The feds hit various mobsters in the Lucchese crime family with a huge racketeering case last year that included the 2013 murder of former Purple Gang leader Michael Meldish.
Among those charged in the Meldish hit were former street boss Matthew (Matty) Madonna, underboss Steven (Wonder Boy) Crea Sr., Captain Steven Crea Jr., soldier Chris Londonio, and associate Terrence Caldwell. According to the report Meldish was shot to death sitting in the front seat of his car in a section of Brooklyn. There are several theories as to exactly why the 62-year-old Meldish was killed but according to the feds, it was sanctioned by the Lucchese family hierarchy.
“Steven Crea Jr.”
New defense attorney’s for Steven Crea Jr. claim the feds are playing fast and loose with the truth when it comes to their client. Crea wants to be released on bail and his new lawyers have taken dead aim at what they claim are fabricated stories used by the feds to keep him behind bars. According to newly filed court documents the attorney’s claim prosecutors failed to alert the judge that their star witness against Crea had concocted an earlier story about the Meldish murder during a bail hearing back in January.
The witness identified as Frank Pasqua III according to a recent Ganglandnews report apparently lied to the feds at least once. Pasqua was a drug dealer and part of a Mafia crew that ran with the younger Crea and his father according to the prosecutors. But he originally told them back in 2015 that it was his father Frank Pasqua Jr. that killed Meldish while he stood just a few feet away. He then admitted he made up that story and now claims that Crea Jr told him the hit on Meldish was sanctioned by the Lucchese crime family.
This is not the only phony story that has surfaced and prosecutors were warned by the judge back in January to be very careful about claims they were making in an effort to keep Crea behind bars. They noted that “the government has indicated that (Pasqua III) is its principal witness against Crea with respect to the Meldish murder” but failed to alert the court about his false account of the murder. The defense attorneys also claim that that Pasqua III is what they called a “stone-cold junkie” who “routinely beat his wife in front of their children” and who was “also physically abusive to his mom.”
“It is difficult to fathom how the government can justify its failure to inform the Court of this crucial evidence” at Crea’s bail hearing in January, “particularly in light of the Court’s clear directive” to be “very careful, and if careful means that you can’t make the showing, so be it,” wrote defense lawyers. The judge ordered that Crea remain behind bars after the January bail hearing but did warn prosecutors that going forward everything should be double and triple checked for representation was made. A fourth bail hearing has now been scheduled and prosecutors have been ordered to respond to Crea’s motion.
If the feds are using inaccurate claims in an effort to keep Crea off the streets one has to wonder if the evidence they have will stand up in court. Perhaps this development could filter down and affect the case against the other Lucchese family mobsters being charged as well. When it comes to cases against the Mafia the feds aren’t exactly batting .1000 of late. If they are indeed playing fast and loose with the truth during a bail hearing it’s not a stretch to consider the fact they may be in other parts of the case as well.
