Gangland:4/28/16

[Dellacroce]

Bonannos Go All In; Reject A Mistrial In State Racketeering Case

There is no doubt that Manhattan prosecutors introduced plenty of evidence that four accused Bonanno gangsters were involved in many crimes during their ten-week-long state racketeering trial in Manhattan Supreme Court. They owned lots of guns, sold marijuana, were engaged in extortion, ran a lucrative online bookmaking operation, and illegally sold prescription drugs including Viagra and Cialis, according to testimony and tape-recordings at the trial.

Despite that, the alleged fearsome foursome — whose trial began in February — may just beat those overwhelming odds the same way their Bonanno family cohort Vincent Asaro beat his own federal racketeering indictment late last year.

That's not because there isn't a stack of strong evidence against capos Nicholas (Nicky Mouth) Santora, Ernest (Ernie) Aiello, and Vito Badamo, or associate Anthony (Skinny) Santoro. The problem for the prosecutors is that the jurors have to find them guilty of committing their crimes in Manhattan. And based on their early notes, the jury is having a hard time doing so. Notes show they specifically asked about venue, where the alleged crimes took place. After talking for two days last week, jurors took a 10-day spring recess. They are slated to resume deliberations Monday.

But here's the scorecard: Of 299 so-called pattern acts in the oversized indictment, only five allegedly took place in Manhattan. Three of those involve perjury counts against the ousted president of Teamsters Local 917, Nicholas Bernhard; two charge a union member, Scott O'Neill, with loansharking. And there was no testimony linking any of the four defendants to any of those pattern acts, which entail only two specific crimes, loansharking and perjury.

Despite that pronounced paucity of evidence, lead prosecutor Gary Galperin argued in his closing statement that jurors could find that the corrupt union officials were part and parcel of the illegal activities of the accused Bonanno crime family crew, and convict defendants Santora, 73, Aiello, 36, Badamo, 53, and Santoro, 52, of enterprise corruption.

"The union connection itself is important to the criminal enterprise," Galperin told the jury. He cited a conversation in which Badamo and Santoro were tape-recorded "promoting Bernhard's election in the fall of 2010." On the tape the men can be heard rejoicing, "Oh, this is going to be good," after Bernhard's election, he said. The alleged racketeering scheme lasted from March of 2010 until February of 2012.

The prosecutor also reminded jurors that they had heard testimony that Local 917 members placed bets with the Bonanno crime family. And he recalled that the investigation was triggered by three usurious loans that a union worker from Brooklyn named Simon Katsimbrakis had taken out from O'Neill and Bernhard — loans that were the basis of extortion charges against the four defendants.

The defense team agreed wholeheartedly with Galperin about the origin of the case. But each cited testimony by Katsimbrakis absolving all four men of any knowledge of the loans as proof that O'Neill and Bernard were the loansharks, not their clients. Katsimbrakis testified that he knew both Santoro and Badamo from his neighborhood in Williamsburg where they grew up, but he insisted that neither man, nor the other defendants, whom he had never met, had any involvement in the loans, or had ever threatened him. His only fears about the loans, he testified, was that his wife would find out about them.

Galperin's proposition, argued Santoro's attorney, Adam Konta, was like "watching children forcing puzzle pieces into a puzzle that just doesn't fit." Out of "roughly 500 calls and texts" that prosecutors put into evidence, there was "not a single call or text between O'Neill and anyone other than Nick Bernhard," said Konta. "But that's not the way they want the puzzle piece to fit for this case so they just jam it in there and hope nobody notices."

But the defense lawyer zeroed in on the geography issues. "No part of this case takes place in New York County," added Konta. "You all have to decide jurisdiction before you even get to your deliberations. Take some time with that, because what pattern acts actually occurred here in New York county? None. This case never should have gone to trial to begin with, but it certainly shouldn't have gone to trial in New York county."

Michael Alber, the lawyer for Santora, told jurors that Bernhard had an attorney with him when he testified before a union hearing officer in Manhattan and "committed perjury on his own accord when he was sworn in and under oath. His own investigation. His own dealings. You know that is one of the biggest pieces (of this case) and that it's not in furtherance the enterprise."

The attorney also noted that from October 1, 2010 until January 1 of 2011, when his client's car was bugged and he was caught in many embarrassing talks with Badamo about how to conduct himself in public if he wanted to take over Santora's crew, there wasn't a single discussion about O'Neill's loan to Katsimbrakis, even though he missed six payments during that time frame.

"He is six weeks behind," said Alber. "Nobody goes and threatens him, nobody touches him, he fears his wife. Most important issue: Mr. Santora's not invo1ved with it in those unguarded conversations. Doesn't know he's being recorded at this moment. No lending money to Simon Katsimbrakis, nothing of the sort. They want you to take snippets from that car bug to make you believe he is the almighty."

Even though Santora had a previous guilty plea to federal extortion charges — a fact the jury knew — there wasn't "one piece of evidence from the conversations that they have introduced to establish any connection to the criminal pattern acts of this indictment," Alber declared. "They can allege he is the biggest gangster since Al Capone. He can be the biggest gangster you can ever meet, but if he didn't do three criminal pattern acts you have to find him not guilty."

Aiello's lawyer, Stacey Richman, noted that gambling — the centerpiece of the prosecution's case with more than 250 pattern acts — had nothing to do with Katsimbrakis's loanshark debts. "He used to flip homes and he got in over his head and he couldn't take out a loan at a regular bank because he didn't have the credit line."

"There is literally nothing here," she said, noting that when she asked NYPD detectives whether there was "any evidence whatsoever that Mr. Aiello or, frankly, any of these guys knew about this loan with Scott O'Neill, and the answer is, 'No.' No evidence. We are talking proof beyond a reasonable doubt. They got nothing."

Richman wrapped up her closing remarks by noting the important venue issue and a well-known New York phrase that became the title of a 1989 Spike Lee movie starring Danny Aiello.

"Why are we in New York County? Nothing happened here," she said. "Not as to these people. They didn't know about the others. Do the Right Thing, ladies and gentlemen. Do the just thing, and find the only true verdict here, and that's not guilty."

It's impossible to predict the outcomes of jury deliberations, especially after long, complicated trials. But there's no question that defense lawyers — and their clients — were eager to have the jury render a verdict rather than opt for a mistrial that was available for the asking.

That situation arose on the last day of closing arguments, when Judge Mark Dwyer discussed the likely need for a suspension of jury deliberations after two days because the trial had gone much longer than prosecutors had planned and five of the 12 jurors would not be available to deliberate this week because of prior family commitments beginning last Friday, the first day of Passover.

Since it was very unlikely they would be able to reach a verdict in two days, Dwyer opined, he needed assurances that the defense would agree to suspend deliberations before they began, or he would have to declare a mistrial in the case.

"I think we have made it pretty clear that we are not pushing for a mistrial here," said Konta, who like all the attorneys, including Badamo lawyer, Joseph Donatelli, agreed to the 10-day break in jury deliberations, something Gang Land, nor any of its lawyer friends, had ever heard of before.

It's impossible to predict in what direction the jurors will go when they return next week, but defense lawyers were cautiously optimistic about two questions they posed to the court — and Judge Dwyer's answers to them — during their brief discussions about the evidence last week. A spokeswoman for the DA's office declined to discuss the jury notes.

Dwyer informed jurors that they had to be unanimous about the venue of each pattern act, and that there was no tape-recorded conversation in which Skinny Santoro was heard talking to Nicholas Bernhard about any loans that Scott O'Neill made to Simon Katsimbrakis.

If convicted of enterprise corruption, each defendant faces a maximum prison term of 25 years.

No Action In DA's Landmark Case Against Online Sports Betting Guru

In March, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance won an important appeals court ruling allowing him to re-try a landmark case against a wiseguy and the creators of online betting software on upgraded gambling and money laundering charges. But seven weeks later, the DA's rackets bureau is dragging its feet on moving ahead with the case.

The indictment against Robert Stuart, his wife, brother-in-law and company, and Gambino mobster Joseph Isgro, is scheduled for trial in mid-May. But the DA's office still hasn't replaced the case's mob-busting lead prosecutor who informed Vance back in December that, for personal reasons, he was retiring after a 38-year career.

Trial was originally slated to begin in January, but Stuart's lawyers got it put off by lobbing a "vindictive prosecution" charge against assistant District Attorney Eric Seidel, who guided the five-year-long investigation through a hung jury, and then obtained a new enhanced indictment against Stuart, his wife Susanne, and her brother Patrick Read.

The delay officially ended March 10 when the Appellate Division dismissed the accusations against ADA Seidel in a one sentence ruling. The case, which was announced with a flourish when it was first brought in 2012, is slated for re-trial before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Bonnie Wittner on May 16. But it is highly unlikely to begin then — if at all.

Law enforcement sources say that the current indictment, which alleges an eight-year-long conspiracy from 2005 until the first trial ended with a hung jury in October of 2013, has more witnesses, more tape recorded talks, and is more complicated than the first prosecution. "It will takes several weeks" for another prosecutor to get up to speed on the case and work effectively with holdover ADA Carey Ng, said one.

Sources say that Ng began asking that a new co-prosecutor be assigned even before Seidel retired. But as of this week, the sources say, Ng is still handling the case on his own. Neither he nor supervisor Jodi Kane responded to a call from Gang Land. Spokeswoman Roxanne Leong said the office would state its intentions in court on May 16.

Robert Stuart's attorney Ryan Blanch told Gang Land that his client and his codefendants are "pushing forward, all systems go," but stated that he "would be surprised" if the DA's office "declares itself ready for trial and we start picking a jury" in two weeks.

"We have clients that insist on their innocence and they expect to be vindicated so we're ready for trial," said Blanch. On the other hand, he noted, "Everyone in the DA's office who generated this case is gone. No one is left. The wheels of justice turn slowly and sometimes delay is a defense attorney's best friend. We'll be ready. Whether or not the People are remains to be seen."

Isgro's attorney did not respond to a query about the case. Contacted by Gang Land, Seidel, who spent the last 17 years of his career in the Manhattan DA's office, many as an organized crime supervisor, said: "It's an important case and I hope that the office would treat it appropriately."

The original Stuart indictment was based on info the DA's office obtained in 2009 during an investigation into allegations that Gambino capo Joseph (Joe The Blond) Giordano had extorted $50,000 from a contractor. But the crime family's involvement in the case was left out of the indictment to protect the Giordano victim from possible mob retaliation.

In announcing the indictment in 2012, Vance stated that the Stuarts "abetted large-scale illegal gambling in the U.S. and abroad" and made upwards of $2.3 million in illegal income from 13 states, including Florida, California and the three in the New York tri-state area but made no mention of organized crime.

But that changed after Giordano died in October of 2013, around the same time as the first trial ended. The DA's office used tape-recorded conversations involving the mobsters and the testimony of turncoat capo Michael (Mikey Scars) DiLeonardo to obtain its indictment. Isgro, a crony of the late John Gotti who operates in California, and low-level bookmaker Leonard (Columbus) Rapisardi were indicted along with the Stuarts and their company, Extension Software. Rapisardi, 65, copped a plea deal, and received three years probation.

If convicted at trial, the others face up to 15 years behind bars, but would probably receive much less.

Genovese Gangster Catches A Break Due To Government Screw-Up

A Manhattan federal judge made prosecutors pay Tuesday for a screw-up they made last year when they mistakenly lowballed the recommended sentence for Genovese capo Daniel Pagano. As a result, Judge Ronnie Abrams handed gangster Michael (Mikey P) Palazzolo a sentence of 30 months behind bars for racketeering — 11 months less than the minimum prison term recommended by the sentencing guidelines in his plea agreement.

During the proceeding, a trio of prosecutors acknowledged they had fouled up when calculating the sentencing guidelines for Pagano, who was Mikey P's mob supervisor. But they maintained that was no reason for the judge to also give him a prison term below the 41-to-51 months called for in his plea agreement.

Abrams, who wrote two weeks ago that she was inclined to follow sentencing statutes that call for judges ''to avoid unwarranted sentence disparities among defendants with similar records who have been found guilty of similar conduct," said she disagreed with assistant U.S. attorneys Abigail Kurland, Jennifer Burns and Scott Hartman.

The judge went along with the argument by Palazzolo attorney Lloyd Epstein that his client, who was an underling of Pagano, deserved a comparable time behind bars especially since government officials had stated that Mikey P had a minor role in the racketeering scheme.

Even so, Abrams did sentence Palazzolo, who was heard flaunting his propensity for violence in tape recorded conversations during the lengthy probe, to three months more than the 27-month term she gave the 63-year-old mob capo. Like Pagano, the 51-year-old Palazzolo will have to serve three years of strict post-prison supervised release when he completes his sentence.

[Pogo The Clown]

The problem for the prosecutors is that the jurors have to find them guilty of committing their crimes in Manhattan.

What kind of stupid rule is this?


Pogo

[johnny_scootch]

The problem for the prosecutors is that the jurors have to find them guilty of committing their crimes in Manhattan.

What kind of stupid rule is this?


Pogo

It's not stupid. Whats stupid is charing these men in the wrong county.

[Pogo The Clown]

Of course it's stupid. So a bunch of career criminals can walk because they committed their crimes in Brooklyn instead of Manhattan? These kind of stupid technicalities are just one reason why the American justice system is a complete joke.


Pogo

[SonnyBlackstein]

Have to agree with Crazy Clown.

Reminds me of watching the Dukes of Hazard as a kid and the insanity of the Duke boys reaching the county line and Boss Hog couldnt pursue them any more.

To not be able to try someone for crimes in Manhattan committed in Brooklyn is laughable.
No matter how you spin it.

[SonnyBlackstein]

And Ive bitten my tongue about this but if Capeci doesnt learn the difference between terms (associate, made guy etc) he's going to get a sternly worded email.

These things MEAN something Jerry. A Made guy is NOT an associate.
Jeezus H how hard is it....

[phatmatress777]

He must not be editing his interns papers anymore...


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