Michael Persico the son of imprisoned official Colombo crime family boss Carmine “The Snake” Persico has been ordered to stick to his agreed upon plea deal with prosecutors on loan sharking charges. The mob scion wanted to back out of his plea deal after learning prosecutors claimed in a Pre-sentencing report they could prove he was involved in addition significant crimes. They wanted to use this to convince the Probation Department to consider sentencing Persico to the upper end of the range for his single count he plead guilty to.
“Michael Persico”
Through a preponderance of evidence the government claimed it could prove Persico was involved in other crimes including an involvement in murders of Michael Devine and John Scopo. The Colombo family prince got his panties in a bunch and argued that prosecutors had promised in his plea deal they would not push for a heavy sentence and he wanted permission to back out of his agreement. But Brooklyn federal judge Sandra L. Towned did not agree with the assessment of the deal and ruled against him.
The judge said the agreement did prohibit advocacy by the government and prosecutors before the court but it could not reasonably be interpreted as prohibiting it before the Probation Department prior to the Pre-Sentencing report. So prosecutors were on legal ground when presenting their case to the Probation Department who established the sentencing range in the first instance.
Many were shocked that Persico went to such measures as he agreed to what is seen by many as a sweet plea deal facing only 36 to 47 months behind bars. He is not set to face sentencing early next year in front of judge Townes.
