Anthony Romanello gets two year sentence

[JohnnyS]

https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/04/29/ ... use-owner/

An elderly Mafia capo got two years in prison for socking a Manhattan steakhouse owner to collect a gambling debt, and his lawyer said he had no regrets about the fateful punch.

Federal prosecutors were asking Anthony “Rom” Romanello get a much more serious sentence, nearly seven years, to account for the 86-year-old Genovese member’s long, mostly unpunished life of crime.

But Romanello’s lawyer, Gerald McMahon, called the charges a “meatball case” that prosecutors sat on for years in the hopes Romanello would do something more serious so they could try to flip him against now-deceased Genovese big Anthony “Tough Tony” Federici.

“When the government asks for 71 months, and the judge gave 24, thank God justice was done in Brooklyn,” an ebullient McMahon said after the sentencing in Brooklyn Federal Court Monday. “His lawyer thinks, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that Rom has no regrets.”

Romanello was convicted in December of extortion-related charges after he punched steakhouse owner Shuqeri “Bruno” Selimaj on May 11, 2017, to collect an $86,000 gambling debt owed by the restaurateur’s kin. The punch, inside Selimaj’s now-closed swanky Lincoln Square Steak, was caught on video

McMahon argued that his elderly client punched Selimaj because the restaurateur called him a “washed-up Italian.”

“What would Gerry McMahon do? I would have knocked him flat out,” the defense lawyer told reporters Monday.

The confrontation happened after Selimaj’s nephew, Toni, and the nephew’s brother-in-law, Eddie, lost big gambling with a Queens ring run by bookie Michael Regan, according to prosecutors.

Romanello, a regular at Selimaj’s restaurants, knew all the parties involved, and was brought in to resolve the debt — which he did in three menacing visits over two months, prosecutors allege.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana Rehnquist characterized Romanello as a lifelong career criminal who hasn’t held legitimate work since the 1960s. In a letter to Judge Eric Komitee, she argued that Romanello was convicted of 23 crimes over his life, but only sentenced to 36 months.

He got no jail time for bribing cops in the 1970s, three years for a $900,000 armed robbery in the 1980s, and probation in 2007 and 2012 for obstruction of justice and racketeering conspiracy.

In a one-sentence response letter, McMahon referred to Rehnquist’s arguments as “unhinged screeching” — a description Rehnquist took issue with Monday.

“This is about a defendant who lived his whole life as someone who commits crimes,” Rehnquist told the judge on Monday. “What this defendant did was illegal … and the defendant has never understood that, because he’s never been held accountable for his crimes.”

She also suggested that a longer sentence would put other aging La Cosa Nostra members on notice. “He can’t use old age as a shield to not be punished,” she said.

Two members of Romanello’s family booed the prosecutors as they left the courtroom after the sentencing.

McMahon also blasted the victim’s family as degenerate gamblers who collected $300,000 from Regan when their bets paid off, but refused to pay $86,000 when they lost.

“On the street, street justice would say that those guys deserve a far bigger beating than what was administered to Bruno,” he said. “They know it’s a meatball case. It’s a nothing case.”

He said prosecutors waited on the charges for more than four years, but Romanello never committed any new crimes. Romanello even skipped last year’s big Genovese crime family Christmas party while he was out on bail, McMahon said.

“He’s pretty much been out of the life. He certainly intends to stay out of the life,” McMahon said.

Romanello’s been in jail since December, which means he’ll likely be released in 15 months with good time.

Komitee said he hoped Romanello manages to uphold the law for the rest of his golden years. “We all know people are living well into their 90s these days, sometimes their hundreds,” he said. “I have every confidence as I sit here today that the meaning of this sentence, as reduced as it is, has come through clearly.”

Romanello’s co-defendant, Joseph Celso, had his sentencing adjourned until next month.

[Pmac2]

2 years for a punch. Dammm

[Blunts]

to account for the 86-year-old Genovese member’s long, mostly unpunished life of crime.

This is the essence of this entire case. It was a flimsy as fuck case full of fuckery and prosecution withholding information etc. It was a vendetta from the start. They have tried to get him for years and have failed. This is the feds saying fuck you.

[OcSleeper]

Was it really that flimsy? They had the motive, video of the punch, phone recordings, victim testimony, and the debt being paid afterwards.

NYPost calls Federici the "reputed consiglieri"
https://nypost.com/2024/04/29/us-news/r ... auranteur/

[bluehouse]

if he was a minority or an illegal he wouldve gotten zero time

[SonnyBlackstein]

Popcorn headlines

[NYNighthawk]

phuck him - at his age - late 80's maybe his family will tell him to flip and become "Queen for a Day"!

[SonnyBlackstein]

I thought my posts were useless.

[Little_Al1991]

We will probably see this on the next Gangland column

[Etna]

if he was a minority or an illegal he wouldve gotten zero time

If he was one of those, he'd have been given a credit card, a cell phone and a hotel suite in Midtown, courtesy of the mayor.

[Moscone65]

What a bunch of tough Albanians....if it was a minority it would probably have gotten dismissed or minor charges because it happens everyday. All the cops would have is a couple of black guys in hoodies running away. but no, its a wiseguy, all of a sudden its some major conspiracy for extortion.

[AntComello]

What a bunch of tough Albanians....if it was a minority it would probably have gotten dismissed or minor charges because it happens everyday. All the cops would have is a couple of black guys in hoodies running away. but no, its a wiseguy, all of a sudden its some major conspiracy for extortion.

He’s got balls but he did testify against Rom didn’t he? How does that work if the guy is allegedly Albanian mafia lol

[Moscone65]

What a bunch of tough Albanians....if it was a minority it would probably have gotten dismissed or minor charges because it happens everyday. All the cops would have is a couple of black guys in hoodies running away. but no, its a wiseguy, all of a sudden its some major conspiracy for extortion.

He’s got balls but he did testify against Rom didn’t he? How does that work if the guy is allegedly Albanian mafia lol

Ya I was saying it with sarcasm, guy ratted after getting punched by an 86 year old man after talking shit about Italians and not paying their debt.

[Pmac2]

Hes got a few months in and probaly will be in a halfway house by the end of this year. Im fuessing before Christmas then they'll put him on house arrest. Does he even leave the mdc or mcc before hes gets sent to a halfway house i wonder. Hes old maybe they send him to a prison hospital for a few months. That must be bard for the judge to send a 86 yr old to jail knowing its 50/50 he dies there.

[Mikeymike12]

It’s ridiculous and a same what this prosecutor was trying to do .They were pushing 7 years on him and gave him 500k bond .....what a joke .when you got morons out there punching Several random Women and gets Released with no bail. It’s a sad crazy time.

I hope they 86 Bruno and especially his two scumbag family members 86 from doing any business They lose and don’t wanna pay but when they win they wanna collect Dirtbags .I’m glad Romanello stepped up unfortunately it’s going to cost him a few months . But he did have Bruno running ....LOL