Gangland 8/31/2023

[Dr031718]

Stevie Blue Hopes His Third Time On The Stand In The 'Smoking Gun' Case Is The Charm


More than 35 years ago, Bonanno soldier Stephen (Stevie Blue) Locurto took the stand to spin a great story that won him an acquittal for a murder he had committed on a Manhattan street corner. Later, his luck ran out and he was convicted of the killing, this time in federal court in the "smoking gun" case, so named because Locurto was arrested with the murder weapon in hand shortly after the shooting. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Now, Locurto, 63, is headed back to the stand again. This time, he'll try to convince a U.S. Magistrate Judge that he would have pleaded guilty to the murder the second time around — if only he had received good legal advice from an appeals lawyer.

His lawyer at the second "smoking gun" trial is also likely to testify, if he is able. But Stevie Blue controls his own destiny in the upcoming hearing, and he is eager and confident that he's got the goods to win this legal battle against federal prosecutors in Brooklyn.

Locurto made that very clear during a pre-hearing conference last week, agreeing wholeheartedly with his attorney, who stated that Locurto was the only witness he was planning to call to prove their case, and win a reversal of his conviction. Stevie Blue spoke out twice about documents in his trial lawyer's "handwriting" which prove that he would have taken a plea deal of 20 years.

At one point, his lawyer, Bernard Freamon, shushed him repeatedly to wait until the hearing to disclose that information. But the irrepressible defendant kept trying to detail the "proof" that they would offer until Judge Sanket Bulsara assured him he would give him "an opportunity at the hearing to make those points."

The government concedes that Locurto got bad legal advice before his 2006 trial when he was found guilty of the 1986 murder of gangster Joseph Platia. But it argues he was not prejudiced by that because he intended to go to trial again, and win a second acquittal for the same murder in which he pumped five bullets into his victim as he sat behind the wheel of his car.

"Locurto would not have accepted any plea offer that required him to allocute to racketeering conspiracy and to the murder," prosecutor Tanya Hajjar told the judge. She cited info from trial lawyer Harry Batchelder that his client had stated "in no uncertain terms" that he "wanted to go to trial," as well as Stevie Blue's statement to a jailed cohort that "he was going to fight the charges because the only person that was with him when it happened was dead."

Hajjar acknowledged that it was "theoretically possible" that a plea offer could have been drafted, approved and presented to Locurto. "But none of that occurred," the prosecutor said. She argued that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for the defendant to establish that a "plea offer could have been consummated" since "no formal" offer was ever extended to him.

Bulsara disagreed. He noted that trial Judge Nicholas Garaufis had stated in an early ruling that "an informal offer" could provide "Locurto relief" despite the government assertion that Batchelder had no formal discussions with trial prosecutor John Buretta or supervisor Greg Andres. That is a major contention of Freamon, who seeks documents about plea negotiations that were written by Andres, who has no memory of the negotiations, or the documents.

Freamon believes the Andres documents "will tend to establish" that a plea offer of "20 years was on the table" at the time. Judge Bulsara ruled last week that he will also have to get Batchelder to testify that he too also has no recollections about the plea negotiations in order to get them.

"If it's necessary to call him, I can do that," said Freamon, even though Batchelder is an "adverse witness" in the case. "We are not afraid of the truth here," Freamon said. "And so if Mr. Batchelder's helpful to establishing the truth of what happened, we're willing to call him in order to get them."

Hajjar stated she would contact Batchelder, 87, who lives in New Hampshire, "and may be in poor health." She said she would alert Freamon and the judge whether Batchelder will be able to testify, either in court or via a remote hookup. Batchelder has already stated in an affidavit that he told Locurto that he would spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted at trial, despite what appeals specialist Laura Oppenheim had told him.

But Hajjar informed the court last week that the government would rely solely on the documents they had filed in the 13-year-old lawsuit as well as documents from the trial in opposing his motion to throw out his conviction on the grounds of ineffective advice of counsel. They will also cross examine Stevie Blue.

The government takes the position that whatever advice Oppenheim gave Locurto is irrelevant since she wasn't his official lawyer.

Bulsara has adopted a prior ruling by Garaufis that will enable Freamon to rebut that government assertion on the grounds that Locurto had good reason to rely on the advice he got from Oppenheim, and he would have made a different decision – that is, taken the 20 year deal – if he had "gotten the right advice."

That's the main issue, Freamon has repeated several times, citing a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reversed a conviction of a Michigan man who wanted to take a plea deal calling for 85 months in prison but received bad legal advice to reject it and received 30 years in prison after trial. "The result would have been different if he had gotten the right advice," said Freamon.

Locurto's first colloquy with Judge Bulsara came during a discussion among the parties about the Andres documents, after a private discussion between the defendant and his lawyer.

Stevie Blue stated that they disagree with the government claim "that there wasn't a 20-year offer and that I wouldn't have accepted. I have documents right here in Harry Batchelder's letterhead stating that he spoke to Andres first, and then he spoke to (U.S. Attorney) Loretta (Lynch) second about plea bargaining, 10 to 15 years."

"My position was, Your Honor," Locurto continued, "that if I'm only going to get 20 years because of the ex post facto, why should I take a 20-year plea?
THE COURT: "I understand. Let me be clear. You can put in those documents, you can. During the hearing, okay, you can call any witnesses. I assume you're going to testify.
THE DEFENDANT: That's for sure, Your Honor.

Locurto's second discussion with the judge, the one that surprised his lawyer, came when Stevie Blue interrupted a discussion that Bulsara was having with the prosecutor about the "prejudice" that may or may not have impacted Locurto's decision to go to trial.

THE DEFENDANT: One second, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Yes.
Judge Sanket BulsaraTHE DEFENDANT: Ms. Oppenheim was hired specifically to do the legal research and the work for Harry Batchelder, and she's the one who came to me.
MR. FREAMON: You really don't have to talk about that.
THE COURT: Mr. Locurto.
MR. FREAMON: You don't have to talk about this.
THE COURT: I'm happy to hear from you.
THE DEFENDANT: We have proof of that in his own handwriting in letters and
MR. FREAMON: It's not necessary to do that now.
THE COURT: I'm not agreeing with you one way or the other, but I'm giving you an opportunity at the hearing to make those points.
THE DEFENDANT: Okay. Thank you, Your Honor.

The hearing is currently slated to be a one-day session on September 14. But that may change depending on whether Batchelder will testify, either in person or via a remote hookup, and whether that leads to Freamon winning his motion to obtain the four Andres documents regarding plea negotiations in the case.

For years after his acquittal, Locurto, who was arrested with the murder weapon in his pocket a few minutes after he killed his victim, and his Bonanno cohorts dubbed his case the "smoking gun" case and joked about how he beat the case even though cops found the "smoking gun" in his pocket.

Stevie Blue stopped joking about the case in 2006, and is hoping that he'll be able to now admit his guilt, and receive a 20-year prison term for the "smoking gun" case. The feds want him to remember everything about the case, jokes and all, behind bars until he drops.

Feds Have It Both Ways, Twice, In Their Sentencing Memo of Michael Michael

"You can't have it both ways," is an expression that most level headed folks accept. But not the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office. In its sentencing memo for mob associate Mileta (Michael Michael) Miljanic, it argued out of both sides of its mouth, so to speak, about two separate issues in the case. And it didn't hurt the feds at all, even though they were called on it.

The reputed leader of Grupo Amerika, a violent Serbian-American gang, Miljanic has been under investigation for construction industry racketeering with the Gambino family for at least three years. But so far, the only rackets the feds have been able to pin on him involve an illegal gun and some tax and small business fraud.

Last week, Uncle Sam put one of those cases to rest when Michael Michael received a guidelines sentence of 33 months behind bars for defrauding the Small Business Administration and the IRS of $875,000 from 2018 to 2020.

Miljanic, 63, has agreed to make restitution. He'll also have to serve three years of post-prison supervised release.

He had argued that he deserved a max of 17 months in prison. In an effective-sounding pitch, he argued that his company, MDP Rebar Solutions, was not a "shell" company as the feds stated when he was arrested for SBA fraud in May of 2022. His lawyer asserted that MDP Rebar was a legit and going business, having installed steel reinforced bars in five major NYC projects without any problems between 2018 and 2020.

On top of that, the feds never charged Michael Michael with racketeering, and he had already served 16 months for a related gun charge that stemmed from a federal raid on his home during the racketeering probe. The loaded gun was found by cops on Miljanic's night table in February 2021 during a search for evidence of his racketeering activity.

To no one's surprise, the government argued against the lowball sentence request, citing Michael Michael's ties to Grupo Amerika, the Gambinos, and Bosko Radonjich, the legendary Serbian gangster who allegedly had a role in fixing the racketeering and murder trial of Mafia boss John Gotti in 1987. The feds also pointed to Miljanic's prior convictions for crimes in the U.S. and Italy.

Since Michael Michael had been tape-recorded speaking with mobsters, as Gang Land has reported several times since his arrest and detention after his gun bust, he had to expect his longtime mob ties would be brought up at sentencing.

And assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Herman didn't disappoint. He told White Plains Judge Philip Halpern that Gambino consigliere Lorenzo Mannino was paid $569,500 for performing "little to no work for MDP Rebar," and that Miljanic and capo Louis (Bo) Filippelli joked about it in a taped phone call that the feds picked up between the two of you.

On April 27, 2020, the prosecutor reported, Michael Michael told Filippelli that Mannino — their "friend" as he called him — had left a construction site after just two minutes because "he freeze his ass." Filippelli replied, "Tell him if he wants to get paid, he better show up to fucking work."

The AUSA also noted that Miljanic was seen meeting with the corrupt ex-plumbers union official, James Cahill, who "referred to Miljanic as a member of a 'mass murdering crew' and someone 'they're all scared of'" in a discussion with a wired up contractor.

Attorney Joseph Corozzo countered that it was bad faith for Herman to argue that it was "highly improbable" that MDP Rebar had "provided 'legitimate' rebar services" at job sites since Miljanic had admitted earning enough money to cheat the IRS out of $621,700 in taxes in 2018 and 2019. In addition, the lawyer wrote, the Pre-Sentence Report to Judge Halpern stated that his firm had more than $4 million in legitimate expenses those years.

The attorney argued that the feds "cannot, in good faith" state that "MDP Rebar was nothing but a front for racketeering activity" since they had determined that Miljanic's "construction business has over $4 million in legitimate, uncontested expenses over a two-year period."

"MDP Rebar was, in fact, legitimately in the construction business, notwithstanding the fraud committed by the defendant," Corozzo wrote. "How can the Government dispute the company's legitimacy after conceding that millions of the reported expenses were legitimate," the lawyer asked.

Corozzo also asserted that Herman had "erroneously claimed" that the feds needed 14 months to investigate Miljanic before charging him with an SBA fraud in May of 2022 just as his prison term for gun possession ended. That case was prosecuted in Brooklyn because Miljanic possessed a gun in his Queens apartment, which was not in the jurisdiction of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney.

Corozzo noted that FBI agent Paul Harris had stated in an affidavit "on February 19, 2021 that Mr. Miljanic had defrauded the SBA" by obtaining "an economic injury disaster loan," and that on May 4, 2022, when his client was about to complete his weapons possession prison term, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office filed a complaint charging him with defrauding the SBA.

The lawyer's assertions that the feds argued both sides of two issues against his client were unanswered at his client's sentencing, Corozzo told Gang Land.

The one positive note for Miljanic is that he'll soon be moved out of the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he's been housed for 30 months under awful living conditions, and assigned to one with more livable conditions. He'll have to serve about 11 more months behind bars, according to Bureau of Prisons protocol involving the standard reductions for earned "good time."

Queens DA Investigates Death Of 88-Year-Old Pedestrian 'Tapped' By Truck Driven By Mob Associate

Prosecutors are investigating the death of a frisky 88-year-old Middle Village, Queens denizen who died three weeks after being struck by a truck driven by a longtime Bonanno family associate named Filippo (Fat Phil) Bonura, Gang Land has learned.

Bonura, who told police he'd only "tapped" the elderly pedestrian, was initially charged with driving with a suspended license. But since the victim died, the incident is currently being eyed as a possible homicide, authorities say.

"Thank God I wasn't going fast. I just tapped him with the truck," Bonura told police officer Michael Oswald, who responded to the 5 AM accident at 61-88 Dry Harbor Road on July 29, according to the complaint filed in Queens Criminal Court.

Bonura, 48, was charged with a misdemeanor. A status conference in the case is scheduled in October. The case is now under investigation as a possible homicide, according to an investigator for Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.

Bonura lost his longshoreman's job in 2017 after the Waterfront Commission of New York and New Jersey found he was associating with Bonanno mobsters, including the powerful Howard Beach-based wiseguy Ronald (Ronnie G) Giallanzo.

When cops arrived at the scene, the victim, Chung Lun Shao, was sitting on the sidewalk with a deep cut to his elbow. He was taken to Elmhurst General Hospital with injuries that were initially thought not to be serious.

But a closer look revealed numerous injuries received from the crash, including a punctured lung, broken ribs, a fractured pelvis, internal bleeding and bleeding of the brain. On August 20, three weeks after the accident, he died, according to police and relatives of the deceased.

Bonura told police that Shao had walked out into the street between two cars right in front of him when he hit him, according to authorities.

Shao's daughter Alice told the Daily News that's not what happened. She has seen video of the accident, which she provided the newspaper, and her belief is that it was "completely the driver's fault." Bonura had "basically killed my father," she told The News.

"The footage" of the video she obtained, according to Daily News reporter Thomas Tracy, "shows the old man clearly visible in the roadway for several seconds when the driver struck him."

Her father was still working as a chef and "had no serious issues," despite his age, Alice Shao told the paper. "He took care of himself pretty well. He was still able to do a lot of things that most people couldn't at that age," she said.

She stated she was "upset and a little angry" after the crash, but became more so "as more details came and I saw the footage," she said. "I realized the driver lied, and even his demeanor after hitting him — throwing his hands up in the air — it was as if it was an inconvenience to him."

Her dad, who was a light sleeper and often took early morning walks around the neighborhood, was killed around the corner from where he lived.

Sources say Bonura remained at the scene after the accident, and did not seem intoxicated or under the influence of any drugs. He was not given a sobriety test. He was charged with driving with a suspended license after a check with DMV showed that his license, which has been suspended five times in the past, was suspended in January of last year.

This isn't Bonura's first confrontation with the law. He's had prior arrests for illegal gambling and extortion, according to the 2017 decision by an administrative law judge who decided that Bonura's continued employment as a longshoreman would be "inimical" to the policies of the Waterfront Commission Act.

Sources say that on May 3, 2017, a day before the ALJ heard testimony regarding the charges Commission investigators had lodged against him, Bonura received a summons for illegal gambling at a social club above an Ozone Park funeral home that was operated by Angelo Moccia, a Gambino family associate who passed away in 2020.

In addition to Gallianzo, the ALJ found that Bonura had "inimical" associations with Bonanno soldier Sandro (Santo) Aiosa and capo Giacomo (Jack) Bonventre, with whom Bonura became friendly when he worked in a deli owned by the wiseguy.

[Dapper_Don]

thanks for posting

[Ivan]

That part where Fillipelli joked about how Lorenzo Mannino had better "get his ass to work if he wants to get paid" cracked me up. Thanks for posting.

[Southshore88]

Thanks for posting

[JohnnyS]

Thanks for posting.

[TommyGambino]

Not always clear with Capeci but is he saying Bonventre is currently a captain?

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for posting.

Bonventra a Capo

[SonnyBlackstein]

Not always clear with Capeci but is he saying Bonventre is currently a captain?

Agree, it is ambiguous, but appears that way

[Wiseguy]

Not always clear with Capeci but is he saying Bonventre is currently a captain?

Agree, it is ambiguous, but appears that way

That seems to be past tense, i.e. he was a captain in 2017.

[JohnnyS]

Sandro Aiosa died earlier this year. Capeci should've mentioned that.

[OcSleeper]

Might be wrong but I don't remember him being a captain around 2017 or at any time. In the mid 2000s he was acting for Jerome Asaro but had since been replaced. Would it be possible he took over one of the Grimaldi crews?

[AntComello]

Just saw Bonventre yesterday I drove by his auto body shop and he’s always outside. They guy def comes off as legit he’s always there. On another note Capeci keeps referring to this “violent Serbian gang” but what evidence do we have of that? And that Michael Michael is part of a mass murdering crew? Anyone?

[aray22]

Just saw Bonventre yesterday I drove by his auto body shop and he’s always outside. They guy def comes off as legit he’s always there.

Doesn't he live in upstate New York? Hard to imagine him being a captain from there?

[SonnyBlackstein]

That seems to be past tense, i.e. he was a captain in 2017.

Perhaps the clue is with Aiosa. As he's now deceased and Capeci fails to mention, one could infoer he was referring to the 2017 timeframe and logically Bonventre would follow.

First Ive heard Bonventre a Capo back then.

[Wiseguy]

Here's the NYWC info in question. It should be noted that they aren't always the most attentive to detail in terms of keeping up with current status of people. Just one example, they identified Anthony Ciccone as a captain as late as 2019 even though that's likely not the case. Bonventre was indicted as an acting captain in 2014 and it's likely that was the most recent information the Commission had. I'm not sure why Capeci labeled him a captain but Jerry Asaro was identified as captain just this year and it would be a little strange for Bonventre to jump ahead of Giallanzo, especially as said, when he's living up state.


WCNYH
LONGSHOREMAN’S REGISTRATION REVOKED FOR ASSOCIATION WITH THREE BONANNO CRIME FAMILY FIGURES
May 30, 2017

Filippo Bonura, 42, of Oceanside, New York, who has been a longshoreman since 2005, had his registration revoked by the Commission today following an administrative hearing.

The evidence at the hearing showed that Bonura associated with three Bonanno Crime Family members: Giacomo “Jack” Bonventre, an acting capo in the Bonanno Crime Family who is a career offender; Ronald “Ronnie G” Giallanzo, a capo in the Bonanno Crime Family who is a career offender and convicted racketeer; and Sandro ”Santo” Aiosa, a soldier in the Bonanno Crime Family who is a career offender and convicted racketeer.

The Commission established that as a teenager, Bonura worked for Bonventre in a deli owned by Bonventre and later worked as a tow truck driver for a collision shop operated by Bonventre. In addition, the Commission proved that Bonura and Bonventre continued to communicate frequently as recently as October 2015.

Regarding Bonanno Crime Family members Aiosa and Giallanzo, the Commission established that Bonura was in communication with each of them on multiple occasions as recently as September and October, 2015, respectively.

The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) found that Bonura’s association with three members of the Bonanno Crime Family gave “the clear perception that he could be influenced by them and presents the perception of an unacceptable risk of corruption that should not be tolerated.” The ALJ also cited Bonura’s previous addiction to drugs and problems with gambling and found that Bonventre’s conviction for gambling and extortion and his association with Aiosa, who also had gambling convictions, put Bonura “at a risk for corruption if he should ever lose so much gambling that he needs money” The ALJ recommended that Bonura’s registration be revoked and the Commissioners concurred.

http://www.wcnyh.gov/newspage263.html