Michael Persico an alleged Colombo crime family associate continues to battle prosecutors over his 2012 plea deal before sentencing is handed down.
Michael is the son of jailed Colombo family boss Carmine “The Snake” Persico and agreed to the plea deal after being charged with loan sharking. The deal called for the New York mafia scion to face sentencing guidelines of 37 to 46 months, but cleared him of his possible involvement in two mafia murders. Persico claims prosecutors tried to backdoor him and push for a stiffer term then agreed to by making mention of his alleged role in the killings at sentencing.
His attempt to scrap his plea deal was shot down by Judge Sandra Towles and the deal was made permanent and sentencing was scheduled to proceed. But defense attorney Marc Fernich now want to block prosecutors from being allowed to mention other crimes, including the mob murders or Persico’s alleged role in them during sentencing. In a pre-sentencing hearing Persico and his attorney laid down a timeline to once again present their arguments. During the hearing, prosecutors pointed out their different position, and that they believed that Persico participated in ordering the hit on Joseph Scopo a mobbed up union official.
The plea deal seemed like a slam dunk for Persico and it was an odd piece of mafia news when he decided to try and yank it last year. As more details of the prosecutors plan to use the crimes as ammunition for a sentence beyond the plea deals recommended guidelines during the sentencing hearing it has begun to make a little more sense. If the New York mob prince is successful in his fight and is sentenced within the current plea deals guidelines it will have been worth the effort. A special pre-sentencing hearing may be set forth to hear arguments from both sides.
