Gang Land News 11 Feb 2021

[chin_gigante]

The 16-Year Nightmare Continues For Three Generations Of The Spataro Family

When she heard the news seven months ago, Teresa Spataro thought her prayers of 15 plus years had been answered. She, her three grown-up kids, and their grandpa were ecstatic. Her wrongly convicted husband had gotten a break. On the eve of an important hearing, the judge who always ruled against him had given the case to a new judge. That might get him back home.

But for them, the nightmare continues. Michael (Mikey Spat) Spataro is still behind bars, where he recently contracted the COVID-19 virus, just as he feared he might. As for the oft-delayed hearing that was scheduled for last June 29, it's still pending, without a date, before the new judge.

"It's awful for the family," said former U.S. Marshal Michael Pizzi who has been working to help Spataro. "They know Mike is serving 24 years for a crime he didn't commit." Pizza, a legendary Brooklyn lawman who found longtime fugitive Colombo underboss Alphonse (Allie) Persico in 1987 when the FBI couldn't, told Gang Land he has shared the evidence he's uncovered that proves Spataro's innocence with his family.

Among those documents are computer-generated Allstate insurance records that appear to clear Spataro of any involvement in a failed murder plot. They show that Mikey Spat couldn't possibly have driven mobster Vincent (Chickie) DeMartino to Bensonhurst to meet up with Giovanni (John the Barber) Floridia four hours before the duo tried to kill gangster Joseph (Joe Camp) Campanella as he left the beach in Coney Island back on July 16, 2001.

But like Mikey Spat, his family knows that the now-20-year-old Allstate printout meant nothing to the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office and Federal Court Judge Sterling Johnson. It shows that Spataro was in his auto body shop at 64th street and Seventh Avenue between 9:30 and 10:30 that morning and could not have driven DeMartino to meet Floridia during that timeframe, as Floridia, the cooperating witness testified.

Spataro's hope — and that of his family — was that the newly assigned judge, LaShann DeArcy Hall would agree that a 2020 Supreme Court ruling which had raised serious issues about Mikey Spat's conviction of a controversial weapons possession count that would enable the judge to throw out the gun rap and set him free.

In court filings, Spataro has argued that the gun rap that Judge Johnson had used to add 10 years to his term for a racketeering conspiracy conviction should be dismissed and that Mikey Spat should then be sentenced to "time served," since he had been behind bars more than 16 years.

But Judge DeArcy Hall has yet to schedule a hearing for his second "2255 motion" to vacate his gun conviction, even though the 2d Circuit Court of Appeals gave Spataro permission to file the motion based on the Supreme Court decision limiting the government's ability to convict defendants of the so-called "924c gun counts" and add 10 more years to their sentence.

So on December 19, with the "2255 motion" going nowhere, Spataro's federal defender sought a compassionate release for him under the First Step Act. In her filing, Amanda David asserted that Mikey Spat tested positive for the COVID-19 virus on November 2, and again on November 18, and that he "continues to experience symptoms of the virus — difficulty breathing and losing his sense of taste and smell."

The attorney also cited a recent 2d Circuit ruling that "the First Step Act freed district courts to consider the full slate of extraordinary and compelling reasons that an imprisoned person might bring before them in motions for compassionate release," including the argument that the defendant's "sentence was too long in the first place."

David argued that was a compelling reason for the judge to grant Spataro — who got 24 years for what the feds now concede was a "subservient" role in a shooting in which gunman DeMartino received 25 years — a compassionate release from the Fort Dix prison complex where "he and hundreds of other inmates" have contracted the deadly COVID-19 virus in recent months.

The lawyer also noted that Spataro's three children, daughters Nicole and Gabriella, and his son Michael Jr. who "were ages 10, 7, and 5" when their father was locked up and "could not conceptualize what it would mean to lose their father for decades, are eager for him to return home."

So are Spataro's wife Teresa, her mother and father, as well as his brother, Joseph, a retired U.S. Marine Colonel, and their father, a former professional boxer who is also named Michael, David wrote.

Spataro's father — whose boxing career was interrupted in 1953 when he was drafted and spent two years in Korea — won seven of his last eight bouts in 1958 but retired when a guy he beat at Madison Square Garden, Joey Parks, got a shot against then-lightweight champ Joe Brown instead of him.

Pizzi, who is the only civil-service deputy marshal to be called out of retirement and appointed as U.S. Marshal by the POTUS, (Clinton) began looking into Mikey Spat's case in 2010, after he had retired for good. He told Gang Land that the elder Michael Spataro often accompanied him when he began looking into Mikey Spat's case in 2010 and he kept the family "up to date."

"Mike was with me a lot in 2013 and 2014," Pizzi recalled. "That's when I got affidavits from quite a few people including the Allstate adjuster. And the computer generated document showing that the adjuster was 'negotiating with Mikey' about the price and that Mikey gave him a handwritten invoice with towing, storage and other charges of $525," said Pizzi.

After a handwriting analyst confirmed that the signature on the 13-year-old document was Spataro's, Pizzi and attorney Philip Smallman — who both worked pro bono on the case — brought the evidence to the U.S. Attorney's office. "They wanted to meet with Mikey behind closed doors, but he would only speak to them in open court, and on the record, so nothing happened," said Pizzi.

"They wanted him to flip," said Pizzi. "They didn't care that they convicted an innocent man. It was, 'Screw him if he won't help us.' That's not the way the criminal justice system is supposed to work, and that's not how it worked when I was the U.S. Marshal in Brooklyn, or a deputy marshal there either."

As for the Spataro's compassionate release motion filed seven weeks ago, Judge DeArcy Hall hasn't told prosecutors — who are likely to object on the grounds that he is a dangerous felon, and in no danger of contracting the COVID virus since he's already had it — to respond yet. So for Mikey Spat and his family, the nightmare continues.

Trump Lawyer To Gang Land: I'm Still Fighting For Little Vic Orena

You may think David Schoen, the feisty, tart-tongued defense attorney leading ex-President Trump's defense against impeachment is focused solely on his most prominent client. That would make sense, since the eyes of the world are on him as he addresses the U.S. Senate.

But Gang Land knows better. A few days before Schoen pulled out all the stops on behalf of the embattled ex-president in the nation's Capital on Tuesday, he spent a few minutes telling Gang Land about his work for another valued client: Victor (Little Vic) Orena, the ailing and aging once powerful New York mob boss who is serving a life sentence in a federal prison hospital in Massachusetts.

Orena has been awaiting resentencing for murder and racketeering charges since November, Schoen noted. "He should have been granted a compassionate release by the prison in 2019," based on the "severe" physical and mental ailments he suffers, the lawyer told us on Friday.

Schoen is seeking a "time served" sentence for Orena, the 86-year-old former acting Colombo family boss who is in the 29th year of a life sentence stemming from his 1992 conviction for racketeering and a 1989 murder of a mobster whose body the FBI dug up in 1991.

Orena is one of three mob chieftains Schoen has represented in racketeering and murder cases. The others were Montreal mobster Vito Rizzuto, and Bonanno boss Michael (Mikey Nose) Mancuso.

But Orena, who led the failed rebellion against Colombo family boss Carmine (Junior) Persico, has been a longtime and valued client. After Schoen won a reversal of a controversial gun law conviction that was part of the 1992 case, Little Vic was granted a resentencing for conspiring to murder rival family members during the bloody 1991-'92 Colombo civil war.

It's a conviction for the same federal weapons count that is a focal point of the Spataro case. Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Komitee, who took over Little Vic's case when the venerable jurist Jack Weinstein retired at the age of 98 last year, has not yet set a re-resentencing date as Schoen requested in November.

In his court filing, and in his talk with Gang Land on Friday, Schoen noted that there are many issues that he would like to brief before Orena is re-sentenced. But he emphasized that time is of the essence for Orena.

"Vic is 86 years old," said Schoen. "He can't take care of himself any longer. There's so much stuff that never came out when he was convicted and sentenced the first time, the misconduct and all that," said Schoen, referring to allegations of corruption by FBI agents in their use of longtime super snitch, mobster Gregory Scarpa, that have never been proven.

"But this (resentencing) is a good vehicle to get this information out and in front of this judge, who is brand new," said Schoen.

In his court filing, the lawyer states several reasons why a "time served" sentence is called for.

Like the client he is representing before the U.S. Senate, Orena's claims of government conspiracy against him are widely disputed and have been tossed out by several judges. Those include the never proved — some would say wild and made up — allegations that FBI agents had a "corrupt relationship with Scarpa."

A less questionable assertion Schoen cited is that the prison warden "recommended" a compassionate release for Orena "but was overruled by the Regional Director" of the Bureau of Prisons. Orena suffers "advanced dementia" that is so bad that "it is unlikely he will even be able to understand any sentence" he receives, wrote Schoen.

While agreeing that the conviction for the so-called "924c gun count" should be dismissed, the government argues that Little Vic should be re-sentenced to life for his racketeering and murder convictions.

Schoen, who specialized in appeals work for Colombo, Bonanno and Gambino mobsters over the years, also represented Rizzuto, called the "Godfather of Canada" by Canadian prosecutors, and Bonanno boss Mancuso in major racketeering and murder cases. He worked out plea deals for both wiseguys.

Mancuso, who received a 15 year sentence for a 2004 murder and a slew of other crimes, was released from prison three years ago. Rizzuto did even better. He got what ended up as a six-year stint for his involvement in the "three capos murders" in 1981. He managed to complete his term, and died from natural causes in 2013.

Schoen's other wiseguy cases, some of which were lengthy and included long-drawn out proceedings that took years, including a wrongful death civil suit on behalf of a widow of one of the dozen victims of the Colombo war, did not end well for those clients. They were all losers.

Most lawyers Gang Land spoke to after Schoen was hired by Trump, agree that he is a talented hard-working attorney who is well versed in constitutional law and, in the words of one barrister, "writes a mean brief." Some say he often goes "out of his way" to cite "ineffective assistance of counsel" in cases where none appears to exist. Based on Trump's response to his performance on Day One of the impeachment hearings, however, Schoen may end up in the same boat.

Turncoat Gangster's 'Bad Anger Problem' May Put Him Back Behind Bars

Gene Borrello, the turncoat gangster who has boasted about his exploits for the Bonanno family on a podcast about the mob for a year while insisting he's turned a new leaf, has allegedly made tape-recorded threats against the husband of an old girlfriend, Gang Land has learned. Sources say Borrello is likely to be arrested and cited soon for violating his conditions of supervised release.

The sources say that the FBI, along with the Probation Department, are investigating allegations that Borrello threatened his former girlfriend and her husband over the woman's refusal to let Borrello use her picture in a book that he is writing about his exploits as a gangster and a cooperating witness.

Several sources say the allegations "have merit" and are under investigation. One source said Borrello was heard making a "clear threat" against the husband. A second source stated that Borrello was heard telling the woman's husband that he is "going to blow his fucking head off" if he doesn't get his way.

In an interview with Gang Land, Borrello, 36, insists that it is all a misunderstanding, and that he never threatened anyone.

By his own account, the turncoat gangster was a one-man crime wave, accumulating nine arrests during his life of crime. He flipped in 2016 and helped the feds put Bonanno capo Ronald (Ronnie G) Giallanzo and 20 cohorts, including three mobsters in his crew behind bars. He was rewarded with a five year prison term that returned him to Howard Beach in 2019. For the past year, he has been cohost with John Alite of a podcast called the Johnny and Gene Show.

The woman who is the focal point of the dispute confirmed that she and Borrello argued about his intention to use her picture in a book and that he did threaten her husband in a conversation with her, and that she told her hubby about it. "But this is a petty situation," she told Gang Land, stressing that she does not feel threatened and is not worried that Borrello has any intention to harm her hubby or their child.

"It was over a picture," she said. "Gene pressed me, 'Can I use the picture of you?' I said, 'Absolutely not. I don't want to be in your book or have anything to do with it.' And he got mad and we had words back and forth and then he made a threat on my husband. He just lost it. He made a threat to me, saying he would do something to my husband because I'm talking crazy to him."

"My husband is not from Howard Beach," she explained. "He's a regular guy, so if there is an argument like that, and someone like Gene says something like that to me, I tell my husband."

"I think my husband wants to see him in jail," she continued. "Gene's my ex-boyfriend and he obviously doesn't like him. He may have threatened him, but I don't feel threatened, and I don't think my husband feels threatened. I think he just wants to see him go back to jail."

For his part, Borrello blames a Howard Beach-based member of Giallanzo's crew, Nicholas (Pudgie) Festa, for pushing the woman's hubby to sic the FBI on him. He told Gang Land that the mobster's angst has nothing to do with Borrello causing Festa to be sentenced to prison for the first time in his life, but for "making fun of him on the internet. I call him a clown a lot."

"The husband is friends with people around Pudgie and he basically told him to call the cops on me to get me off the street because I hurt his feelings on the internet," said Borrello. "He's a made guy and I make him look stupid on the internet. I say he never did anything in his life, I call him a clown. So he put the husband up to it."

Borrello, who has stated on the podcast that he has "a real bad anger problem" that he's been working hard to control, added that when he was contacted by FBI agents recently about "stuff that happened a month ago," he explained the situation to them and was not arrested.

The working title of Borello's book, according to author Lou Romano, is "The Life and Times of Gene Borrello."

None of the federal agencies involved in Borrello's life these days, the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI, or the Probation Department would discuss the issue.

Alite, the driving force of the Johnny And Gene Show said he didn't "know anything about it," but that he does "know that sometimes people say things they don't mean but can't take back and I hope that this did not happen here."

[eboli]

Borello
Thanks for posting, chin.

[JohnnyS]

Thanks for posting.

"He's a made guy and I make him look stupid on the internet."

[bronx]

wiseguys now have legit guys call the fbi on rats who they are afraid of, who make fun of them in public..did they pinch his finger with a needle and burn a saint in his hands ? or have him watch a video of it then give him a quiz. like jr gotti the mob guys now rat on rats to get even..

[BobbyPazzo]

I’m at a loss. I hope a young kid that thinks being a street guy is still a thing today reads this and has the intelligence to see what it has become out there. Rats calling guys clowns, made guys telling civilians to go to the cops on rats. This shit made me dizzy.

[Hired_Goonz]

Lol I love how the wife just throws her husband under the bus here "yea sure the violent career criminal threatened my husband, but we don't consider it a real threat and my husband is just jealous and making false reports to the FBI". Guarantee she's cheated on the poor slob more times than she can count. But imagine the quality of broad who would ever have been a girlfriend of a piece of trash like Borello.

[Dave65827]

Idk what they are supposed to do the couple. Borrello comes off as unhinged I would call the cops who knows what a drug addict with a anger problem would do

[Momo]

Thanks for posting this, chin.

[SolarSolano]

Capeci is ruthless getting these quotes from people - she never expected to get quoted badmouthing her husband.

[Amershire_Ed]

I don’t think this is enough to get him locked back up, but I feel really confident Gene is going to do something else that sends him back there at some point. Kid seems to be a ticking time bomb.

[Pogo The Clown]

The working title of Borello's book, according to author Lou Romano, is "The Life and Times of Gene Borrello."

Sounds exciting. When can I pick up my copy?


Pogo

[Dave65827]

I don’t think this is enough to get him locked back up, but I feel really confident Gene is going to do something else that sends him back there at some point. Kid seems to be a ticking time bomb.

Barney Bellomo thought he was a ticking time bomb lol

[queensnyer]

I don’t think this is enough to get him locked back up, but I feel really confident Gene is going to do something else that sends him back there at some point. Kid seems to be a ticking time bomb.

it definitely is enough...they dont play around today, if something is recorded somewhere whether digitally text, internet whatever, your done. not crime of the century but his kawyer will have some work to do...violate his parole depends on who makes the decision and their relationship

[slimshady_007]

“The working title of Borello's book, according to author Lou Romano, is "The Life and Times of Gene Borrello."
He couldn’t come up with a better title than that?

[AntComello]

“The working title of Borello's book, according to author Lou Romano, is "The Life and Times of Gene Borrello."
He couldn’t come up with a better title than that?

I have a feeling the book is gonna be garbage but who knows