Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino the reputed boss of the Philadelphia mafia was hospitalized in Florida earlier this week after experiencing chest pains and shortness of breath according to his lawyer.
The 55-year-old mobster had a procedure called a catheterization performed on him at the hospital. According to reports, Merlino was suffering from two heart blockages making him unable to head to trial which was set to start next week. Because of his recent health issue, a Manhattan federal judge has agreed to postpone his racketeering trial until January 29.
“Joseph Merlino”
The flamboyant Cosa Nostra boss has survived multiple attempts on his life and already spend 14 years behind bars on a previous conviction. It seems like the fast and hard lifestyle which Merlino has taken to over the years may finally be catching up to him. There is sure to be some stress associated with the upcoming mafia trial which could put Joey Merlino back behind bars for an extended period of time if convicted and didn’t help with his recent medical problems. Hopefully, he is back in good health when he and the feds square off!
Well damn yet another twist to this trial. When your about to start what is likely to be a pretty stressful trail ya def don’t want heart problems creeping into the mix. You would think that with this kind of thing the feds/judge could have been a tad more lenient and delayed the trial a little longer.
I know right! The guy has double bypass surgery and the judge delays trial for a lousy week! Wtf. But damn Joey 55 and you got clogged arteries, you gotta start eating right bro…
Think he prob had stints or something of that nature and not an actual bypass, at least from what we know so far.
He did not have bypass surgery he had catheterization which article clearly states.
Could be a tactic on Merlinos behalf.. mobsters been using health issues since the early days to postpone or manipulate judicial proceedings.
I guess its possible but as closely monitored as hospital records are it seems unlikely since he did have that heart procedure. I guess anything is possible but it seems to be on the legit side at least from what we know.
Judge is very inconsiderate….Joey has never hurt innocent people as scum bag Muslim terrorists…Joey or any Mafioso deserve decency…21 -30 days delay reasonable….Merlino has to cut back on Mootzerella and Cigars and Cannoli’s ….but joey is tough and a survivor so he will recover well…This will be very interesting trial…Mark my words Attorney Ed Jaccobs has few surprised up his sleeve…good luck skinny joey
Agreed the least the judge could have done was back this up a month or a couple months. It’s not like Joey is going anywhere and I mean cmon its a heart condition and even though it may be somewhat minor in the end when its happening to you its still a big deal.
Catheterization’s are usually a scheduled procedure. If he had open heart surgery it would be a different story. Seems to me this was a tactic by Merlino to delay.
Well they don’t seem to always be scheduled actually and it can potentially be a procedure done once this type of blockage is confirmed. I guess anything is possible and it wouldn’t be out the realm of possibilities for this to be a stunt used to push trial back but at same time these things def happen.
The owner of A-Z Pharmacy and 7 Co-Defendants plead guilty, forfeited millions in assets in the FLMiddle District Health Care fraud case. Joey Merlino was not associated with these individuals,. Rubio perhaps tried to manufacture an association. No Fed forefiture of assets has been filed against Merlino related to that case.