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.
Wow …. now this would be one major fk up by the feds. If all these guys esp Merlino were to get off would be quite the black eye for the feds. Esp considering their recent misses in other mob cases of late.
Lol, if they walk this should be the kick to the nuts Joey desperately needs. Use your hierarchy, the entire point beyond making money is to insulate yourself. Associates insulate soldiers, soldiers insulate capos, capos insulate administraton. Now rico can make this harder, but sure as shit don’t speak to a non made man about business. Period.
Also a message to genovese, stop slumming it with a known Gotti jr (in terms of seeking attention like a child)
Esp with the hard on the feds have had for Joey over the years, not like its a big secret. Would think he be extra careful esp when speaking to anyone outside of what should be a real small inner circle. But what a kick to the balls for the feds if they lose out on this case with all the effort they keep putting into trying to put him back behind bars.
Joey has a second indictment coming so even if this gets dropped his problems are not over
This is shocking if true i am skeptical we will have to see what happens If this is true some FBI agents are losing there job
Capeci always getting too much info lol his articles on this case have been very detailed probably did leak too muchthe feds involved but will this actually lead to charges being dropped I have my doubts especially with Patsy Parello
They would def have to find some real wrong doing here by those agents to get all of these charges dropped no doubt about it. But if it did come to that I can’t say I would be all that shocked. The feds have definitely not been on top of their game for quite a few cases of late although this would be a much bigger hiccup than normal.
true I would not be shocked surprised but not shocked. I don’t know if you remember but when the feds busted papa smurf franco and all those guys in the Genovese and Gambino family for that garbage operation back in 2013 the case at the beginning looked serious but feds messed it up turns out there main rat was a paedophile dident mention at the beginning of the indictment its how they flipped him disgusting move by the FBI one of the worst I have seen from them because of that all of those guys got weak sentences like franco only got 6 months
my point is that this case i personally think if they have messed it up will end up like that everyone getting good plea deals all of them getting out within a few years. If they really have messed this up its beyond a big hiccup they are responsible for 46 wiseguys going free after millions spent on this case and have no results
Definitely remember that Papa Smurf case which was a complete cluster fk by the feds.
Could very well be right as to these guys getting some really soft plea deals if the feds even believe they could of messed this up enough to have problems at trial if it isn’t enough there to get charges completely thrown out. Either way it would be yet another case of the feds being extremely incompetent esp considering as you mentioned all the tax money being spent.
Giving case information to a reporter is pretty bad. Also seems chain of custody may have been violated. I’d say pretty good odds it’s tossed, especially being nothing violent is mentioned.
sloppy. shows that oc is not top priority right now. it’s nice for the initial headlines, but other than that…
Your right it clearly seems to show a real lack of focus by feds on OC over all. The loss of funds and manpower to the fight on terrorism definitely taking its toll it seems.
I think we give the big bad law enforcement too much credit sometimes they really do fuck up. Let’s look at the crime families across the nation that really did go extinct. They didn’t go extinct because of such an excellent job of law enforcement, it’s because there just wasn’t enough people to replace jailed and dying members. In places like New York, New Jersey, Chicago and Philadelphia there’s more people to replace jailed and dying members so there’s still a Mafia presence, although it may not be what it once was.
Other factors as well. Like labor racketeering becoming more difficult, gangs taking over drug trade, more options for young Italians. rico laws have been the biggest weapon.
The fact still remains that if there had been enough people to replace outgoing members there would still be an LCN presence in the cities where LCN is considered extinct. People underestimate strength in numbers. But yeah those other factors certainly doesn’t help.
As for labor racketeering and union corruption, it still takes place on a massive scale. It just doesn’t seem to involve the Mafia much anymore, unless there’s some hidden Mob figures somewhere. But there are still a huge amount of union corruption and embezzlement cases every year.
True, it’s rampant in new forms.
Theres always gonna be issues with embezzlement wherever there’s people with access to others $$. Too many people can’t resist temptation of greed. As far as power in numbers, I can’t help but feel that’s the absolute worst idea for LCN. Think their longevity is tied to keeping circle small and tight at this point.
If the 5 families of New York had kept their numbers small then they would be extinct like various other crime families across the US. That’s why I disagree.
Well, if they were smaller they would have closer more personal relationships. Reducing violence amongst them and also decreasing chances of someone turning on them.
When “family” sizes start to get real large they lack close personal relationships. Considering majority or pretty much sociopaths to begin with, having little personal relationship with other members of family is recipe for disaster
I see your point and it makes a lot of sense. At the same time, one successful RICO case can wipe a small crime family out.
in the end feds are susceptible to error like anybody else. and what we see as indictments and cases is alway just the tip of the iceberg. it will be impossible to uncover all mob activities. most stuff remains unseen but either the public or law enforcement. but precisely for that reason i am surprised that a high profile case against so many defendants isn’t 110% watertight.
If Joey merlino did get off light,its another of Joeys amazing luck….When Mikey Chang got killed by the rat John veasey, Joey only got shot in the butt….when Stanfa crew put remote pipe bomb ???? under Joeys car numerous times it never ignited….other numerous botched hits by John Stanfas men..And getting off on murder trial in new jersey…..all examples…..but yes another indictment is probably coming……i don’t count Joey merlino out yet…..some people have unexplainable luck…it ain’t over till its over…..make sure and have dinner at Dante and Luigis October 31 Halloween
its crazy how lucky he gets another year on the streets scarfo would have had him killed. Back in the 90s the westside tino ordered joey to come to new York to meet the commission he refused to even turn up said if they want to meet him they can come to SP themselves joey knew they would have killed him. Joey was obsessed with killing scarfo junior apparently while scarfo junior was in prison he tried to have someone kill him but Caprio put a stop to it he knew it was a bad idea if they killed a made member of a New York family
the alleged philly mob godfather is talking to soldiers/associates like Rubio, merlino deserves time for being so stupid. to be honest I do not think merlino is running things in philly I think ligambi etc are keeping him around to take the heat off them. I am always rooting for mobsters and I hope this case gets thrown out.
I’m surprised no Defense Attny has never insinuated this before,especially since Capeci/Gangland News always has more info than they do before/during Trial and before Prosecutors even introduce next ppiece of evidence.