Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino the alleged boss of the Philadelphia mafia has reportedly balked at a plea offer from the feds in the East Coast LCN Enterprise racketeering case.
The 55-year-old mobster who now resides in Florida was back in The City of Brotherly Love this week for trial prep according to report from Fox29’s Dave Schratwieser. What was once considered a major mafia indictment has all but fallen apart due to an internal probe into potential misdeeds by FBI agents as previously reported here. This development led to the feds offering to drop the top charge of racketeering and allow many of the more than 40 defendants including Joey Merlino to plead guilty to lesser crimes. According to reports, the plea deal offered to Skinny Joey who is charged with health care fraud and illegal gambling calls for him to spend approx two years behind bars.
“Joey Merlino”
The feds also want some defendants including Merlino to forfeit large amounts of cash which in his case is reportedly in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. These large cash forfeitures have allegedly been one of the major stumbling blocks for the defendants that have so far refused to agree to the plea offers. According to the feds, Merlino and alleged New York mafia captains Pasquale (Patsy) Parrello and Eugene (Rooster) O’Nofrio were leaders of this so-called mafia enterprise. Patsy Parrello according to reports has agreed to take a plea deal which calls for him to spend between five to seven years behind bars a far cry from the over 40 years he was previously facing.
Merlino who was previously facing up to 20 years behind bars was released from jail on $5 million dollar bail shortly after being arrested last year. According to the report, Merlino met with attorney Ed Jacobs in Philly as they get ready for what should be a very interesting trial which is probably still months away. There is still a possibility that Merlino and Jacobs could be trying to leverage the threat of going to trial in an effort to get a better plea offer than originally offered. Although Joey doesn’t seem to keen on the idea of pleading guilty to anything according to sources may like his chances in court now that the case is in limbo.
Most of the case against Merlino is tied to wiretap evidence collected John Rubio a former Genovese crime family associate turned cooperating witness. The mishandling of Rubio and the wiretap evidence he collected by FBI agents is reportedly at the heart of this internal probe which could potentially lead to it all being compromised. Perhaps Merlino believes there has been so much damage done that the odds favor him at trial and he could beat the feds and walk away from the whole damn thing scot-free.
Well if Merlino is in Philly meeting with Jacobs it sure seems like this thing at least on his end may be heading to trial. With the hard on the feds have for Joey they may be just as willing to take their chances in the court room and if they lose take the black eye which they are sort of becoming accustomed to of late anyway. They could just say hey he wants to roll the dice lets do it and see what happens maybe they end up getting some kind of conviction in the end. I still think Joey should take the two years and walk away smiling but as we all know Joey is def gonna Joey!
Agree..take the two.
Jacobs is shrewd attorney and Joey has intelligence, more than Salvatore chucky Merlino his father..So I believe that Jacobs and merlino have a solid understanding and plan for this upcoming trial….As I stated earlier posts Joey loves and spends alot of cash ???? and will not give up 100,000–200,000 ???? to federal government and Joe as in the armored Truck hiest would rather fight the allegations or do couple years than handover 200,000 …
All to show off. Ego is many a man’s downfall.
John Gotti is the ultimate example of leading with ego… I mean his brother Gene should of gotten out years ago.. but no… On his brothers orders…don’t plea…and got 40 years for dealing smack. Thank goodness the tribe is back in the hands of Sicilians…
I disagree big Frank with all respect .Gotti didn’t lead with ego he led with balls !!He knew where he was standing .He operated out of his own center that he found as a youngster and made a decision to never leave it and stand his ground .Let’s face it the man gat railroaded and just like Jesus Christ took it like a man without saying a word .
Yes! Gotti had balls the size of Nantucket.. a man’s man.. I’m not disputing that at all Adam. .. but c’mon.. balls and brains are two different departments.
The chin had balls…and brains.
As a young kid n the late 80s I was an awe of Gotti (like many of us)… But as I’ve gotten older i realized the damage he’s done to that family…
But yes… definitely had balls
Having balls is a great trait if you’re a soldier. As anyone in administration you gotta have both brains and balls, gotti was an idiot.
Got to his position by the gun not with his head.
Hi ya Tommy..you mentioned US.. in one of your comments.. where are you from? What country?
I live in Toronto, Canada. From Montreal and grew up spending summers in Brooklyn. Yourself?
Ok cool.. I from Brooklyn..Carol gardens..Where in Brooklyn? Bayridge..bensonhurst..dyker heights.? Neighborhood has changed Tommy.. everybody’s moving to Staten Island or Jersey now.
My family moved to Jersey and Florida. I Still have some in Brooklyn.. but it ain’t the same… The Italian feast in the summer is still fun, especially in bensonhurst.
I did my summers on the Jersey Shore as a kid and still do.
Ha! I used to spend a lot of time on the jersey shore as well. Dyker heights. And yes I’ve been back within the last couple years and it is certainly a whole new world. Seems to be going the same way of little Italy Manhattan, swallowed up.
Ok cool! Dyker heights is beautiful.. especially in the winter..
Little Italy is now TINY ITALY!
The Chinese has encroached ..
Wild wood and cape May in Jersey is our spot in the summer.
But yes…the Italians up your way are very sophisticated… I know the bikers are real animals..but not as smooth..
There’s a lot of heat up there in Canada tommy… I’ve been fascinated with the Clans up in Canada…it seems you guys just have the talent from overseas…
The calabrians are pushing in.. fast.
It’s a really interesting dynamic up here… funny when my family from NY comes up and brings up the mafia.. they refuse to believe we have an extremely entrenched and sohphisticated Italian OC presence… Americans always think they have the best everything!
How about Junior Gotti?? Minchia!
Junior is a joke in my opinion
Absolutely..
Exactly !!!!
Definitely big Frank the Chin had brains and balls I think Gotti had both but that’s ok you seem like a reasonable man .You gotta admit it was a bold move !!!But I understand you’re point .I really liked the Chin with all respect whatever he was doing walking around in Greenwich village in his bathrobe had me cracking up .I’ll tell you the truth .Their families are always in my prayers .God bless Big Frank !
Lol..I try (reasonable).
He’s gonna beat this case Frank!!!
Just on the news.. Pasquale took a pinch …got 5 to 7.
Hey let’s hope Merlino moons walks out of that courthouse. But for Patsy to take a pinch… He knows something.
It’s not what he knows it’s what he DOESNT KNOW !!!!MERLINOS GONNA WALK !!: )
Like the movie Frank it’s basic dog psychology the feds use it’s called FEAR YOU GET THEM PEEING DOWN THEIR LEG AND THEY SUBMIT !!FEAR CAUSES HESITATION AND HESITATION WILL CAUSE YOURE WORST FEARS TO COME TRUE !SO ITS EASY YOU PROJECT STRENGHTH TI AVOID CONFLICT !!!WHY BE A SERVANT TO THE LAW WHEN YOU CAN BE ITS MASTER !!MERLINO IS ITS MASTER !!: )
Good point.. we all know the rat was from the Genovese side I guess Patsy realized ..hey, I’ll take it (plea)…
BUT I’m curious to see what happens to the rooster.. this guy from Connecticut who brought the rat around..
Nothing good look what happened to Judas Iscariot
Yup!
Gotti wouldn’t have pleaded !It would be all or nothing !He was like his gambling habit “all or none “remember the movie Frank ?he said “I don’t care if everyone here goes to marrion for a thousand years there will be no deals “!!!Balls of Brass !!!!!He would have told them all to go pound sand !!!Gotti was all in !!!!
Hey. Let’s see!! I’m curious to know why Patsy took the pinch.
That’s an easy one Frank he took it cuz he was scared!!!!Joey ain’t scared!!!He’s gonna walk Frank !!!: )
Minchia! Ok great … Hope Joey brought his skates.. but he did like what 12 years? I don’t blame him for taking it to court. Who Wants to go back to eating moosh?
That’s funny : )moosh !!!Joeys gonna skate !
There gonna dismiss those charges !!Drop them !!!
John Gotti was the worst mafia boss ever…..His ways were old school in a different world ….
Check out John Jr Gotti on you-tube,a segment of 60 minutes shows before Prison steroid swagger wanna be swagger than watch the wisdom of being in a cage away from your loved ones Post Prison he has no longer a puppet for his father who I respect but disagree on all things.Go
The thing is, John Gotti could have done everything he did to rise to power but in a much lower key fashion and gotten away with everything. Even after he beat those 3 trials back to back that he’s so notorious for, had he slowed down, retreated to the shadows, and never ran his mouth on tape who knows how things would have turned out.
Yeah but it was his Destiny to run his mouth. Had DellaCroce still been alive.. he would have smacked Gotti up and down Mulberry Street
Secret society wasn’t in gotti’s vocabulary… it was public Society that he lived and died by.
Yes he totally made it a public society….
Aniello Dellacroce now there’s a man for ya !Old school baby !!!!Agreed big Frank !!
Wasn’t his style baby !!!: )He walked it like he talked it !!!What balls !!!!
Who may I add denied the existence of a mafia till his dying day .I agree .There is no mafia .
He is gonna walk away Scott free I don’t know how many times I gotta say it .The man has been blessed by God by men of God already .He is already a free man .He is now Blessed Joey MERLINO !
John the feds aren’t stupid as far as taking this case to trial .They are stupid in the way they handled it .They had a false witness speaking lies a bunch of made up stuff from God knows where ???The only hard on they have is for themselves !I think it’s a shame the tactics that have been stooped to in this case just because the feds hate themselves and need something to do .Dimming someone else’s star don’t make youres shine brighter .The man is innocent .Wish him buona fortuna
Normally I’d say bad call to not take the plea, but clearly he has a high powered lawyer and based on his disclosure (if that’s what you call it in US) he will have an idea of how big of a gamble he’s taking by going to trial.
Feds sometimes need to learn to pick their battles.. seems again like this was for headlines, just like the asaro/gotti junior thing. Makes them look dumb to pursue such petty stuff and trump it up to be the bust of the decade.
Pasquale took da plea!
5 to 7
Shit…I hope they can deliver some of that delicious food from his restaurant to the can.
That’s funny !!!
Merlin of will walk. I hope the mafia wins there trials.
God bless you Brian !You have just become a part of that victory !: )