The case against the feds labeled East Coast LCN Enterprise which included alleged mafia leaders Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino, Pasquale (Patsy) Parrello and Eugene (Rooster) O’Nofrio may be in jeopardy of falling apart.
There were 46 alleged mobsters charged but thanks to the feds potentially botching the case they could all walk free according to a NY Post report. The group included reputed members and associates of four of the five New York mafia families and the Philly mafia. According to a source, federal prosecutors recently alerted the defense of an internal probe into two FBI agents and a supervising agent’s interactions with a key witness in the case.
“Joseph Merlino”
According to the report, agents may have mishandled interactions and evidence collected by John Rubio a Genovese crime family associate who turned rat and wore a wire against his fellow wiseguys. A failure by agents to memorialize debriefings with Rubio and a failure to preserve certain communications with him raising questions about evidence he collected being suppressed are among the alleged feds misdeeds. Agents may have also leaked confidential information to a source from Gangland News says a source familiar with the case. As these potential holes in the case continue to develop the defense is trying to find a way to have the charges dropped against all the defendants.
A huge part of the fed’s case against Joey Merlino and Patsy Parrello specifically is tied to the wiretap evidence collected by Rubio. He was able to collect dirt on both wiseguys starting out first working for Parrello before moving on and working under Merlino with permission from Parrello. The feds claim that Merlino is the current boss of the Philadelphia mafia and that Parrello and O’Nofrio are both capos in the Genovese family. If this potential probe finds that the feds did somehow bungle this case the whole Cosa Nostra group could be spared a trip to the slammer.
