judge Vernon BroderickThe judge issued his blunt order to Manhattan federal prosecutors last week. Broderick wants to know the agent's role in the case and the "agent's specific concerns" about "whom and how" Reiter "might harm them" if he's released. Broderick also wants to know "any and all bases for the agent's concerns," as well as "any and all other factual information that would be helpful to the Court in understanding the agent's concerns."

The unnamed "agent" most likely is an FBI agent, since many were involved in the case, but in the court filings is identified only as an "agent."

Broderick, a former federal prosecutor who headed the U.S. Attorney's Violent Gangs Unit for four years, stated he wants the info because he "take(s) any possibility of violence against members of law enforcement as a serious issue that should be addressed" before he decides "the pending motion."

Harlan ProtassReiter was a trim, good looking guy back in the day, as you can see in this classic prison photo of him on vocals in a gangster quartet that featured the late Colombo crime family boss Carmine (Junior) Persico on the drums at the Lompoc Federal Prison in 1990.

Today, Reiter is described by his lawyers as obese, with high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. He has been using a wheelchair since March 2021 due to severe sciatica and arthritis, his lawyer wrote in seeking a compassionate release from prison last year. At the time, lawyer Harlan Protass claimed that his medical issues made Reiter a "high risk" candidate "for a serious COVID-19 infection" that could cause his death.

The judge's unusual order stems from two sentences in an 11-page government filing that objected to Reiter's release.

Prosecutor Timothy Capozzi stated he "was contacted by an agent" in Reiter's case "who expressed serious concern about the possibility of retribution against law enforcement and those who aided law enforcement" if he were released from prison. "Such concerns are understandable," the prosecutor added, "given the defendant's offense conduct, which included ordering multiple murders, including the murder of a cooperator."

Reiter with Carmine Persico bandAttorney Protass ripped the claims as a "baseless assertion" by an "unknown law enforcement source" whose "purported concerns" were so "vague and ambiguous" that "the government should be admonished" for lodging the "unsubstantiated and inflammatory" claim without any specific information.

"We are deeply troubled by the government 'hiding the ball' on something as important as a human being's freedom," wrote Protass, using a phrase that is often used in legal jargon to imply that the government prosecutor had knowingly withheld evidence that he knew would hurt his case.

"We respectfully submit that the government should never have reported on its purported law enforcement source without providing detail and/or discovery concerning same (or even just the name of its law enforcement source)," Protass wrote.

"If the government had any information beyond its purely speculative report from its unidentified agent," Protass argued, "it surely would have detailed (it) in its opposition to Mr. Reiter's sentence reduction motion."

Leroy BarnesCiting the "speculative nature" of the agent's allegations, Protass argued that "it would be wholly inappropriate for this Court to rely" on the "unsubstantiated and inflammatory assertion" by the "government's unknown law enforcement source" to decide Reiter's compassionate release motion. The lawyer asked the judge to conduct an evidentiary hearing on the issue.

Broderick ruled that it was "premature" to schedule an evidentiary hearing. Instead, the judge ordered the government to submit an "affidavit from (Capozzi) and/or the law enforcement agent" by next week (April 21) that addresses the judge's concerns, noting he "would benefit from (the) additional information."

If Capozzi declines "to provide this additional information," Broderick wrote, he will only "consider the Government's general argument about (the) risk of recidivism (by Reiter) given the nature of his underlying conduct" in making his decision.

Reiter, a longtime pal of John Gotti and a former drug partner of the late legendary Harlem heroin merchant Leroy (Nicky) Barnes, is serving two life sentences plus 60 years for his murder and drug dealing convictions.

Reiter's victims included the ex-girlfriend of Barnes who fingered Reiter for the feds. Barnes and several other cooperating witnesses who were involved in Reiter's seven year-long reign as the city's main supplier of heroin in the 1980s, all testified against him at trial.

Gene GottiReiter was found guilty of ordering three murders of potential government witnesses, including the slayings of Barnes's ex-girlfriend Beverly (Shameca) Ash in 1982 and her brother Steven in 1983, which the gangster's sentencing judge described as "planned out, cold-blooded" killings that were designed to protect his "massive heroin operation."

His drug ring flourished for four more years, even after he was indicted in 1983 in a major Gambino family drug case with Gene Gotti and many other mobsters and associates. Reiter was arrested in November of 1987 and jailed without bail on the racketeering, murder and kingpin drug charges. He was convicted the following year.

In 2016, Broderick summarily rejected Reiter's claim that he was wrongly convicted. But last year, after he filed two pro se compassionate release motions under the First Step Act of 2018, the judge assigned Protass, a noted appeals lawyer, to represent Reiter, stating he wanted "more information concerning Reiter's post-conviction rehabilitation" before deciding the motion.

Mark Reiter & FamilyCapozzi had cited the agent's fears of retribution by Reiter in response to a 55-page filing by Protass that included letters from five Bureau of Prisons employees who supported his release. They included a prison guard for 29 years who penned his first pro-inmate letter for Reiter, and another who stated her life "was blessed to have crossed paths with Mark," who was a member of the BOP's "Suicide Watch Companion Team."

In his reply, Protass asked Broderick to ignore "the speculative report of a single unknown law enforcement officer who knows nothing of Mr. Reiter today." He urged the judge to "rely upon" the publicly stated "views of law enforcement" officials he had submitted, "the words and opinions of the BOP officials and staff who know Mr. Reiter today, and have known Mr. Reiter over the course of his 34 years in prison."

Protass pointed out that Barnes, and three other witnesses who testified against him "are all deceased," and beyond the reach of any revenge Reiter might try to exact against them, even if he had wanted to. Reiter, Protass argued, deserves release due to his "decades of rehabilitative efforts," along with his desire, which has been confirmed by several jailers, "to spend his remaining years with his family."

"Finally," the lawyer wrote,"Mr. Reiter would be foolish to visit 'revenge' on anyone, particularly given his knowledge — should this Court reduce his life sentence to time-served — that he has been given a 'second chance' at life. He knows better than most the consequences of squandering such a 'second chance.'"

Indicted Grandson Of Mafia Boss Fingers Cohorts In $100 Million Lottery Winners Ripoff

Frangesco RussoHe's the grandson of a Mafia boss, and the FBI tape-recorded him boasting of his Cosa Nostra lineage, telling an extortion victim that his mobster father had died in prison while serving a life sentence for murder. But Frangesco (Frankie) Russo has now chosen a very different lifestyle: He is cooperating against his alleged cohorts in a massive $100 million ripoff of three lottery winners, Gang Land has learned.

Since he was charged in the huge lottery winners swindle in August of 2020, Russo, the grandson of Colombo boss Andrew (Mush) Russo, has been locked up as a danger to the community. Sources say Frankie Russo has agreed to testify for the government at the upcoming trial of Genovese wiseguy Christopher (Chris) Chierchio and the self-described Lottery Lawyer Jason (Jay) Kurland.

That would normally be very disappointing news for his granddad, who is awaiting trial on racketeering charges with a bunch of his underlings. But these days Mush Russo is ailing from dementia, according to his own lawyers, so he won't suffer the infamia of a grandson turned cooperator.

Francis SmooklerChierchio and Kurland are slated to go to trial on fraud and money laundering charges on July 11. That's the schedule laid out by Brooklyn Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis during a court session yesterday with assistant U.S. attorney Olga Zverovich, and defense lawyers Gerald McMahon and Telemachus (Tim) Kasulis. Prosecutor Zverovich estimated that the government's case will take three weeks.

As Gang Land has reported previously, Russo's accused partner-in-crime in the massive swindle, former securities broker Francis (Frank) Smookler, has been cooperating since last year. The duo, who allegedly used their stolen lottery loot to buy yachts as well as condos in Florida and the Caribbean, were also charged with the extortion of gem merchant Gregory Altieri, who failed to pay them back the $250,000 they had loaned him.

"He talked tough when he was on the street, but unlike his old man, he folded like a cheap suit when the going got tough," said one knowledgeable source, referring to Russo's tape-recorded threats and boasts that the FBI overheard during its investigation into the alleged $100 million swindle that prosecutors cited as evidence to keep him locked up behind bars.

Christopher ChierchioIn a March 2020 tape, the feds caught the younger Russo boasting aloud to Altieri that "he did not 'give a fuck about the law,'" according to a court filing by Brooklyn federal prosecutors. "Before the law can even arrest me, I'll have everyone with a fucking bullet in the head," he said, according to the filing.

Prosecutors Andrey Spektor and Lindsay Gerdes wrote that during that angry discussion, Russo warned Altieri that he would kill him and his "entire family" if he didn't pay back the money he had stolen from him, and he didn't care if the FBI was tape-recording his discussion.

"I'll make you look at everyone that I fucking kill," he said, the prosecutors wrote. "I will fucking plow through every one of your fucking people," Russo said. According to the filing, Russo implied that he would kill himself before he would allow the feds to arrest and imprison him.

"My father said that a death sentence was an easier sentence than life," Russo told him. "I will make sure that I have a death sentence for myself. I promise you." (Russo's dad, Joseph (JoJo) Russo died behind bars in 2007 after serving 13 years of a life sentence for a murder during the bloody 1991-1993 Colombo family war.)

Jason KurlandThe case is now being handled by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office because Kurland's lawyer is married to a high-ranked official in the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office.

It's unclear when Russo, 40, who is still listed as a defendant in the case, flipped, but his status as a potential government witness has been suspected since last fall, when his court-appointed attorney, Florian Miedel, did not file any pre-trial motions in the case.

Miedel, who told Gang Land not to read too much into his client's failure to attend a status conference in January, did not return repeated calls yesterday regarding his client's failure to appear at yesterday's pre-trial session before Garaufis, which Miedel attended.

Other lawyers in the case, and representatives from the two U.S. attorney's offices who were contacted by Gang Land, declined to comment, or did not return calls regarding Russo's decision to cooperate.

Judge Sits On Wiseguy's Compassion Motion For 20 Months; BOP Sends Him Home

Judge Dora IrizarryBrooklyn Federal Judge Dora Irizarry has dutifully disclosed that the compassionate release motion that Bonanno soldier Michael Palmaccio filed 20 months ago is resolved. Not that the judge had anything to do with settling the issue. Instead, it was that usually slow-as-molasses bureaucracy, the Bureau of Prisons, that stepped up and released Palmaccio from its Terre Haute, Indiana facility on March 15.

On March 21, Palmaccio's lawyer notified the Court that his client had been released and that Palmaccio's motion to reduce his sentence was now "moot," or no longer before the court, or sub judice, i.e. under consideration, as the judge dubbed it last year.

The next day, Irizarry, who is a stickler for details, dutifully noted on the docket sheet that the attorney's request to designate Palmaccio's motion as "moot" was "so ordered."

Irizarry has yet to rule on the compassionate release motion that was filed by Palmaccio's codefendant, Michael Padavona 18 months ago. That one is still sub judice, as the judge noted on the court docket sheet last November. Assuming that Irizarry moves at the same glacial pace as she did on the first Mike's motion, Gang Land expects that the judge will dutifully note that Padavona's motion's is also "moot" sometime after July 20.

Michael PalmaccioThat's the day that the BOP has designated Padavona for placement in a halfway house, according to his attorney, Gerard Marrone.

"It's frustrating that Judge Irizarry still hasn't made a decision on our motion, but I'm not going to file any more letters," said Marrone. "It seems pointless. My client is still suffering, but he'll be in a halfway house in July, and that's a good thing."

Padavona's halfway house assignment will come a full 18 months before his scheduled release date of January 20, 2024, instead of a year before that date. That's because he has participated in several BOP programs and "has earned 365 days" of "good conduct time" credit under provisions of the First Step Act of 2018, according to a government filing in the case.

Padavona was eligible to be placed in a hallway house on January 20. But as prosecutor Vincent Mazzurco noted in a two page letter last month, he is still doing his bid at the BOP prison complex in Fort Dix, NJ. That's because while the mobster is eligible, he's "not entitled" to be assigned to a halfway house, the prosecutor wrote.

The timing, and the placement of an inmate into a "community treatment center, commonly known as a halfway home," is discretionary, the prosecutor informed the stickler-for-details judge, who had directed the government "to clarify when the defendant is due to complete serving his sentence and when he is eligible for release to a halfway home."

Michael PadavonaIt's unclear why the BOP decided not to assign Padavona to a halfway house on January 20, when he became eligible. But it appears that Padavona fared better than Mike Palmaccio in that regard. Palmaccio was not placed into a halfway house, even though he likely earned the same 365 days of good time credit under provisions of the First Step Act as Padavona, but remained behind bars until his recalculated maximum release date. We trust that these details that Judge Irizarry requested and has received are clear in your mind.

Meanwhile, Padavona remains sub judice. In that regard, prosecutor Mazzurco stated that while his release "may be imminent," and his rehabilitation is "commendable," Padavona has "not met the extraordinary and compelling standard" required for early release. The prosecutor urged Irizarry, as several prosecutors have done previously, to deny the motion for resentencing.

It's always risky to predict what decisions judges will make, but it's a pretty safe bet that Judge Irizarry will handle this one the same way she responded to the first Mike's motion for compassion: Wait to hear that the issue has been resolved when the BOP releases Padavona from the Fort Dix prison complex — and then dutifully note that on the docket.

[Shellackhead]

Thanks for posting

[Southshore88]

Thanks for posting

[Amershire_Ed]

Thanks for posting

[Dave65827]

Interesting to see if Russo rats anyone else out

[JohnnyS]

Thanks for the post.

[nizarsoccer]

Interesting to see if Russo rats anyone else out

Theoretically, would this be the first instance of a grandchild testifying against their mobster grandfather?

[Dave65827]

Interesting to see if Russo rats anyone else out

Theoretically, would this be the first instance of a grandchild testifying against their mobster grandfather?

If he does testify against his grandfather I think it would

Funny thing is in the wiretaps he’s the most brass and threatening but when shit hit the fan he flipped

[Tonyd621]

I wondered why Frangesco waited to flip he was sitting in MDC for almost a year, right? So, now two ppl are flipping on two individuals? I mean with such a big score $100 million if you end up with <10% of it you should still be able to afford your own attorney, no? Where did all the money go? Based on his recordings he fits the stereotype of "Do you know who my father/grandfather is"

[Dave65827]

In the older ganglands it mentions Frangesco had most of his assets seized and Smookler/chierichio took the bulk of the score. Also apparently didn’t help him when Smookler flipped

[SonnyBlackstein]

First Chins Grandson, now Mush's.

Cant believe Palmaccio and Padavona are asking compassionate release. Theyre young guys. Talk about hail mary.

Thanks for the post.

[Cheech]

Palmaccio is out.

[Uforeality]

These kids love the respect but fear the RICO.

[Waingro]

Thanks for posting.

[TommyNoto]

Someone posted a few years ago how the Westside was inducting contractors and it could be a mistake down the road

If true, It’s possible Chierchio fit this and JP saying his Rep was that of a punk who talked a lot is interesting

I wonder whose crew CC is in ? And if he has ever done serious time ? Feds seem to have a hard on for him possibly given his major NYC contractor status

Figgy is a very interesting captain to me , very low key and a big NYC construction player