Carmine Avellino a longtime Lucchese crime family capo has agreed to a plea deal according to reports and now faces up to 33 months behind bars.
The reputed mobster was charged with extortion and turned down previous plea deal offers insisting on going to trial. Avellino had a change of heart it seems but his indecision came at a price as he will now lose one point of credit for not taking the plea deal sooner. The New York mafia capo will now face approx 4 months longer behind bars than he would have under the sentencing guidelines of the deal he finally agreed to. For the now 72-year-old mobster, the added time he could have avoided may like longer than what it is.
“Carmine Avellino”
As part of the plea Avellino admitted to conspiring with mafia goons Michael and Daniel Capra to threaten someone who owed him $100,000. According to Avellino they only used “an implied threat of violence based on reputation” to scare the deadbeat borrower into paying. Brooklyn Judge Marilyn Go then asked whether the mobster meant his reputation in the Lucchese family. Scott Leemon the defense attorney for Avellino was quick to clarify his client’s statement by saying he meant his reputation in the community. Both the Capra brothers had already pleaded guilty to extortion although they both refused to turn on the aging Cosa Nostra capo.
Probably the best move all along for Avellino and should of coped this plea even before the Capra brothers did. Didn’t seem like the case was as strong as it could of been against him but he would of likely been a longish shot to beat it anyway.