GangLand 8/3/17

[gohnjotti]

Chief Judge: Don't Mention Gene Borrello's Name In My Courtroom

It's no secret that for a long time Gene Borrello was a one-man crime wave: For years, he robbed and terrorized his Howard Beach neighbors. His specialty was home invasions, an endeavor he pursued while not behind bars for four separate arrests. Then, as Gang Land first reported last year, he changed sides. Since then, he's been running up a lop-sided score against his former cronies.

Earlier this year, Borello's cooperation was a key reason the feds were able to make three major mob cases in Brooklyn Federal Court. He helped the feds win a guilty plea from mobster Vincent Asaro, who had walked out of court a free man after a jury acquitted him in the Lufthansa case. His cooperation also nailed the namesake grandson of late Mafia boss John Gotti who pleaded guilty to arson charges along with Asaro last month.

Borrello is also the primary witness against Asaro's wiseguy nephew, Ronald (Ronny G.) Giallanzo, who is awaiting trial along with nine others for racketeering, and in a separate case, against three Bonanno associates charged with armed robberies of homes and jewelry stores.

Despite those many claims to fame, his name is never supposed to be mentioned, not even in court papers. And not in the courtroom of Chief Judge Dora Irizarry.

On Monday, Irizzary vigorously slammed an attorney for a Giallanzo co-defendant as "irresponsible" and "reprehensible" for even daring to mention Borrello's name in a bail motion for his client.

The judge's outburst began even before attorney Joseph DiBenedetto tried to make the case that his client, Bonanno soldier Nicholas (Pudgie) Festa, who has no prior arrests, deserved release on bail.

No one could blame DiBenedetto for thinking his client had a good shot: Ten days earlier, Irizarry had allowed Colombo crime family associate Michael Perisco three more months of freedom, even after the judge declared that he was a murderer and sentenced him to the maximum five years he faced for loansharking.

But Festa, whose top charge is loansharking, wasn't as lucky. The problems started when, in a bid to make the case for his client, DiBenedetto mentioned that Borrello, the chief accuser in the case, has certified mental health problems. Those problems, the lawyer argued in court papers, make anything Borrello told prosecutors deeply suspicious.

To make his argument, DiBenedetto had cited Borrello's name in a court filing, which Irizarry promptly ordered sealed after prosecutors complained. The judge refused to unseal it, even after DiBenedetto agreed to redact Borrello's name from the document.

Irizarry was also unmoved by the fact that Festa didn't run away even after he learned he was under investigation two years ago. Instead, she ruled that Festa was both a danger to the community and a flight risk and ordered him detained without bail.

The judge made her ruling at the end of the highly contentious bail hearing. But minutes after Irizarry took the bench at 10:20 AM, Festa, his grandparents, a dozen relatives and friends who were there to support him, and lawyer DiBenedetto knew that it was going to be a long, frustrating morning.

After ripping DiBenedetto as "irresponsible" and "reprehensible," Irizarry twice declared that the lawyer's actions in including Borrello's medical records in his papers were "unconscionable." She then conceded that the lawyer only "summarized" the medical records that he believed were relevant to establish why the turncoat's version of events was "directly relevant as to his ability to perceive events."

But before DiBenedetto, who insisted several times that the identity of the cooperator was common knowledge, and that his actions in filing the bail motion "were done in good faith," could get to that, the Judge wanted to know where he got the medical records from.

After the lawyer said he had "hired an investigator who has spoken to multiple people," Irizarry interrupted him once, and again as he began to answer a second time, and demanded: "Where did you get the medical records from? I want a direct answer because that violates all kinds of HIPAA (patients' privacy) law."

"Your Honor," said DiBenedetto, "the records were discarded by the cooperator."
"That doesn't mean that he doesn't have a privacy interest," said Irizarry.
"It is property that was abandoned by him, Judge," said DiBenedetto.
"How would you like it if you somehow inadvertently threw out some hospital records of yours and saw them published somewhere?" said Irizarry.

Eventually, the lawyer managed to put a few sentences together in an effort to make the point that the only allegation of violence against Festa was contained in a detention memo about a shooting by Borrello at which his client was allegedly present. Festa, 39, was not charged with the shooting in the indictment.

The "cooperating witness's mental health issues and credibility" were relevant, DiBenedetto said, because the government claims that "the cooperating witness" and Festa were present. "And if that's the only information that they have," the lawyer argued, "I think it is highly probative as to the strength of that allegation."

Noting that Borrello's shooting was "the most serious conduct that the Government has alleged" against Festa, the attorney stated that if prosecutors believed they could prove it, "that charge would be in this indictment as a racketeering act. He was not charged with that conduct and there is a reason why, Judge."

"It is because the evidence is non-existent," he said. "They are relying solely on this informant. In my humble opinion, his motivations, his mental instability are directly relevant as to his proffer regarding these circumstances."

When DiBenedetto tried to cite "additional facts" that supported his client's right to bail, Irizarry interrupted him and complained that she didn't know where his information came from. When he started to tell the judge, she interrupted him again — Irizarry cut him off more than a dozen times in the session, according to Gang Land's count — and stated it should have been in his filing.

But when it came to the additional criminal activity by Borrello that DiBenedetto cited in his 45-page motion, the judge said that was a "representation ad nauseam that this person is completely unreliable because he has done all these terrible things," adding that "as far as credibility it was overkill."

For the record, sources say DiBenedetto got much of his info about the sleazy snitch, including Borrello's medical records, from James Harkins, a retired NYPD detective who was Gang Land's private investigator of the year in 2012 and whom the Daily News described last year as "the go-to guy for high-ranking members of law enforcement when they find themselves in hot water."

In any event, the lawyer argued that Festa could not be judged to be a danger to the community since the feds have no evidence of any violent activity other than what Borrello claims, and that he was not a flight risk since he was arrested at home as he prepared to go to work two years after he learned he was under investigation.

DiBenedetto noted that defendants charged with loansharking, the most serious specific charge Festa faced, are "routinely granted bail," and that he would never flee since his grandparents, who had raised him, would lose their home if he did. The lawyer asked Irizarry to release him on a $1.5 million bond, as Pre-Trial Services has recommended.

"They are the experts in this," said DiBenedetto. "They do this on a daily basis. They are recommending not only a substantial bond but that he be allowed to go to work subject to a GPS monitor. They feel as though he is suitable for bond and I ask that the Court give Pretrial Services' recommendation due consideration."

Irizarry disagreed, however, with DiBenedetto, and Pre-Trial Services.

"I do think there is a substantial risk of flight here and the government has shown it by a preponderance of the evidence and the government has also shown to the Court's satisfaction by clear and convincing evidence that he poses a danger to the community," the Judge said. "So bail is denied."

According to the official docket sheet, Festa's bail motion was publicly filed last Thursday, and scheduled to be argued before a U.S. Magistrate next week. It was sealed within hours, when Irizarry agreed with a government request to seal it, pending a hearing on Monday. Saying it would be a "waste of judicial resources" for the Magistrate to conduct a bail hearing next week since she had to read the papers to decide whether to unseal the motion, the Judge decided to rule on both issues Monday.

"I am not striking your memorandum," Irizarry said. "Let's be clear about that, but I am keeping it under seal. And if at an appropriate time it can be unsealed, then it can be unsealed."

DiBenedetto declined all comment, including whether his client would appeal.

Defense Bar Wonders About Stevie Wonder's New Lawyer

More than a decade after engaging in a series of public spats with fellow attorneys representing John A. (Junior) Gotti, Jeffrey Lichtman — a high profile and often equally high maintenance criminal defense lawyer — jumped back into the fray big time this week as the new lead attorney for top Luchese mobster Steven (Stevie Wonder) Crea.

Members of the organized crime defense bar weren't exactly jumping for joy at the news.

"There will be one less plate for dinner at the co-defendant meetings," cracked attorney Charles Carnesi, who made no bones about his dislike, and distrust of Lichtman, who has served as a quick-talking host, and co-host, of several talk-radio shows since he rose to fame in 2005 when a single holdout juror earned Gotti a mistrial.

"I don't think a lot of the guy," said Carnesi, the only one of several lawyers whom Gang Land contacted who agreed to talk publicly about his disregard for the high-powered Manhattan attorney. Carnesi cited "certain experiences with prior clients of his," including Gotti.

Carnesi represents Luchese soldier Christopher Londonio, who like Crea and three others, is charged with the 2013 murder of mob associate Michael Meldish, the former leader of the violent group of drug dealers from East Harlem and the Bronx in the 1970s and '80s called the Purple Gang.

His distrust, said Carnesi, who defended Gotti in his next three trials, began and grew before Junior's third trial in August of 2006. At the time, he said, the defense team was trying to obtain the source of the June 15, 2006 New York Post story that disclosed that Gotti had attended a "proffer session" with the FBI and federal prosecutors before his first trial.

"John wanted affidavits from all his lawyers because at the time John believed that it had been leaked by the government and we wanted to pursue that as part of our defense," Carnesi recalled.

"Government prosecutors had represented that they were not responsible for the leak and that they had an indication who was, and indicated that it was one of his prior lawyers," he continued.

Affidavits were requested from all John's lawyers to the effect that they were not involved in leaking this information," said Carnesi. "And Lichtman refused to provide an affidavit. He sent a message that he was unable to provide such an affidavit."

Carnesi said that Lichtman was the only attorney who had been involved in representing Gotti to refuse. "This was obviously a serious breach of his ethical responsibilities to his client," said Carnesi, who quickly added, "If in fact he was responsible for the leak as has been alleged."

The attorney said he also "found it very disturbing" that Lichtman arranged a guilty plea for a client to a racketeering crime in 2004, and on the very next day was retained by a second client charged with the same crime. Following a long trial, a judge ruled in 2015 that Lichtman had not labored under a conflict of interest.

Lichtman did not respond to a Gang Land call to his office for comment.

Ask Andy: Al Capone Was The Most Famous American Mafia Hood

John Gotti, the late swashbuckling Dapper Don who graced the cover of Time magazine and whose exploits were detailed in Mob Star by my boss Jerry Capeci and Gene Mustain, was without doubt the most famous — or infamous — mobster of his day. In my opinion, however, the all-time, number one, most famous American Mafia hood was Chicago's Al Capone.

There must be at least ten major movies roughly based on his life including the 1987 flick, The Untouchables. There was also the long running 1960s TV series of the same name. More recently, the Capone character was featured in HBO's highly successful Boardwalk Empire. Capone was/is American's Public Enemy #1.

Although permanently associated with Chicago, Capone actually began his criminal career in New York as an associate of the Masseria family (now the Genovese clan). After a brief sojourn in semi-legitimate business in Baltimore, Capone got permission from Joe Masseria to accept an invite from Chicago mobster Johnny Torrio to move to the Windy City.

Capone joined Torrio, who was working for Jim (Big Jim) Colosimo, a powerful gang boss heavily into prostitution. His organization can be roughly labelled as a Camorra family since most of its major members had roots in Naples, Italy. There were a number of other gangs in Chicago including one composed of mainly Sicilians. For our purposes we'll label this loose knit group as the Mafia family.

Early in May of 1921, Colosimo was killed and Torrio became the new boss. It was the era of Prohibition, and violence was everywhere. It wasn't too surprising when Torrio was filled full of holes and decided to retire. It was 1924, and young Al Capone was now leader of this Camorra group, raking in more money than he ever dreamed of as he emerged as Public Enemy #1.

The Sicilian family was also going through changes. Boss Anthony D'Andrea was killed in May of 1921. The next leader, Mike Merlo, died of natural causes in 1924. The Genna brothers became powerful but a number of them were whacked out and the others fled. Capone may very well have had a roll in some of these murders.

We believe that the interests of Capone and Joe Masseria, then the acknowledged Boss of Bosses, converged by 1928. Masseria was trying to extend his influence into Chicago and was being blocked by the Sicilian mafia group then- led by Anthony Lombardo. Apparently Masseria offered Capone a formal position in his family, if Capone killed Lombardo. On September 7, 1928, Lombardo was gunned down in the street. From this point on, Capone was considered to be a capo in New York's Masseria family, the nation's most powerful mafia organization.

Despite this promotion, Capone continued to battle rivals including an alliance of new Sicilian mafia boss Joe Aiello and the Bugs Moran gang. On February 14, 1929, the Moran organization suffered a huge physical and mental blow when six men were gunned down in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. To this day, the conclusion is that Capone was behind this bloodshed. Another rival was eliminated in October of 1930 when Joe Aiello was blown away.

Meanwhile, Masseria had his hands full in the Castellammarese War, in which he was pitted against Salvatore Maranzano, boss of what we now call the Bonanno family.

The Maranzano group appeared to be winning the war. This caused Masseria's major lieutenants to begin plotting his demise in the hopes of saving themselves. Lucky Luciano and others joined Capone in this plot, and Masseria was whacked by his own men in April of 1931.

At a General Assembly of Cosa Nostra, Maranzano, now the nation's most powerful boss, recognized Capone as the leader of the sole mafia family in Chicago. Four months later, in September of 1931, a conspiracy resulted in the murder of Maranzano. Once again a large meeting was held in Chicago, with Capone as the host. He was chosen as one of the seven Cosa Nostra members of its new ruling body, The Commission, and was at the height of his power.

His time at the top in Chicago was a little longer than Gotti's, but Capone had a similar fate. In late 1931, Capone was convicted of tax charges and eventually sentenced to 11 years. In failing health, due to advanced syphilis, he was released in late 1939. He would spend the next eight years in a semi stupor. He died on January 25, 1947. But his fame lives on.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Another slap in the face for the feds?
Borello having documented mental illness. Ronnie G et al have to be salivating at the now forth coming plea's....

The judge is a cunt in the Festa bail hearing.

Can we fuck 'Ask Andy' off now please Jerry? Does anyone seriously like his 'historical contributions'?

Thanks for posting Gohn.

[gohnjotti]

The judge is a cunt in the Festa bail hearing.

If this judge has her way, Festa won't ever be seeing the light of day again. This is definitely not going to be a fair trial, this judge looks like she already has an agenda.

[BillyBrizzi]

Can we fuck 'Ask Andy' off now please Jerry? Does anyone seriously like his 'historical contributions'?

I do, I find it very informative..

[Chucky]

The judge isn't wrong, going through Borello's mental health records is a major HIPAA violation. Festa doesn't look like he's looking at too much time anyway, he'll probably get a few years for running shy. I might be wrong, but aren't Giallanzo and Palmaccio charged with attempted murder?

[Fughedaboutit]

The judge isn't wrong, going through Borello's mental health records is a major HIPAA violation. Festa doesn't look like he's looking at too much time anyway, he'll probably get a few years for running shy. I might be wrong, but aren't Giallanzo and Palmaccio charged with attempted murder?

If he has a history of mental health issues, I don't see how that isnt a relevant argument about his information about the client?

He is a cooperator against this guy yet he cant mention his name? wtf

Maybe I am missing something here lol

[Extortion]

Can we fuck 'Ask Andy' off now please Jerry? Does anyone seriously like his 'historical contributions'?

I do, I find it very informative..

I don't find it useful and agree with Sonny Blackstein. Amen.

[toto]

Can we fuck 'Ask Andy' off now please Jerry? Does anyone seriously like his 'historical contributions'?

You should ask for your money back.

[TommyGambino]

Yawn

[toto]

Yawn

You should ask for your money back.

[TommyGambino]

Yawn

You should ask for your money back.

Are you a parrot?

[toto]

Yawn

You should ask for your money back.

Are you a parrot?

No. I'm giving you advice on how to solve your problem and its the same as SonnyBlackstein.

Instead of asking such questions you should ask the money back from Capeci that you paid for his column. Every few weeks and sometimes every week the same people complaining. If you found it boring ask for your money back. I'm sure he will consider and value your opinion based on what you paid for the column.

[TommyGambino]

Yawn

You should ask for your money back.

Are you a parrot?

No. I'm giving you advice on how to solve your problem and its the same as SonnyBlackstein.

Instead of asking such questions you should ask the money back from Capeci that you paid for his column. Every few weeks and sometimes every week the same people complaining. If you found it boring ask for your money back. I'm sure he will consider and value your opinion based on what you paid for the column.

I'd never pay for it. Problem solved.

[toto]

Yawn

You should ask for your money back.

Are you a parrot?

No. I'm giving you advice on how to solve your problem and its the same as SonnyBlackstein.

Instead of asking such questions you should ask the money back from Capeci that you paid for his column. Every few weeks and sometimes every week the same people complaining. If you found it boring ask for your money back. I'm sure he will consider and value your opinion based on what you paid for the column.

I'd never pay for it. Problem solved.

But still you complain.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Can we fuck 'Ask Andy' off now please Jerry? Does anyone seriously like his 'historical contributions'?

You should ask for your money back.

Claws down toto.