Gangland 6/16/2022

[Dr031718]

A 'Brazilian Buttlift' Expert To Testify For Feds At Lottery Winners Ripoff Trial

Prosecutors may prevail on a motion they have just made to keep the jury from learning about the sexcapades of two turncoats, including Frangesco (Frankie) Russo, the grandson of the late Mafia boss Andrew (Mush) Russo, at the upcoming Lottery Winners Ripoff trial.

But jurors are likely to hear some pretty titillating details about an intriguing new cooperting witness the feds have come up with, Gang Land has learned.

He's Scott Blyer, a cosmetic surgeon, and brother-in-law of the self-described Lottery Lawyer, Jason (Jay) Kurland. Blyer does breast implants and butt lifts. He is currently offering a $5000 summer special price for patients who sign up for breast implants by August. He is also known as "DrBFixin" on his website and on Instagram, and is a self-described "authority on the Brazilian Buttlift."

Blyer was an investor in firms that Kurland, Russo and fellow snitch, Francis (Frank) Smookler allegedly used to steal $80 million from three Lottery Winners who hired Kurland to invest their winnings, Gang Land has learned. Blyer will testify at the fraud trial of Kurland and Genovese mobster Christopher (Chris) Chierchio in Brooklyn Federal Court, prosecutors say.

The doctor will testify that Kurland "assisted" Blyer's efforts "to conceal" the "large amounts of cash income" he had earned at his Islandia, Long Island cosmetic surgery practice, Cameo Surgery Center, according to assistant U.S. attorneys Olga Zverovich, Louis Pellegrino and Danielle Kudla.

Blyer has acknowledged hiding his earnings from the Internal Revenue Services in a bid to evade income taxes," prosecutors wrote last week. His tax scam began in November of 2016, when he gave Kurland $100,000 in cash to invest, according to the feds.

The brothers-in-law agreed, the prosecutors wrote, that Kurland's companies would make "smaller deposits" into Blyer's bank account "to avoid raising any red flags with the bank or inquiries from the IRS, which may have been triggered by a one-time large deposit."

In a streamlined indictment, Kurland, 48, is charged with fraud for investing funds of Lottery winners in a lending company he ran with Russo and Smookler without informing his clients. Chierchio, 54, is charged in a separate scheme with investing Lottery winners' cash he got from Kurland in a personal protective equipment (PPE) deal and then diverting funds for "his own personal benefit."

Like both defendants, Smookler, 47, was granted bail following his arrest in 2020. He pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate last year. Russo, 40, was detained as a danger to the community at his arrest. But 20 months later, when he agreed to cooperate, even before he pleaded guilty, the government decided he was no longer a danger and agreed to his release.

Blyer allegedly used Kurland "to evade income taxes" by investing more than $400,000 in cash from his cosmetic surgery practice with the Lottery Lawyer, wrote prosecutors Zverovich, Pellegrino and Kudla.

The scheme, they say, allowed Blyer to rake in monthly interest payouts between $2,000 to $30,000 from 2017 to 2020.

The prosecutors wrote that bank records and testimony by two Lottery Victims "will show that at least two" of the $30,000 interest payments "were deposited in (Blyer's) bank account" from a lending company account owned by Kurland and his cohorts "within days after Lottery Victim-2 and Lottery Victim-3 had made investments into the same account."

The new indictment, which is being handled by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office because Kurland's attorney is married to a top official in the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office, charges the Lottery Lawyer with stealing the $80 million from his clients from 2018 to 2020. Chierchio, who invested in a successful PPE deal, reaped $7 million from his scheme between April and August of 2020, the prosecutors wrote.

Both schemes ended in August of 2020, when all four original defendants were charged in a massive fraud and money laundering indictment with stealing $100 million from three mega Lottery winners, including one who had won $1 billion dollars. The new indictment, which is slated for trial on July 11, reduces the overall fraud to $80 million.

In a no-good-deed-goes-unpunished development, according to last week's court filing, Kurland will pay a substantial legal price at trial for saving his brother-in-law Scott $300,000 in 2019 by returning an investment he made in the lending companies, Cheddar Capital, Cheddar Express, and JBMML, after the Lottery Lawyer learned that the FBI was investigating him.

Blyer, 45, is "expected to testify," the prosecutors wrote, that "Kurland voluntarily returned the cash and indicated, in substance, that it was not a good time to invest in the company." During that same time frame, according to court filings, Kurland and his cohorts also began to suspect that they had lost $60 million in Lottery Winners' loot in a Ponzi scheme that was pulled off by a gem merchant, Gregory Altieri, who was ultimately arrested, charged, and admitted his guilt.

After Kurland was arrested, the prosecutors wrote, he advised Blyer that he could use a "false advertising contract" to explain the deposits into his bank account that he received from Cheddar and other Kurland-owned entities in response to a grand jury subpoena to testify about them.

When Blyer, who is identified only as the "brother-in-law" in the filing, asked Kurland "how to explain the varying deposit amounts" he received from "Cheddar and other Kurland-owned entities" into his bank account, "Kurland advised" Blyer that he "could indicate that there was a high volume of advertising that month," the prosecutors wrote.

Blyer did throw brother-in-law Jay a sop during his debriefings with the FBI and prosecutors, they wrote, which is probably one reason why the Lottery Lawyer isn't charged with obstruction of justice. "The brother-in-law is expected to testify," they wrote, "that Kurland also offered telling the truth or invoking the Fifth Amendment as options in responding to the authorities."

It's unclear whether Blyer pleaded guilty to any criminal conduct before agreeing to testify for the feds, or if his investments with Kurland to evade taxes will have an impact on his license to practice medicine. Blyer claims to be certified by the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery, the American Board of Facial Cosmetic Surgery, and the American Board of Maxillofacial Surgery.

Blyer, the government, and Kurland's lawyer either declined to comment or did not respond to calls or emails from Gang Land asking about his agreement to testify for the government.

Whatever his legal situation, Blyer is still promoting his apparently booming cosmetic surgery practice.

"Breast surgery can be a life changer," he smiles in a video on his website. "I've seen the changes before my eyes. There is some magic that happens after a woman gets breast surgery," no matter the reason, he states, even if "you want to dance around on TikTok with no bra and your nipples sticking out, which I don't exactly understand but am not complaining about."

The "Brazilian Buttlift," he states, "is like the Robin Hood of surgical procedures. We take from areas that are rich in fat and we give to areas that are poor in fat," he says with a grin. "It's on fire right now. This is the fastest growing procedure right now," he continues: ''We transfer stubborn fat from the stomach, back and sides and use it to make the butt and hips popping."

As for the sexcapades of the turncoat defendants, prosecutors are asking Judge Nicholas Garaufis to block the questioning of Russo for using "prostitutes on multiple occasions." Likewise they want to prevent Smookler from having to explain about paying "individuals to engage in sexual conduct" in 2018 and 2019. Those subjects, prosecutors argued, would be "substantially prejudicial, not probative of any relevant issue, and irrelevant to testing the truthfulness of (their) anticipated testimony."Christopher Chierchio

For the same reason, prosecutors also asked Garaufis to block the questioning of Russo about two domestic violence incidents he told the feds about that were not reported to police. They argued that while domestic abuse was "reprehensible" conduct, it "does not bear on a witness's character for truthfulness" and "poses significant risk of unfair prejudice" against his testimony.

Chierchio's lawyer John Meringolo argues that the sexcapades conduct is fair game. "If they used the funds that they got from the lottery victims to pay for sexual favors," said Meringolo, "then we should be able to cross examine them about that evidence since it's directly related to their crimes."

Gambino Gangster Guilty In Robbery Murder Of Luchese Loanshark

Ahi’s lawyer gave them some good reasons why he was the wrong man, but a Brooklyn jury used the videos they saw and the last words of testimony they heard to decide that the feds had arrested the right man. This week, they found Gambino gangster Anthony Pandrella guilty of the cold-blooded murder of his old pal, Luchese loanshark Vincent Zito.

The jurors took just 90 minutes to decide that Pandrella had shot and killed Zito, sometime after 8:40 AM on the morning of October 26, 2018. Pandrella, prosecutor Kristin Mace told the jury, left his pal Zito dead on the floor of his living room along with the murder weapon before walking out the door of Zito's Sheepshead Bay home with a handful of expensive watches at 10:23 that morning.

By their verdict, the panel of Brooklyn jurors decided that the 62-year-old Pandrella, who had known Zito and his family for decades, and had been inside Zito's home countless times and knew that there were surveillance cameras that had seen him entering and leaving the three-family home, had to be one of the dumbest mob-connected killers in history.

Pandrella's lawyer made that passionate argument to the jury, to no avail.

"If Vincent Zito's murderer wanted to walk out of the door to his apartment like Anthony Pandrella did," lawyer James Froccaro told jurors in his closing argument, "All he would have to do is take the little DVR recorder and there would have been no sign of him ever being there on video. None."

"The fact that that DVR, that little box was still there," the attorney stated, "should tell you all that the real killer purposely did not enter or exit the house within view of the security cameras. The notion that anyone would kill Vincent Zito and stroll out the door to be captured on video is absurd, let alone someone who had been to the home daily for 30 years."

There was no mistaking that Pandrella was seen opening the chain link gate, and climbing the stairs to the second floor deck of the three-story home and entering Zito's apartment that morning at 8:10 AM.

Another video snippet shows Zito walk onto the deck outside the apartment at 8:40. And there is no doubt that the burly gangster was seen closing the gate of the Batchelder street entrance to the Emmons Avenue home and leaving at 10:23 AM.

Froccaro shot gaping holes in the government's claim — and the testimony prosecutors used to back it up — that Zito, a convicted loanshark, had given Pandrella $750,000 to hold because he was "hot" and feared that his house might get searched by the law, and that a major reason why his client killed his old friend was so he wouldn't have to pay him back the cash.

The lawyer got Zito's son Joseph, and daughter Samantha — and friends who also testified that Zito had given Pandrella cash to hold months earlier — to concede that they had not made that claim initially to authorities but after his client had been a suspect in the killing. He argued in his closing that they made it up because they believed that Pandrella had killed Zito.

"They want blood and they're out to get it by any means necessary," Froccaro stated, arguing that the "'inner circle" of relatives and friends of Zito had gotten together and "made up" a story that "makes no sense," namely, that his client, who had won a $1.8 million jury award for an injury, had killed Zito so he wouldn't have to pay back the $750,000 that Zito had given him.

"If Vincent Zito, a convicted felon, was truly worried about a search of his apartment by law enforcement, he wouldn't have gotten rid of the money and left the guns," he argued, noting that police found "an arsenal of illegal weapons in his house" for which he could have gotten "ten years in jail" when they searched his home after he was killed.

During cross examination of the victim's son, Joseph Zito, the defense lawyer stated that his story made no sense. "He lied right on the stand," Froccaro told the jury, pointing out that the son's testimony that his dad had told him he had stashed guns had been corrected by the government.

"It's obvious what happened here," the lawyer stated. Joseph Zito, who hugged and embraced Pandrella the day his father was murdered, and Samantha Zito, who immediately "reached out" to his client when her dad was killed, "just decided to gang up" and try to get him convicted when they learned "he became a focus of the police."

Samantha Zito "actually had the temerity to suggest to you all" that she knew "the $750,000 story" all along but "waited three and a half years" to tell the cops about that because "nobody asked," he exclaimed. "Three and a half years to come forward!"

And Froccaro ripped government prosecutor Matthew Galeotti for trying to boost her credibility by recalling for the jury that he had bbrought out that the government had paid for her to stay in a hotel over the weekend when she returned to court Monday to conclude her testimony.

"I really take umbrage with that," he said, arguing that the purpose was to inform the jury that she didn't "talk to anybody else" since she had testified on Thursday.

"Are they kidding?" he said. "She hasn't been in a hotel for three and a half years. She's with the inner circle. That's like an insult to your intelligence to suggest, 'Oh, she wouldn't talk to someone and color her testimony. She's in the hotel over the weekend.' Where's she been when she didn't tell the story for the last three and a half years?"

But the lawyer was unable to shake the closing testimony of FBI agent Paul Tambrino, who's been a member of the FBI's Gambino family squad for 24 of the 27 years he's been an agent during which he also had ten years of "collateral duty in computer forensics."

Tambrino testified that he took measurements of the house, the distances from it to other structures, the alley ways, and of the heights of windows from the ground. He also took hundreds of photos in and around the Zito home "to determine if it was feasible, if there were any other entries, possible entries into the other portions of the house" that were not captured by the home surveillance video, he testified.

He had "considered the possibility that there might be other entry points" but he "ruled them out pretty quickly" he testified, stating that "the feasibility of breaking in" was remote since "there were no disturbances" or "evidence of a break-in" and "the other floors had secured windows."

After testifying about every possible entry point into the building, Tambrino, who was assigned to the case within days of the murder, was asked whether he ever found "anyway into the house that would not have been captured on the video system."

"No," the agent said.

Judge To Greek Godfather: You Did The Crime; You Should Do The Time
Spreydon (Spiros) Velentzas may be a very old, and sick gangster who has spent 30 years of a life sentence behind bars for murder. But he failed to convince the judge who put him there that there are any extraordinary and compelling reasons why the octogenarian gangster deserves a compassionate release from prison.

In denying the request for compassion, Central Islip Federal Judge Denis Hurley questioned the seriousness of the onetime Greek Godfather's alleged medical problems noting that Velentzas has "a history of noncompliance with medical advice" while behind bars indicating that his ailments were not as serious as he claims.

In his seven-page ruling, Hurley wrote that lawyer Gerard Marrone's motion seemed more like an "attack (on) the legitimacy" of the life sentence that Hurley had imposed on Velentzas in 1993 for luring Sorecho (Sammy the Arab) Nalo to his death back in 1988 than a motion seeking compassion under First Step Act of 2018.

The judge wrote he "did not request the government to respond" to the motion before ruling because it was "facially insufficient," even under relaxed provisions of the First Step Act that allow aging, longtime inmates to seek a compassionate release.

The reason: Marrone's filing contained "not one shred of medical evidence" to support his claim that the 86-year-old inmate was suffering from any serious physical or mental health problems that would qualify as compelling or extraordinary reasons, Hurley wrote, even though the lawyer had obtained the gangster's medical records.

But the judge indicated that the lawyer shouldn't bother compiling those medical records and submitting them in a motion to reconsider.

Even if Marrone could show there were "extraordinary and compelling circumstances" why Velentzas could be released under the First Step Act, the former Greek Godfather did not deserve "a reduction in sentence," Hurley wrote.

"The nature and circumstances of the offense are heinous," Hurley wrote. "This was not a crime of passion but a cold-blooded murder. The need to provide just punishment as well as general deterrence also weigh in favor of denial of this application. Those who commit murder in support of a criminal enterprise should be aware that they may well be required to serve the entirety of their sentence."

[TommyGambino]

Would this have created a beef between the Gambino and Lucchese families? clearly Zito was a big time loanshark

[Dr031718]

Would this have created a beef between the Gambino and Lucchese families? clearly Zito was a big time loanshark

Unless he was ordered to be the Gambinos I don’t see it causing a beef. This is not the old days and for all intents and. Purposes looks like Pandrella went rogue and did this all on his own

[AntComello]

I mean this guy pandrella makes Anthony nicodemo look like a criminal mastermind

[Pmac2]

So the lottery scam is this guy looking at huge time like Nicky scarfo Jr. I can't wrap my head around the scam and who was in charge. It sounds like everyone flipped except that one genomes guy.

[Pmac2]

Genovese guy got autod

[Tonyd621]

An in law to testify? That's low. I bet anyone can get at least one in law to testify against them.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for the post Dr.

[Waingro]

Thanks for posting.

[Pmac2]

An in law to testify? That's low. I bet anyone can get at least one in law to testify against them.

lol

[furiofromnaples]

Would this have created a beef between the Gambino and Lucchese families? clearly Zito was a big time loanshark

Are both associates,so nothing should happen.

[johnny_scootch]

Huge mistake by Zito, trust will get you killed in that life.

[AntComello]

Huge mistake by Zito, trust will get you killed in that life.

100%…its fucked up he got killed but a friend of 30 years but you put 750,000 in front of guys like that and they’ll kill their own mother for it. I would have found a remote spot in the woods and buried that shit and told no one lol

[outfit guy]

How can you charge for a column of N.Y. Post articles published the same week?

[Tonyd621]

Huge mistake by Zito, trust will get you killed in that life.

I wonder why Zito was convinced he was 'hot' based on Pandarellas words. I mean he was just an associate with the Gambinos. He should of done more due diligence or maybe Zito actually was...who knows but your exactly right trust got him killed