Gangland news 26th Oct 2017

[Hailbritain]

George Anastasia

Joey Merlino Going 'All In' Against Sovereign District Of NY

Gang Land Exclusive!Joseph MerlinoPhiladelphia mob chieftain Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino has been called many things over an underworld career that stretches across four decades.

But in his heart Merlino, 55, sees himself as a guy who likes to place bets.

"I'm a gambler," Merlino said shortly after finishing up a 14-year prison sentence for racketeering back in 2012. "That's not illegal. I like to bet. I'm not a bookmaker. I don't like bookmakers."

Several bookmakers who have done business with the charismatic South Philadelphia mob figure probably feel the same way about him. Although given Skinny Joey's rep they might be reluctant to say it. Merlino was eager to collect when he won. He wasn't as eager to pay when he lost.

But that's another story.

The point is Merlino is now placing what might be the biggest bet of his life. He's betting that he can beat federal prosecutors who, on paper at least, indicate they are prepared to take him to trial in January in a massive racketeering conspiracy case that has come apart at the seams.

By the time the jury is seated in Judge Richard J. Sullivan's courtroom in Manhattan, Merlino will likely be the only defendant left in that case.

Richard SullivanMost of the 46 defendants who were charged back in August 2016 have taken plea deals. By January, Skinny Joey might be the last man standing. A case that started out with great fanfare — trumpets blaring and drums pounding, in a government press release announcing the takedown of the then unheard of East Coast LCN Enterprise— has turned out to be more sound than substance.

The plea deals offered by the government have been more than generous. The racketeering conspiracy charge that topped the indictment has been replaced in most cases by lesser charges that carry substantially less jail time.

Bargain deals. And most of the mobsters and mob associates caught up in the flawed investigation jumped at the opportunity to take them.

Merlino, on the other hand, has told several associates that he's not interested.

"I don't care if they offer me one day," he has reportedly said. "I didn't do anything wrong. I'm not pleading guilty."

It could be posturing. It could be a way to wait for an 11th hour offer that is so good no one would turn it down. But those who know and who have tracked Merlino's career don't see it that way.

Pasquale Parrello"He means what he says," said one longtime associate. "He's gonna beat this case."

Merlino is charged with racketeering conspiracy built around allegations of gambling, extortion and medical insurance fraud.

Here's what's at stake.

Merlino knows that the lead defendant, Genovese crime family capo Pasquale (Patsy) Parrello, took the government deal and pled out to three extortion charges. In exchange, Parrello was looking at sentencing guidelines that topped out at 78 months. Judge Sullivan thought it wasn't enough, and gave him seven years.

Like Parrello, Merlino has a long rap sheet. He's got two prior federal convictions, one for racketeering back in 2001 and an earlier conviction from 1990 for an infamous armored truck robbery in Philadelphia.

John RubeoIf Merlino goes to trial and loses he knows he is looking at more time that Parrello. He doesn't get any of the sentencing benefits that come from pleading out, from "accepting responsibility" and from saving the government the cost and time of a trial.

On the other side, the trial could prove to be a major embarrassment for the feds. Everyone knows the FBI played fast and loose with the rules in its handling of John (JR) Rubeo, the Genovese crime family associate who wore a wire and recorded conversations that are at the heart of the case.

As reported earlier by Gang Land, one FBI agent has been disciplined and Rubeo has apparently been jailed (under an assumed name and in a county prison) because the feds believe he roamed way off the reservation while working for the FBI. Facing drug dealing charges (the event that led him to cooperate), he had been free on bail while working for the feds, but reports indicate that his bail may have been revoked or, at the very least, that he has been placed on a short leash by his handlers, living in a hotel or safe house and under constant supervision.

The plot twists and turns of the case, and the numerous questions they evoke, haven't played out like an episode from Law and Order. Rather the law enforcement version of The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight.

Was it Rubeo or the FBI that failed to keep proper tabs on the tapes and text messages he was recording in Florida while hanging with Merlino and setting up mob gambling operations in which Merlino allegedly shared?

John MeringoloWhy was Rubeo operating in Florida without federal authorities there being notified by the New York FBI or prosecutors from the Southern District (better known as the Sovereign District) of New York?

Did Rubeo meet in Philadelphia with top Merlino associates? And if so, why wasn't he wearing a wire then? And why weren't federal prosecutors and FBI agents from that city brought into the loop.

When the indictment was announced and Rubeo was relocated to parts unknown, why was he still driving a car leased in the name of one of the co-defendants in the case, a car whose location could have easily been traced? Was that the kind of security federal authorities provide for protected witnesses?

Was Rubeo the target of a potential hit by members of the Luchese organization because he had stolen gambling proceeds from them while working for the FBI? And was it the feds or Merlino who interceded and possibly saved his life?

If Merlino goes to trial, his lawyers Edwin Jacobs and John Meringolo will surely attempt to bring all that and more in front of the jury.

Still, Skinny Joey risks spending a minimum of eight to ten years in prison if he is convicted.

Edwin JacobsThe government risks major embarrassment and could create a situation where an FBI agent and a cooperating witness are skewered on the witness stand. What the defense has going for it is a tale of organized crime and disorganized law enforcement. How's that going to play out in the media? How's it going to look if numerous federal government failings come out at trial — even if the prosecution wins a conviction.

Worse, what if the government were to lose the case, completely, and Merlino walks, and becomes only the second sitting Mafia boss — remember John Gotti 30 years ago in 1987 — to win a total acquittal of racketeering charges at trial?

Is it worth it to the feds?

That's a look at the gamble from both sides of the table.

What's the over and under if you're making book on that game?

Eugene OnofrioMerlino and those in his camp have been diligently reviewing the hundreds of hours of tapes made by Rubeo. Only a few snippets have been made public, but in one disclosed by the government, Merlino and co-defendant Eugene (Rooster) Onofrio casually discuss how easy it is to "whack" somebody. Rubeo got it all on tape. But there is apparently much more to that conversation.

Hard as it may be to believe, there are those in the Merlino camp who say he is unconcerned about that conversation coming in — assuming the judge rejects a likely defense argument that it is irrelevant. Without going into any details, Merlino has apparently told associates that particular tape is one of his best, meaning one of the most helpful for the defense.

Only time — and a jury trial — will tell.

Merlino is ready to gamble. He's all in.

He's lived his whole life that way.

That infamous armored truck robbery back in Philadelphia offers a glimpse into the way he operates. More than $350,000 in cash was in a bag that mysteriously fell out of the back of a truck that day. A guard in the truck, Merlino and two other associates were in on the scam.

John GottiJoey was supposed to hold the money. His associates saw very little of it and two eventually testified against him. The conviction netted him four years in prison.

The money?

Long gone.

In an interview after he was released from prison back in 2012, Merlino was asked about the truck heist.

He smiled and shook his head. He said he took off for Vegas with most of the cash. Gambled at a blackjack table and had accumulated nearly a half million dollars before his luck turned.

He flew back to Philadelphia broke.

"I took a cab to my mother's house," he said, still smiling. "I had to ask her to pay the fare."

Merlino's Florida Pals Pay A Stiff Price In Fraud Case

Bradley SirkinIt could turn out that the only defendants convicted of racketeering for being part of that made up organized crime entity known as the East Coast LCN Enterprise are two Florida residents who were listed as the 45th and 46th defendants when the New York indictment was announced back in 2016. How's that for irony?

Bradley (Brad) Sirkin and Wayne Kreisberg are scheduled to be sentenced on December 19 after working out plea deals that consolidated the medical insurance fraud charges against them in New York and in a Tampa indictment.

To the average observer, it appeared that the two businessmen were being charged with the same crime in two different jurisdictions. Both were said to be part of a massive health insurance scam built around what authorities said were millions of dollars in phony claims for expensive compound creams to treat pain.

In Tampa, Sirkin, Kreisberg and six others — including a doctor and pharmacist who both agreed to cooperate with investigators — were charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud while in New York the charge was conspiracy to engage in racketeering activity.

Wayne KreisbergIn June both Sirkin and Kreisberg entered guilty pleas to the conspiracy charges, agreeing to have the two cases against them consolidated for plea and sentencing purposes in Tampa.

None of the other defendants in the New York case have been convicted of racketeering conspiracy. In fact, the plea deals in the Southern District of New York have stipulated that that charge would be dropped.

So unless Merlino is convicted, the only criminal "racketeers" in the New York case could turn out to be two Florida businessmen, Sirkin and Kreisberg, who were indicted, some believe, so that New York could charge Merlino with fraud.

In addition, Sirkin has agreed to forfeit $608,854 which prosecutors argued was "proceeds he obtained as a result of the conspiracy to commit health care fraud." Kreisberg took an even bigger hit. His forfeiture number was $11,799,004 and included a $2.6 million home in Parkland Florida (8,677 square feet with seven bedrooms, seven baths, a game room with pool table and a backyard, lavishly landscaped swimming pool area that he allegedly purchased with proceeds from the scam.)

Merlino'sTo date, seven of the eight defendants in the Tampa case have agreed to plead guilty. More than one law enforcement source has argued that Merlino would have been facing a more serious federal problem had he been indicted in Tampa rather than New York.

The Tampa indictment provided a detailed outline of a scam that authorities allege generated $157 million in fraudulent prescription claims paid by unsuspecting insurance companies. The New York indictment provides only a vague description of the allegation and no details about how Sirkin, Kreisberg, Merlino, Pasquale Parrello and two other defendants were involved.

Kreisberg has been described as a businessman who was going to invest in Merlino's now shuttered Boca Raton restaurant.

Sirkin, as earlier reported in Gang Land, was closer to the Philadelphia mobster, often serving as his driver when the two socialized in Florida. Sirkin and Merlino reportedly met in a Florida halfway house where both were finishing up federal sentences in 2012.

Peter LovaglioSirkin has also been identified by New Jersey authorities as the operator of a now shuttered landfill that illegally accepted tainted and possibly carcinogenic refuse. His silent partner in that operation in Palmyra, NJ, was Peter (Pug) Lovaglio, a Bonanno crime family capo, according to authorities.

Gang Land reported earlier this year that Lovaglio, a violent mob figure who was arrested for smashing a cocktail glass into the face of the owner of a Staten Island sushi lounge, has been secretly cooperating with law enforcement for several years and is now doing time in a protected witness wing of a federal prison.

Sirkin is also related through marriage to a soldier in the Luchese crime family, according to a report by the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation.

Mob Informant Ron Previte Always Did It His Way

Ron PreviteRon Previte, the Philadelphia cop-turned-gangster-turned-government witness, died two months ago after suffering a massive heart attack.

His passing was noted, but hardly mourned in the Philadelphia underworld where Previte — labeled the "Fat Rat" — was often vilified by those against whom he had testified. Previte, who was 73, didn't care.

He opted not to go into the Witness Security Program after taking the stand in the 2001 racketeering trial that ended with the convictions of mob leaders Joey Merlino and George Borgesi and five co-defendants.

Instead, he continued to live in South Jersey near Hammonton, NJ, the farming community where he was raised and where he once based his underworld operations. Even before he became a member of the organization, Previte was a player, engaging in gambling, loansharking, extortion, prostitution, drug dealing and any other gambit that could generate income.

"I'm a general practitioner of crime," he said while explaining that he learned more about how to commit crime during his 12 years as a Philadelphia Police Officer than at any other time in his career.

John StanfaBut by the time he fell into the mob orbit — he was a member of the John Stanfa organization in Philadelphia in the mid 1990s — Cosa Nostra wasn't what he expected. Honor and loyalty had been replaced by treachery and deceit, he said.

It was every man for himself.

"You'd have to be Ray Charles not to see it," Previte quipped.

He flourished in that environment, only looking out for a small group of associates who worked with him in the Hammonton area. He first began cooperating with the New Jersey State Police, then segued to the FBI. He wore a body wire for 17 months, recording hundreds of conversations, including several in which then mob boss Ralph Natale negotiated drug deals.

The Previte tapes were one of the reasons Natale flipped and took the witness stand against Merlino and company. Previte also testified at that trial which ended with racketeering convictions. But the feds fell short of convicting Merlino and several others of murder and attempted murder charges and also failed to nail Merlino on narcotics trafficking.

George BorgesiSeveral members of the Boston branch of the Philadelphia mob were convicted as a result of Previte's work and a sting set up by the FBI there. FBI Agent Mike McGowan, whose undercover work is legendary, was the key operative in that investigation.

In retrospect, several of those close to Merlino said they always suspected Previte was cooperating with authorities. Previte would laugh at that assertion and then just shake his head.

Despite being a member of the rival Stanfa faction, Previte said he was able to insinuate himself into the Natale-Merlino crew in the mid 1990s because he always brought Natale and Merlino envelopes full of cash.

These were tribute payments that he said came from his various underworld business ventures but that in reality were provided by the FBI once Previte was wired up.

"I wouldn't have trusted me, but they did," he once said. "They were blinded by greed."

Big Ron spent the last 15 years of his life living on the edge of the underworld. He was a sometime consultant for the FBI and he spoke at FBI and other law enforcement training sessions. He also kept "active" by occasionally partnering with a local bookmaker.

Ralph NataleNothing big. Just a way to keep his hand in the game.

Over the last year, however, failing health had left him virtually immobile.

A few weeks before he died, he talked about how he had lived. Looking back, he said he had no complaints.

"I did a lot of things and I did them on my own terms," he said. "How many people can say that?"

They held a memorial service for him at a funeral home in Hammonton a few weeks after he died. About 100 people gathered to talk about him and the impact he had had on their lives. Family members and friends mingled with FBI agents, State Police detectives and others from law enforcement.

"Who would have ever guessed he would die of natural causes?" asked one of his former law enforcement handlers.

After about two hours, the funeral director announced that the gathering would end with the playing of a song over the audio system. Few people were expecting a hymn and most of them nodded and smiled as Ron Previte was sent off with Frank Sinatra singing My Way.

[willychichi]

Thanks for posting HB, good read. Was it ever revealed what Lucchese member Sirkin is related to?

[DPG]

Thanks for the post hail. Rather enjoyedbgangland this week.

[Fughedaboutit]

Get em Joey! The crooked bastards!

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for the post.

[willychichi]

Get em Joey! The crooked bastards!

[Cheech]

Thanks for posting HB, good read. Was it ever revealed what Lucchese member Sirkin is related to?

Thomas Stabile

[Cheech]

looks like he passed

http://www.fredhunters.com/obituary/179 ... s-Stabile/

[willychichi]

Thanks for posting HB, good read. Was it ever revealed what Lucchese member Sirkin is related to?

Thomas Stabile

Thanks Cheech much obliged.

[Rocco]

He went by Fat Tommy. Hollywood FL crew. He was from NY but he ran with a Jersey Luchese crew back in the 90s. Ran with a soldier under Tumac names Frank Suppa. Suppa flipped when the Jersey Crew imploded. Stabile went down in 94 for a drug setup. I would imagine when he got out he was made when he got out from his 94 conviction if people are calling him a made member today. He wasn't made in the 80s. Suppa set up the drug deal Stabile put the drugs in his car and was nabbed. Whole thing was a set up. Suppa flipped. Thomas Stabile had a brother names Anthony that was around Jimmy Burke in the 70s and 80s. He was an associated of the Luchese thru Burke. Anthony was picked by Burke to murder henry hill but henry went into protection before Anthony could get to him. He later switched to the Gambino Queens crew after Burke crew went down. Anthony was found shot in the head in 1985 by Gambino crime family made soldier, “Banky” Frigente, who was a good friend of Charles Carneglia. Anthony was thrown in the trunk of his own Cadillac DeVille then parked in a vacant field in Ozone Park, Queens, and then shot in the head. Frigente then set the Cadillac on fire. The police investigation led police to Frigente as the shooter.

[Cheech]

good info rocco
thanks

[joeycigars]

George Anastasia says this is a massive racketeering conspiracy case that has come apart at the seams

That about wraps it up so far.

[SonnyBlackstein]

1985 by Gambino crime family made soldier, “Banky” Frigente, who was a good friend of Charles Carneglia. Anthony was thrown in the trunk of his own Cadillac DeVille then parked in a vacant field in Ozone Park, Queens, and then shot in the head. Frigente then set the Cadillac on fire. The police investigation led police to Frigente as the shooter.

"1985 by Gambino crime family made soldier, “Banky” Frigente, who was a good friend of Charles Carneglia. Anthony was thrown in the trunk of his own Cadillac DeVille then parked in a vacant field in Ozone Park, Queens, and then shot in the head. Frigente then set the Cadillac on fire. The police investigation led police to Frigente as the shooter."

http://wikibin.org/articles/anthony-stabile.html


You're a good poster Rocco but if you cut n paste sections from the net, cite them. You're known as a street guy and when you post info without citation it appears as though it's your own knowledge. Situations like this cause people to then doubt what you say.

No beef, but if you post a large whack of content verbatim from the net, just say so is all. Otherwise it reads as your own.

Sonny.

[TommyGambino]

[HairyKnuckles]

1985 by Gambino crime family made soldier, “Banky” Frigente, who was a good friend of Charles Carneglia. Anthony was thrown in the trunk of his own Cadillac DeVille then parked in a vacant field in Ozone Park, Queens, and then shot in the head. Frigente then set the Cadillac on fire. The police investigation led police to Frigente as the shooter.

"1985 by Gambino crime family made soldier, “Banky” Frigente, who was a good friend of Charles Carneglia. Anthony was thrown in the trunk of his own Cadillac DeVille then parked in a vacant field in Ozone Park, Queens, and then shot in the head. Frigente then set the Cadillac on fire. The police investigation led police to Frigente as the shooter."

http://wikibin.org/articles/anthony-stabile.html


You're a good poster Rocco but if you cut n paste sections from the net, cite them. You're known as a street guy and when you post info without citation it appears as though it's your own knowledge. Situations like this cause people to then doubt what you say.

No beef, but if you post a large whack of content verbatim from the net, just say so is all. Otherwise it reads as your own.

Sonny.

Agreed. Good observation Sonny.

Anthony was found shot in the head in 1985 by Gambino crime family made soldier, “Banky” Frigente, who was a good friend of Charles Carneglia

Anthony Stabile was killed in May of 1982 and "Banky" Frigente sounds like a made up name.