According to a recent report alleged Philadelphia mafia boss, Joseph Merlino filed court papers on Monday seeking a dismissal of all charges against him.
Merlino wants an NYC Judge to dismiss the federal charges against him from the crumbling East Coast LCN Enterprise racketeering case. Joey has been playing hardball with the feds after details of an internal probe into potential misconduct by federal agents associated with the case was announced. Much of the evidence collected against the alleged Cosa Nostra boss by a cooperating witness may have been compromised due to the actions of the agents in question. Merlino turned down a plea offer from the feds which would have allowed him to plead guilty to lesser charges and spend less than 2 years behind bars according to sources familiar with the ongoing mafia case.
The flamboyant Merlino has never pleaded guilty to anything and has maintained that he didn’t plan to start now. This motion to dismiss all charges may really push the feds into a corner forcing them to make a difficult decision perhaps sooner than they planned to. What was first described as a major blow against the mafia has quickly become nothing of the sort with everyone except for Merlino agreeing to very lenient plea deals. The question is how confident are the feds in their case against Merlino considering all the recent developments and do they really want to take it to trial. There is no doubt that Merlino was one of the more high-profile organized crime figures associated with this case and if he were to walk away scot-free it would be a huge black eye.
Word is that the defense team has also filed a motion to have the trial moved to Philadelphia if it, in fact, takes place. The judge has ordered a hearing for June 30th to consider both motions along with other aspects of the case.
