South Philly "Wannabe Wiseguy" Convicted In Murder-For-Hire Case

Veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia is covering the murder-for-hire case of a South Philly auto repair shop owner with alleged organized crime connections for bigtrial.net.

Wannabe wiseguy Ron Galati was convicted of murder-for-hire and conspiracy charges today in a case that offered a look into a bizarre and twisted South Philadelphia family dynamic.

A federal jury deliberated for about five hours before returning guilty verdicts on all four charges Galati faced. No date has been set for sentencing, but the 64-year-old auto body shop owner is looking at from 20 years to life.

With a prior conviction for insurance fraud and with two other cases pending in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia, Galati could very well spend the rest of his life in prison.

"We're not surprised, but we're disappointed," said Anthony Voci Jr., Galati's defense attorney. Voci said Galati took the verdict well. But members of his family were "devastated," according to Galati's twin sister Renee.

"I can't believe it," she said through tears. "This is something my brother is not capable of."

The jury of 10 women and two men, after hearing five days of testimony and deliberating for about six hours, thought otherwise. The verdict was an endorsement of the prosecution case and a clear rejection of an alternative motive offered by Voci during an impassioned defense and closing argument.
Galati was convicted of hiring hitmen to kill the boyfriend of his estranged daughter Tiffany.

The boyfriend, Andrew Tuono, 35, was shot as he and Tiffany left their Atlantic City townhouse on Nov. 30 of last year. Tuono, shot three times, survived the assault. He was one of several witnesses called by the prosecution.

While Galati liked to play the role of The Godfather and frequently quoted lines from famous gangster movies, the plot he was convicted of setting in motion was strictly a grade-B operation.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/09/galati-convicted-in-murder-for-hire-case.html#more

South Philly Murder-For-Hire Trial To Turn On Testimony From Hit Men

Julia Terruso is covering the murder-for-hire trial of a South Philly auto repair shop owner with alleged organized crime connections for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The only evidence tying Ronald Galati to the shooting of his daughter's boyfriend is the testimony of three men, all career criminals, who say Galati hired them to do it.

It's up to a jury whether to believe them.

"This is a simple case, simple facts. The defendant, Ron Galati, wanted Andrew Tuono dead," U.S. Assistant District Attorney Jason Richardson said in his closing argument today in federal court in Camden.

Richardson reiterated in a 30-minute summation how the three hit men - Ronald Walker, Jerome Johnson and Alvin Matthews - all testified that Galati sent them to shoot Tuono in Atlantic City. The three have pleaded guilty in the case and are facing life in prison. Tuono was struck three times while walking with Tiffany Galati from his apartment to a car with Tiffany Galati but survived the attack.

Galati, an alleged mob associate, is on trial on murder-for-hire and attempted-murder charges that could land him in prison for 15 years. He also faces murder-for-hire charges in Philadelphia and insurance scam charges in Philadelphia. No testimony about Galati's friendships or connection to the Philadelphia mob was admissible in the trial.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

 

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140930_Closing_arguments__Galati_trial_to_turn_on_testimony_from_hit_men.html

 

A South Philly Murder-For-Hire Plot That The Bard Would Love

Veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia offers a piece on the South Philadeelphia auto body shop owner with reputed organized crime ties who is accused of hiring a gunmen to kill his daughter's boyfriend.

It sounds like the plot from a Shakespearean play, but with a decided South Philadelphia twist.

A father, upset because his daughter is dating a man he neither likes nor trusts, sends two henchmen to kill the unwanted suitor. If Shakespeare had written the story, the assassins would have carried swords or daggers.

Ronald Walker said he used a .25 caliber semi-automatic pistol.

Walker took the stand this afternoon during the opening day of testimony in the murder-for-hire trial of Ronald Galati, a South Philadelphia auto body shop owner with a checkered criminal past that includes alleged organized crime connections.

But neither Galati's past nor his suspected mob ties are expected to figure in the trial. Instead, the case will focus on the allegation that last year Galati, 63, hired three men to kill Andrew Tuono who was dating Galati's daughter Tiffany at the time.

Tuono survived the hit and is listed as a potential witness. So is Tiffany Galati.
"It's a simple case," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Richardson said in his opening statement to the jury of 10 women and two men this morning. "Mr. Galati wanted Mr. Tuono dead." The reason, Richardson said, was also rather mundane. "Mr. Galati didn't like Mr. Tuono."

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/09/a-murder-for-hire-plot-that-bard-would.html

South Philly Auto Body Shop Owner With Alleged Ties To Organized Crime And Allegedly Hired Two Hitmen To Kill His Daughter's Boyfriend, Prepares For Trial, May Take Stand

Veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia offers a look a the defense of Ron Galati at Bigtrial.net.

Ron Galati has decided to roll the dice and put his future in the hands of a federal jury that will begin hearing testimony later this month in his murder-for-hire case.

What's more, the South Philadelphia auto body shop owner and wannabe wiseguy is considering taking the stand in his own defense, a move that was hinted at in a motion filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Richardson, the prosecutor in the case.

In the same motion, Richardson alleged that Galati has made frequent payments to two prominent South Philadelphia organized crime figures, mob boss Joseph Ligambi and his nephew George Borgesi, but offered no explanation of what the payments were for.

Galati, 64, faces from 15 years to life if convicted. His apparent resolve to go to trial and perhaps tell his story in his own words to the jury undercuts speculation and media reports that he might cooperate with authorities.

"I don't know anything about anybody," he has reportedly told those close to him. 

Prior to the start of a pre-trial hearing this morning, Galati's defense attorney, Anthony J. Voci Jr., said no decision had been made on whether Galati would testify. Voci spent most of the hearing  attempting to block the introduction of evidence detailing Galati's alleged prior criminal activities. Voci said that evidence would be highly prejudicial and would make it impossible for his client to receive a fair trial. The prosecution says the evidence should be permitted, but has agreed not to introduce evidence alleging mob involvement. 
You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/09/galati-prepares-for-trial-may-take-stand.html

Feds Hope Wiseguy-Wannabe Ronald Galati Is Ready To Turn

Jeremy Roebuck at the Philadelphia Inquirer offers a piece on organized crime in South Philadelphia.

Andrew Tuono's new girlfriend came with a warning.

Dating Tiffany Galati, daughter of an auto mechanic with long-held ties to the Philadelphia mob, would one day get him killed, friends advised.

That prediction nearly proved prescient last year, with an attack that left Tuono alive, but with three bullets in his gut - and his girlfriend's father accused of ordering the hit.

Now, the details of that attempt on Tuono's life, sketched in government court filings this month, offer the latest account of one facet of Ronald Galati's deepening legal morass. As additional allegations ranging from witness intimidation to insurance fraud have piled up against him, a portrait of the 63-year-old auto-shop owner has emerged.

Friends and law enforcement sources describe Galati as a mob hanger-on, eager to cozy up to Mafia dons and trade quips from Goodfellas, his favorite film.

... And though no "made man" himself, Galati's recent legal problems have authorities salivating. Longtime friendships with current and former Philadelphia mob bosses like Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino and Joseph Ligambi make Galati a valuable target to turn.

Now that he faces three separate cases - the Tuono charges in Camden and counts related to insurance fraud and witness intimidation in Philadelphia - officials wonder whether Galati finally has incentive to cooperate.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140824_Feds_hope_wiseguy-wannabe_Ronald_Galati_is_ready_to_turn.html 

Philadelphia Business Owner And Associate Charged In Murder-For-Hire Plot That Involved Atlantic City Shooting

The U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey, released the below information yesterday:

CAMDEN, N.J. – Two Philadelphia men are scheduled to appear in court today on charges of conspiracy, murder for hire and aiding and abetting the use of a firearm related to a shooting in Atlantic City, N.J., last year, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Ronald Galati, 63, and Jerome Johnson, 45, will have their initial court appearances before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez in Camden federal court. They were each charged in an indictment – returned by a federal grand jury on April 2, 2014, and unsealed today – with conspiring with Ronald Walker, 48, of Philadelphia, and Alvin Matthews, 46, of Brookhaven, Pa., to shoot and kill an individual in Atlantic City, N.J., on Nov. 30, 2013. Johnson was also charged with transporting a firearm for use during the commission of a felony, transferring a firearm for use in a crime of violence and being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Galati owned and operated American Collision & Automotive Center (American Collision) in Philadelphia. At various times, Johnson has worked there for Galati. Prior to June 2013, Galati allegedly began saying he was going to kill a person identified as “Victim One.” 

In June 2013, Galati, members of Galati’s family and associates of Galati had dinner with Victim One at a restaurant in Northfield, N.J. During dinner, Galati took Victim One into the kitchen and threatened to kill him.

Galati and Johnson allegedly approached Walker and Matthews and asked them to kill Victim One in a way that would not implicate Galati. Galati promised to pay Walker and Matthews to shoot and kill Victim One.

Galati provided Walker and Matthews with several addresses associated with Victim One, including an address in the vicinity of Broad and Snyder streets in Philadelphia. In November 2013, in an attempt to find and kill Victim One, Johnson took Walker and another individual to Victim One’s home in Philadelphia.  Finding the home empty, the other individual broke into Victim One’s home and vandalized it while Walker waited outside.

On Nov. 29, 2013, Johnson gave Matthews a Colt .25 caliber semi-automatic handgun.  The next day, Johnson telephoned Walker and Matthews and arranged to meet them. At some point Galati called Johnson and told him that Victim One was in New Jersey. Johnson drove Walker and Matthews to Atlantic City and told them if there was a woman with Victim One, she was not to be harmed. While in Johnson’s vehicle, Matthews gave Walker the handgun he received from Johnson the day before. Johnson then dropped Walker and Matthews off around the corner from Victim One’s home.

When Victim One and a woman came out of a house, Walker and Matthews approached them and Walker shot Victim One with the Colt .25 caliber semi-automatic handgun, striking Victim One multiple times. The victim survived the shooting.

The count of conspiracy to commit murder for hire (Count 1) and the murder-for-hire count (Count 3) each carry a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  The count of conspiracy to possess and use a firearm during a crime of violence (Count 2) carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The count of aiding and abetting the possession and use of firearm during a crime of violence (Count 4) carries a mandatory minimum consecutive prison sentence of 10 years and maximum of life and a $250,000 fine.

The additional counts with which Johnson is charged, knowingly transporting a firearm for use during the commission of a felony (Count 5), knowingly transferring a firearm for use in a crime of violence (Count 6) and being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm (Count 7), each carry a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

On March 17, 2014, Matthews and Walker pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez to a three-count information charging them with conspiracy to use interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder for hire; use of a firearm, and aiding and abetting the use of a firearm, in furtherance of a crime of violence, and with being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Matthews’ and Walker’s sentencings are schedule for June 30, 2014.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford; special agents of the ATF, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Robin Shoemaker; and detectives of the Atlantic City Police Department, under the direction of Chief Henry White, for the investigation the case. He also thanked the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, under the direction of District Attorney R. Seth Williams, detectives of the Philadelphia Police Department, under the direction of Commissioner Charles Ramsey; and troopers of the Pennsylvania State Police, under the direction of Commissioner Frank Noonan, for their assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason M. Richardson and Matthew T. Smith of the U.S. Attorney's Office Criminal Division in Camden.

Philly Mob Associate Jailed In Murder For Hire Case

Veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia is covering the federal organized crime trial in Philadelphia for Bigtrial.net.

Here we go again.

Last year it was  mobster Anthony Nicodemo, arrested for allegedly carrying out a gangland hit while mob boss Joe Ligambi was on trial in U.S. District Court.

This year it's Ronald Galati, a notorious wannabe wiseguy. Galati, whose name surfaced during the testimony of Louis "Bent Finger Lou" Monacello two weeks ago in the ongoing Ligambi retrial, was arrested Saturday for allegedly hiring a hit man (or men?) to knock off a witness in a pending insurance fraud investigation in which he is the principal target.

Galati, 63, who owns an auto body shop in South Philadelphia, has been in this situation before. The question being asked in law enforcement and underworld circles is whether the fast-talking mob associate, who was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for insurance fraud back in 1995, is ready to roll the dice in a case that could land him in state prison for the next 15 years?

The retrial of Ligambi and his co-defendant and nephew George Borgesi resumes this morning before Judge Eduardo Robreno. The case could go to the jury early in January. But there are those who believe the racketeering conspiracy charge the defendants are currently fighting could be the least of their problems if Galati rolls.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.bigtrial.net/2013/12/mob-associate-jailed-in-murder-for-hire.html#more