Bonanno crime family captain Nicholas “Nicky Mouth” Santora and three fellow mobsters remain behind bars as prosecutors fail to make them an offer they can’t refuse. Santora was arrested nearly two years ago on state racketeering charges along with Bonanno family soldier Anthony Santoro and acting mob captains Ernest Aiello and Vito Badamo. The mobsters remain behind bars are prosecutors refuse to offer any of them plea deals which don’t include long multi year prison sentences.
The massive 158 page indictment against them includes 299 specific crimes and a recent court ruling will allow state prosecutors to introduce even more yet uncharged crimes. A judge ruled that prosecutors will be allowed to introduce new evidence and testimony against Santora and his fellow mobsters on a slew of additional crimes at trial. According to court records prosecutors will also be allowed to introduce charges of extortion conspiracy which Santora plead guilty to a decade ago along with extraneous gambling evidence against all of the defendants.
The introduction of this new evidence and new uncharged crimes can be used to establish a background and relationship between the defendants and their intent to conduct a criminal enterprise as a crew with in the New York Mafia. The 72 year old Santora could be looking at what amounts to a life sentence of convicted and his fellow mobsters who prosecutors claim were his key aids with in the mafia family extended prison sentences.
Defense attorney Timothy Parlatore who represents Santora said that its terribly unfair that state prosecutors have worked so hard to turn a non-violent glorified gambling case into something much bigger while his client sits behind bars. He said the only violence they have associated with the case is all talk with weak wire tap evidence of his client saying on the phone he would like to do something bad to someone else but never once communicated the threat directly to that person or attempt to carry it out.
