Gangland November 21st 2024

[Dr031718]

Judge Plans To Release Old & Ailing John Gotti Pal Serving A Life Sentence

Over the objection of prosecutors, a federal judge in Florida plans to give Gambino capo Ronald (Ronnie One Arm) Trucchio, an old and ailing mobster pal of Mafia boss John Gotti, his freedom, Gang Land has learned. The big break comes for Trucchio after serving 21 years of a life sentence he received for leading a violent Florida faction of the crime family that wreaked havoc in the Tampa Bay area during the Dapper Don's regime.

During a Zoom hearing attended by family members, Tampa Judge Charlene Honeywell said she was "inclined to grant" a "compassionate release" for the 73-year-old wiseguy. The judge stated that Trucchio's "medical condition appears to be deteriorating" despite having been placed in a prison hospital a year ago where he is receiving the highest level of medical care that the federal Bureau of Prisons provides.

Trucchio, whose nickname stems from his withered right arm, was alleged to be at the center of two storied New York Mafia events: One is the 1992 Christmas Eve revenge slayings of a husband and wife duo whose robberies of social clubs were featured in the 2014 movie, Rob The Mob, starring Ray Romano and Andy Garcia. The other stems from the disclosre that defense lawyers in his 2006 Tampa racketeering case had obtained a copy of an FBI report stating that John (Junior) Gotti had discussed several Gambino family murders in a proffer session while he was awaiting trial in 2005.

Judge Honeywell is expected to reduce Trucchio's sentence to time served as soon as probation officials approve Ronnie One Arm's living arrangements in the New York area. He was convicted of heading a crew of rowdy young toughs, including turncoat gangster John Alite, who used armed robbery, drug dealing and other crimes to ravage the Tampa Bay area from 1986 to 2003.

Sources say probation officials in New York and Tampa have approved a plan filed by lawyers for Trucchio that have him living with his son Ronald Jr., "who works in the securities industry," and his girlfriend, "an attorney for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs" in the couple's two-bedroom apartment in West Harrison, NY.

Honeywell ordered the Tampa Probation Department to report on the suitability of the release plan submitted by Trucchio's lawyers no later than November 12. As of yesterday it hadn't done so. Gang Land's calls to Chief Probation Officer Parker Anderson and a supervisor about the matter were not returned.

The detailed plan notes that Trucchio's family will support him while they pursue Medicare, Social Security and health insurance options to deal with the extensive medical care he needs. In addition to Ronald Jr., Trucchio has another son, Alphonse, who followed his dad into the Mafia and completed his own 10-year-prison term in 2020. Alphonse is now a partner in a painting company. Alphonse, and his sisters Bliss and Cassie and two of Trucchio's granddaughters attended the Zoom hearing.

The housing plan differs substantially from the original proposal that Trucchio's lawyers, Harlan Protass, Gerard Marrone and Michael Gonzalez submitted. That one had Ronnie One Arm living with a nephew in Hempstead L.I., and noted that Trucchio would have "work opportunities at a pharmacy in South Ozone Park, NY and a catering business in Ozone Park, NY."

In their current plan, which sources say has been okayed by the Probation Department in the Southern District of NY, the lawyers stress that West Harrison is a suburb in Westchester County and there are three hospitals and numerous "walk-in urgent care facilities" nearby in case a medical crisis arises. Most importantly, it is far from his old Ozone Park neighborhood in NYC, and close to two offices that house probation officials who would monitor Trucchio's behavior.

The attorneys submitted a revised plan after assistant U.S. attorney Jay Trezevant, who convicted Trucchio at his 2006 trial, told Judge Honeywell that Ronnie One Arm had "spent his adult life" as an associate, soldier and later as a Gambino family capo "based in Ozone Park, NY." The prosecutor warned that Trucchio could "initiate incredible criminal conduct with nothing more than a verbal order or gesture."

"Not surprisingly," declared Trezevant, "this is the same area where Trucchio now claims he has work opportunities."

The prosecutor conceded that Ronnie One Arm's medical conditions — he is legally blind, has aliments and diseases for which he takes 14 prescribed medications, is wheelchair bound, has an inmate assigned to push him around, "and needs assistance getting in and out of bed, in and out of his wheelchair, on and off the toilet and in and out of the shower" — are extremely severe.

But Trucchio should nevertheless remain behind bars, Trezevant argued. "He has never repudiated" the mob, the prosecutor wrote, and he has a "unique role" in the crime family that "will permit Trucchio, if released from prison, to supervise" and order others to commit violent crimes "regardless of (his) existing disability," a reference to Trucchio's useless right arm.

"One thing that I think really comes across," the prosecutor stated, referring to the level of care that Trucchio is receiving, "is that the BOP is taking Mr. Trucchio's complaints and concerns seriously. It is not simply brushing him off," he said. "In fact," Trezevant added, "they seem to be moving heaven and earth to make sure that they do give him appropriate medical treatment

Attorney Protass countered that "Mr. Trucchio in no way disputes his criminal conduct" and accepts full responsibility for it." The lawyer argued that his client's medical ailments and "his behavior" behind bars where he's had "four (minor) infractions in 21 years, and none in the past 14 years" shows that he "is fully rehabilitated and presents no danger" if released from prison.

"Trucchio's rehabilitative efforts have gone above and beyond what can be reasonably expected of your average inmate in federal custody," the lawyer continued. He said his client completed 3900 hours of BOP programming and training and "took 480 hours of independent studies and earned his associates degree."

"He did these all to become a better person," Protass said, "because until the First Step Act came along in 2018, there was no opportunity for Mr. Trucchio. That's what distinguishes his rehabilitation efforts. He did them because he wanted to become a better person. He did them because he wanted to be rehabilitated. He wasn't doing it so he could present them to this Court."

"People can and they do change and evolve over the years," the lawyer added. "Just because a person committed crimes 20 years ago doesn't mean that if they should be freed from prison they're going to go right back to committing crimes," he said. He cited "letters of support from (four) BOP staff members" who "had contact with Mr. Trucchio on a daily basis for years and years and years. They are law enforcement professionals."

"Mr. Trucchio was neither charged with violence nor convicted of violence," said Protass, noting that the two "predicate acts" of racketeering that were proven were "narcotics offenses. And if Mr. Trucchio was, in fact, the terrible person that the Government portrays him as being, then why did the Government make him a 15-year plea offer before trial?

"Again, I just want to reiterate that he was not charged or convicted with any violence," said Protass.

"There are a long line of cases in our papers in which defendants convicted of even more egregious conduct, violent conduct, actual murders," have been granted compassion and been released," he said.

"So, I'll finish the same as we concluded in our motion papers," said Protass. "There are extraordinary and compelling reasons for a reduction of Mr. Trucchio's sentence. We strongly believe he does not represent a danger to any individual or to the community at large and we, therefore, ask that the Court enter an order reducing Mr. Trucchio's life sentence to time served."

Until Tampa probation officials approve his proposed living arrangements in West Harrison, and Honeywell grants his release motion, Ronnie One Arm resides in a Rochester, Minnesota prison hospital where, Protass told the judge, "he's almost a frequent flier to the Mayo Clinic" because the BOP sends him "there so frequently" for medical attention he needs.

Law enforcement sources say Trucchio allegedly was one of the gunmen who killed Rosemary and Thomas Uva, the daring husband and wife duo that robbed several Gambino and Bonanno family social clubs, on Christmas Eve of 1992. Turncoat mobsters in both crime families have told the FBI that Junior Gotti was on a panel of Gambino capos that authorized the execution.

Gotti's Rules, a 2015 book about turncoat gangster Alite by George Anastasia, published a copy of an FBI report of a January 2005 proffer session that Junior Gotti had with federal authorities while awaiting the first of three trials he had for ordering the shooting of Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa. During the talk, the erstwhile Junior Don detailed mob murders committed by Gambino gangsters Joseph Watts and Daniel Marino, according to the report.

In an exclusive February 5, 2015 interview, Alite told Gang Land he received two paper copies of the proffer from Trucchio's lawyers while he was detained in a Brazil prison, one by mail the other hand delivered in person, before Ronnie One Arm's trial began on October 15, 2006

The copies of the report were sent to him on behalf of "the Administration of the Gambino family" which wanted Alite to know that Junior Gotti was cooperating, Alite told Gang Land. Several months later, in early 2007, Alite flipped, and became the key prosecution witness against Junior in Gotti IV, the government's last effort against Gotti that ended in a hung jury in 2009.

Gang Land was unable to reach Alite this week. Trezevant, who obtained the Gotti IV indictment in Tampa, and used Alite in his failed effort to convict Junior in Manhattan Federal Court after the case was transferred there, declined to comment about either case.

Ex-Gangster-Turned-Conman-Turned-Car-Salesman Gets Another Sweet Plea Deal

Turncoat Luchese mobster Frank Gioia Jr. has done it again, scoring yet another amazingly sweet plea deal, Gang Land has learned. This one's in California, at least the fourth state where he's accused of committing crimes since his first arrest on drug charges in Massachusetts more than 30 years ago.

This time Gioia faced the music as restaurateur-businessman Frank Capri, the dashing handle he took when he went into the witness security program 20 plus years ago. The 2018 charge accused him of a $115,000 Workman's Compensation ripoff in San Bernadino.

It was part of a huge bust-out scam that he pulled off from 2008 to 2017 that involved scores of restaurants named for country music stars Toby Keith and Rascal Flatts that Gioia-Capri agreed to build in many states — but never really got around to getting it done.

The workers comp scam was just a small piece of what turned out to be a $64 million ripoff that the feds in Arizona charged him with orchestrating in 2020.

Gioia-Capri did pretty well too in Arizona: He admitted stealing $18,032,703 from investors and ripping off the IRS for $1.5 million in taxes. The feds seized only $500,000 from him when he was arrested. He was sentenced to five years, but was found to be indigent at the time, and was ordered to make payments totaling $17,200 following his release from prison last year.

The dollar amount of the money involved in California pales by comparison with the amounts in Arzona. But the plea deal Capri's San Bernadino lawyers, Malalia Ramadan and Michael Scaffidi, got for the gangster-turned-conman seems hard to sneeze at. Lawyer Scaffidi told Gang Land it was no big deal.

"There was no way the DA was going to prove this case," he said. "That's why the case resolved for the great disposition that it did."

As Frank Capri, who according to court filings in San Bernadino Superior Court was also known by six other names, including Frank Gioia Jr., between 2014 and 2015, the ex-New York mobster was charged with a dozen felony fraud counts for which he faced more than five years behind bars.

But after hanging tough, Capri, 57, was able to cop a no-jail, no probation, no community service plea bargain by pleading "no contest" to a misdemeanor charge of concealing facts on October 28. The agreed-upon sentence was 365 days in jail, but he was given credit for having done it all, apparently while serving his federal prison time for his $64 million swindle.

He was fined $275, which he has until June 1, 2025 to pay.

Gang Land expects that he'll be able to handle that. Early this year, Capri was given permission to work as a car salesman for a Phoenix-area dealership that agreed to let the convicted conman hand off the financial negotiations to a supervisor since he was forbidden to engage in any financial dealings with potential victims while on supervised release.

Skinny Joey Takes Two With A Smile; Endorses President Trump's View Of Stool Pigeons*

Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino won't be able to vote for President Trump anytime soon — or for that matter, any of the President's candidates during the mid-term elections in two weeks. But the often-convicted Philadelphia mob boss is on the same page with The Donald when it comes to stool pigeons.

Merlino made that perfectly clear after he was sentenced to two years in prison last week for illegal gambling to close out the controversial racketeering conspiracy case in which Skinny Joey and 45 other defendants with ties to five crime families were snared by a Genovese family associate who flipped on the mob after he was caught selling drugs.

"President Trump was right; they need to outlaw the flippers," Merlino cracked to reporters outside Manhattan Federal Court.

Skinny Joey was of course recalling Trump's remarks made the day after his former close pal and personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to numerous fraud charges and implicated the President in payoffs the lawyer made to silence porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.

During a rant to Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt back on August 22, Trump sounded more like John Gotti or an angry mob lawyer than the POTUS when he stated that the "thing about flipping" was that "it almost ought to be outlawed" because "it's not fair."

With a big grin on his face, Skinny Joey, who was brought down this time by a low-level flipper named John (J.R.) Rubeo, heaped praise on Trump without mentioning dealings that The Donald had with Merlino's relatives and other wiseguys from the City of Brotherly Love when he was a mega Atlantic City developer cashing in on New Jersey's decision to legalize casino gambling.

In those heady days, as Gang Land reported two years ago Trump used a rebar company run by Merlino's father Salvatore, and his uncle Lawrence (Yogi) Merlino, and Scarf Inc., a cement company owned by then-Philly mob boss Nicodemo (Little Nicky) Scarfo for his building projects. And in 1985, Trump paid $1.1 million to the sons of two Philadelphia mobsters for property that The Donald used as a parking lot for his Trump Plaza Hotel in Atlantic City.

Not that anyone's conducting a poll, but Merlino is the second wiseguy we've heard speak admiringly of the fact-challenged, shoot-from-the-lip President. As Gang Land reported in April, Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano also spoke glowingly about Trump (of course, that was before his ban-the-flippers comment, something the Bull might dissent from).

As for Skinny Joey, he comported himself as a gentleman both in and out of court. You'd never know he was a lifelong mobster who, according to federal law enforcement officials in New York and Philadelphia, got away with murder as he fought his way to the top of the Philadelphia crime family.

Unlike one vocal supporter, Merlino listened dispassionately as Manhattan Federal Court Judge Richard Sullivan listed a litany of crimes that the 56-year-old mobster has been convicted of over the years as he explained why he was going to give him two years — the maximum sentence for his conviction — not a term between 10 and 16 months, the guidelines cited in his plea agreement.

The unidentified supporter loudly labelled the crimes as "bullshit" and called Sullivan a "rat bastard." He left the courtroom before deputy U.S. Marshals summoned by the angry judge to evict the man could get to the courtroom.

Merlino, the only defendant to go to trial after prosecutors offered sweet plea deals all around following disclosures that three FBI agents in the case were the focus of an internal probe, pleaded guilty to a minor gambling charge in April, two months after jurors could not reach a verdict on serious racketeering charges including health care fraud and bookmaking.

The maximum two year sentence, despite a recommendation for a 10 month sentence from the Probation Department, was not a surprise.

As Sullivan said back when Skinny Joey pleaded guilty in April, the judge stated he had listened to the evidence, determined that Merlino had gotten a very good plea deal from the government, and that he was going along with the government's request to impose a maximum sentence, followed by one year of strict post prison supervised release.

"I don't think anyone who saw the trial would think that less than two years is appropriate," said Sullivan, who ordered Merlino, who has spent more than half of his adult life behind bars, to begin his next prison bid on December 3.

Before imposing his sentence, which "maxes out" at about 20 months according to usual federal prison calculations, Sullivan asked Skinny Joey if there was anything he wanted to say.

With more than a trace of sarcasm, Merlino, who had complained frequently about Sullivan's trial rulings, responded: "Thanks for the fair trial."

* First printed on October 25, 2018, two years into The Donald's first stint as POTUS

[Dr031718]

[Cheech]

Jerry with the throwbacks. Nothing to write. I guess writing about Bazoo every week got old…

[dack2001]

Thanks for posting. Good for Ronnie getting out.

[Hired_Goonz]

Thanks for posting, but holy crap Jerry re-running a story from 6 years ago is pretty lame.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Alphonse likely still shelved if he's working for a living.

[furiofromnaples]

Alphonse likely still shelved if he's working for a living.

Sad but true and only because Corozzo son felt humilated.

[Ivan]

OK what's the impetus behind recycling Joey Merlino stories from years ago? Is it because he got shelved? Is it because Trump is mentioned in them and Trump won? Does the combination of these two elements make reprinting them irresistible?

[NorthBuffalo]

Great column this week.

[Pmac2]

good read. ronnie 1 arm should have took that 15. would have been home 10yrs ago. jimmy Ida also didn't take 15 and been in almost 30yrs now. pete gotti was offered 13 he died in prison. bad list to be on. casso before he flipped and did 30 years in jail was offered 22...

[NJShore4Life]

“In an exclusive February 5, 2015 interview, Alite told Gang Land he received two paper copies of the proffer from Trucchio's lawyers while he was detained in a Brazil prison, one by mail the other hand delivered in person, before Ronnie One Arm's trial began on October 15, 2006

The copies of the report were sent to him on behalf of "the Administration of the Gambino family" which wanted Alite to know that Junior Gotti was cooperating, Alite told Gang Land. Several months later, in early 2007, Alite flipped, and became the key prosecution witness against Junior in Gotti IV, the government's last effort against Gotti that ended in a hung jury in 2009.

Gang Land was unable to reach Alite this week. Trezevant, who obtained the Gotti IV indictment in Tampa, and used Alite in his failed effort to convict Junior in Manhattan Federal Court after the case was transferred there, declined to comment about either case.”

More Science Fiction , Bogus Aliar Claims , he would be more credible sounding if he claimed that Space Aliens landed in the Brazil Prison to deliver him Junior Gotti’s Proffer Session 302s than The Gambino Administration having them sent to him in a Brazil Prison, I would bet my life that the Gambinos Admin at the time didnt even know who Aliar was let alone have him delivered Junior Gotti’s 302s in a Brazilian Prison because Aliar was a nobody and never even a real Associate. He was merely at one point in the 80s Junior Gotti’s toothless, drug dealing midget flunkie that would do whatever Junior said to do and pass him a cut of Drug Dealing Profits that was eventually chased out of Queens by Junior in the early 1990s for selling Drugs to kids and just being a flat out embarassing scumbag who was 5’4 and missing most of his teeth.

-Dante

[funkster]

Ronnie must be in bad shape