Gangland news this week

[Hailbritain]

By Jerry Capeci

FBI Investigating Mob-Busting Agents In Blockbuster Mafia Takedown

Gang Land Exclusive!John RubeoFor five long years, mob associate John (J.R.) Rubeo Jr. double-crossed his underworld cronies. He tape recorded hundreds of conversations. He linked them to numerous crimes. Then last year, law enforcement sources say, he double crossed the feds, deleting a year's worth of phone calls and text messages he had with many of the 46 defendants in the blockbuster Mafia takedown.

As a result, the sources say, Rubeo has undermined the prosecution, and has triggered an internal FBI investigation to determine whether three veteran agents, including a squad supervisor, should be disciplined — or even fired. For what? "Violating the FBI's guidelines that govern the way the Bureau handles informers and cooperating witnesses," said one law enforcement source.

Sources say the FBI's "official investigation" into actions by the agents began about three weeks ago. But the sources say Manhattan federal prosecutors have been questioning Rubeo — and have been voicing concern about his FBI handlers' allegedly poor supervision — since last fall, when they first learned about the lost cell phone communications.

Pasquale ParrelloSources say that two of the agents under investigation, FBI supervisor William Vredenburgh, and agent William Inzerillo, were both transferred last summer from the squad that oversaw the FBI's five-year long investigation. (The investigation also included the use of an undercover G-man who posed as a high-school buddy of Rubeo's during the probe.)

It's unclear, however, whether the agents jumped or were pushed. Some sources say Inzerillo initiated his transfer; others say it was ordered by his FBI bosses. Whatever the reason, it's a big disappointment for all concerned. Last August, Gang Land reported that Vredenburgh, who took over as squad supervisor in the middle of the investigation, began supervising an FBI organized crime in White Plains in the hope he would "breathe new life into the suburban squad."

Both agents declined to comment.

Sources say the third FBI agent under investigation, Joy Adam, is still a member of the squad that supervised Rubeo. Adam, a longtime veteran, has occasionally served as an acting supervisor and was a key player in FBI investigations that led to convictions of the late Mafia boss Vincent (Chin) Gigante and the family's current leader, Liborio (Barney) Bellomo. She also declined to comment.

Joseph MerlinoSpokesmen for the FBI and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office also went mum. They declined to discuss the FBI's internal investigation, the role of the U.S. Attorney's office, or its possible impact on the pending indictment.

Sources say the FBI internal investigation, which The New York Post disclosed in a story posted on its website Sunday, will be handled by the agency's Office of Professional Responsibility. The work by the undercover FBI agent, who served as a driver for Eugene (Rooster) O'Nofrio, a Genovese family capo who was based in Connecticut, is not part of the investigation, the sources said.

But the internal probe allegedly focuses on several aspects of the undercover work of Rubeo, a mob associate who tape recorded many allegedly incriminating conversations with powerful Bronx-based Genovese family capo Pasquale (Patsy) Parrello and Philadelphia mob boss Joseph (Skinny Joe) Merlino.

Rubeo, 41, began cooperating with the FBI in November of 2011 when he was busted on heavy duty drug charges. In addition to videotaping virtually all the conversations he had with his targets, he also used a cell phone the FBI provided to communicate with his gangster buddies.

Eugene O'NofrioBut law enforcement sources say prosecutors were shocked to discover last fall that Rubeo had deleted all the cell phone communications he had with the targets of the investigation between August of 2015 and August of 2016. Gang Land's sources say government experts are attempting to retrieve the calls and texts, and that prosecutors gave defense lawyers details about the deleted cell phone communications in a letter that Judge Richard Sullivan ordered sealed last week.

Prosecutors are also trying to find out why taped talks that Rubeo had with some defendants cannot be found, and why written FBI reports of some debriefings of Rubeo were either lost or never prepared, sources say.

"The agents and prosecutors haven't seen eye to eye on this case from the beginning," said one law enforcement official who is not involved in the case. "I hear it's gotten worse, and the CW (Rubeo) seems to be the bone of contention," the official said.

Pasquale's RigolettoSources say the FBI is also investigating whether agents leaked "confidential" information that ended up in several exclusive Gang Land reports. One was about an alleged plot to whack an Albanian gangster who killed Parrello's son. A second detailed a 2014 Christmas party that Patsy hosted at his Bronx restaurant, Pasquale's Rigoletto, a gala affair attended by Merlino and two of his top wiseguys.

If so, it's news to Gang Land, which hasn't been asked.

But if we do say so ourselves, they were good stories. At the Yuletide bash, Rubeo and the undercover FBI agent, who used the name, "Jeff," both tape recorded conversations with partygoers. Sources say Parrello, O'Nofrio, and Merlino, the alleged ringleaders of the racketeering conspiracy, posed for a picture at the party. As they did, said one law enforcement source, the trio "joked that the photo was going to get them arrested."

Sources say a key aspect of the FBI investigation is whether the three agents withheld details of the probe from mob busting FBI agents in Philadelphia and Miami, which would be against FBI policy.

Judge Richard SullivanIn September, reporter George Anastasia disclosed in an exclusive Gang Land report that secrecy by the New York agents prevented colleagues in those offices from making cases against key aides of Merlino, who lived in Miami and often traveled back and forth to the City of Brotherly Love for meetings. Many of the tape-recorded talks between Rubeo and Merlino took place in Florida.

Meanwhile, members of the defense team were obviously buoyed and upbeat by the government's disclosure about the internal FBI investigation. They are so excited, in fact, they declined to discuss the matter publicly with Gang Land, not wanting to upset Judge Sullivan, whom they say will be "furious" that the substance of the sealed letter has been disclosed.

But attorneys have been talking privately for months about the chief government witness, saying that "Rubeo was a real snake" and that they have come up with lots of "great cross examination material" against him. Trial was inevitable, they said, since prosecutors were insisting that all defendants — including minor defendants, charged only with gambling — would have to plead guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges to dispose of the case.

"This muddies the water a lot," said one defense source. "Now maybe they'll be a little more realistic."

Feds Let Skeevy Turncoat Stew Behind Bars; Convicted Bank Burglar Wants Out

Edward BoyleActions — and sometime non-actions — often speak louder than words. So says onetime mob associate Edmund (Eddie) Boyle, who's asking Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Sterling Johnson to overturn his 2005 bank burglary conviction, even though he's already served his entire sentence of more than nine years behind bars for the crime.

In court papers, Boyle points to the actions of his chief accuser, mob turncoat Gerard (Skeevy) Bellafiore. Last July 4th, Bellafiore was shot and arrested while wearing a Freddy Krueger-like mask and allegedly using a long fisherman's gaffe to fish for cash at a Florida bank.

Boyle also points to the fact that the FBI and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn don't seem particularly interested in rescuing their prime witness. So far, notes Boyle, the feds in Brooklyn have done nothing to spring their once-prized mob turncoat from a Sunshine State lockup where he's been housed since he was arrested for the bank heist and for assaulting the responding police officer with the gaffe hook.

Boyle's attorney, Anthony DiPietro, argues that the long prison stretches that Bellafiore now faces in both state and federal facilities makes it virtually impossible for Brooklyn prosecutors to use him to counter Eddie's claim that they knowingly allowed Skeevy to give false testimony against Boyle at his trial.

Gerard BellafioreBellafiore was on supervised release for federal bank burglary convictions in Florida and New York when he was busted. Federal authorities in Florida are expected to charge him violating his supervised release (VOSR) because the bank heist took place while he was serving strict post prison supervised release restrictions.

DiPietro says Skeevy's skeevy behavior makes it unlikely he'll be available able to counter Boyle's arguments. At trial, Bellafiore testified that prosecutors made no promises about how much time behind bars he would serve for a slew of bank heists to which he had pleaded guilty. But he told a different story at his own sentencing when he told the court that assistant U.S. attorney Greg Andres had promised a sentence of no more than 41 months.

During that proceeding, DiPietro wrote, Judge Edward Korman opined that Andres had agreed to release Bellafiore on bail after he had served 41 months because the prosecutor believed "41 months was more than what he would receive."

Judge Sterling JohnsonDiPietro wrote that in a previous refusal to grant him a new trial based on newly discovered evidence, Johnson did not know about the government's promises that both Bellafiore and his lawyer had made, and Judge Korman's remarks about that, and should reconsider his prior refusal to vacate Boyle's conviction and order a new trial.

Even if Boyle, 50, is successful in overturning his 2005 bank burglary conviction in Brooklyn, he's still facing a long stretch behind bars. In 2010, he was convicted in Manhattan federal court of racketeering charges for committing the same bank burglaries, and sentenced to 20 more years behind bars.

Meanwhile, Bellafiore, 48, who stole about $5 million in bank burglaries across the country from the mid-1990s until 2009, is indigent, awaiting trial, and represented by a legal aid attorney. And he's sure to get a court appointed federal defender when the feds hit him with VOSR.

Wiseguys And Gangstas Cut From The Same Cloth

Sharif BrownThe mob has always had a rule against inducting slackers into the crime family. Made men had to be willing to get their hands dirty if called upon, especially if they wanted to maintain their stature in the borghata. The Crips feel the same way.

Those rules of the gangster road are reflected in court papers in the Manhattan Federal Court racketeering case that alleges the Genovese crime family teamed up with members and associates of the Crips in a failed plot to whack a rival gangster.

So far, two admitted associates of the Crips, and a reputed member of the Crips have pleaded guilty to murder conspiracy and assault conspiracy charges. The sentencing guidelines for the crimes call for prison terms between 22 and 27 years, but the trio have plea deals calling for a maximum sentence of 13 years.

Tyrone McCullumThe no-slackers rule was voiced by Sharif Brown, an apprentice member of the Crips in his guilty plea to Judge Laura Swain. Brown admitted taking part in a "sit down and talks" regarding the planned hit. But the murder plot had to be aborted because too many witnesses were present at the scene.

Since the murder plan was off, he explained, the Genovese family associate who had hired the Crips decided he may as well use them to take care of a different piece of business — beating up a different victim.

Brown said he went along with the Plan B beat-up idea in order to help his buddy, who was a made member of the Bronx-based Crips and needed to show his gangsta bona fides to his own bosses. As Brown explained it, "I agreed with him to assault an individual in Queens knowing that this assault in part would assist him in maintaining his position in the gang."

The assault served a two-fold purpose, according to the sentencing memo the government submitted for the second Crips associate, Tyrone McCullum, who is slated to be sentenced next week.

Luigi RomanoThe leader of the four-man hit team, Kelvin Duke, who has cooperated, asked the driving force in the plot, mob associate Salvatore (Big Sal) Delligatti, and the moneyman who was going to fork over $5000, Liugi (Louie Sunoco) Romano, if there was any other services they could perform in Queens, since "they had traveled from the Bronx and expected to make some money."

Sure thing, replied Delligatti and Romano, who quickly fingered a former Romano employee who had quit and was now working "for a competitor at a BP gas station in Queens," according to the prosecution memo.

But when the mob associates checked out the situation at the BP station, they told the hit team "that the assault could not happen that night, so the plan was not carried out."

The reputed Crips member, Marcus Grant, is slated to plead guilty next week. Like Brown and McCullum, he will face up to 13 years when he faces the music. But Grant, who had a loaded .38 revolver with him when the hit team was arrested on June 8, 2014, and was sentenced to up to four years on weapons possession charges, might be able to get some credit for the time he has already served in state prison.

So far, Delligatti and Romano have rejected any plea deals. They are slated for trial next year.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks HB.

Forgot that there was a Fed undercover. They're still fucked.
Rubeo may get them a few years off a plea but with an undercover Fed recording and testifying I cannot see dismissals.

[willychichi]

Good read Thanks for posting it.

[willychichi]

Since the undercover Fed was driving D'nofrio around i'm sure he has got a lot of good stories to tell and it's safe to say D'nofrio is going away for a long time

[joeycigars]

WOW , a years worth of phone calls missing WTF...How could a CI hold the only copies of wire tap recordings on a Federal phone of a Federal investigation for a year , This is HUGE FBI F--K up not CI ,Looks like Rubeo is the scape goat here

"prosecutors were shocked to discover last fall that Rubeo had deleted all the cell phone communications he had with the targets of the investigation between August of 2015 and August of 2016"

And the probe focuses on Rubeo ,

Merlino and Pasty might have a gift here

[SonnyBlackstein]

How could a CI hold the only copies of wire tap recordings on a Federal phone of a Federal investigation for a year

Good point

Merlino and Pasty might have a gift here

Still another four years of recordings. Not including the fed.

They're still fucked IMO

[OlBlueEyesClub]

Merlino & Parrello might've been thrown a bone here. Sounds like Rubeo was getting too close to guys and began re-thinking his cooperation. Either way, it's crazy his surveillance was that lax, being a CW and all, to the point that he could delete a years worth of texts. Sounds like Onofrio is a goner no matter what though, he may be the only one to go down in this case, you know it'd be a loss for the prosecutors but it's something they'd take for compensation until the next investigation. Nuts.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Onofrio....he may be the only one to go down in this case...

What do you think the Feds are going to do with the other four years of recordings against Parello and Merlino?
Throw them away?

[TommyNoto]

They are going to question his credibility which matter a great deal . If defense can make his info look suspect to the jury then those 4 years don't matter

[OlBlueEyesClub]

They are going to question his credibility which matter a great deal . If defense can make his info look suspect to the jury then those 4 years don't matter

Yup. That would definitely come into play, other factors will decide as well, like again, how was his supervision so lax that he was able to delete a years worth of text. Why he decided to delete those texts and not the others,were there any specific reason? The feds knew about his trangressions for a year and seemingly tried to fix it when they altered Merlinos bail and restrictions, the federal agents themselves also come into question, when it's being investigated how certain written FBI reports went missing or weren't even filed in the first place. It raises questions, which can tarnish an investigation in it's entirety.

[SonnyBlackstein]

I dont think the witnesses 'character' or 'bureaucratic bungling' by the Feds would make any difference if Merlino/Parrello are convicting themselves by their own words on tape and video.

[Cheech]

None of it matters. If there is misconduct it gets thrown out. They cant even find some debriefings.

They walk

[SonnyBlackstein]

Wow. Huge.

Cheers Cheech.

[joeycigars]

How could a CI hold the only copies of wire tap recordings on a Federal phone of a Federal investigation for a year

Good point

Merlino and Pasty might have a gift here

Still another four years of recordings. Not including the fed.

They're still fucked IMO

Yes Your right there is a few years of evidence -But I would think its worth is diminished substantially by the CI and the FEDs erasing key evidence, Juries wont buy the whole enchilada now , Also the FED undercover posed as a high school buddy of Rubeo dont think he would get to close to Merlino , After all Merlino is the still boss of the Philly mob doing business with or in front of a friend of a associate would be hard to believe IMO , Merlino didnt say much to Nicky Skins on tape and he was made , I wanna See how far they got , Rubeo was blessed by Parello and got close to Merlino but F--ked up the evidence, This is gonna be interesting.

[SonnyBlackstein]

This is gonna be interesting.

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