Organized Crime, Disorganized Law Enforcement

Veteran organized crime reporter and author George Anastasia offers a piece on the federal indicment of Philadelphia crime boss Joey Merlino and other Cosa Nostra mobsters for jerseymanmagazine.com.

Joey Merlino may have caught a break.

The flamboyant boss of the Philadelphia mob was arrested in August in a sweeping federal investigation that targeted members of six different mob families.

The feds say Merlino was one of three mob leaders coordinating the actions of an “East Coast LCN Enterprise.”

The “details” are laid out in a 32-page, four-count indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in New York.  Problem is, there aren’t a lot of details. The indictment is, as Merlino’s long-time attorney Edwin Jacobs Jr. said, “broad and general in nature.”

Maybe that’s by design.

Maybe there will be more information made public as the case moves forward.

Maybe there will be superseding indictments that put skin on the bones of what is a skeletal document, particularly when it comes to “Skinny Joey.”

Or maybe the indictment—and this is where the break for Merlino lies—was a rush job, one that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York insisted on bringing despite the objections of law enforcement agencies in Florida and in Philadelphia.

The case against Joey Merlino may be the latest example of organized crime and disorganized law enforcement.

“They didn’t need to charge him,” said one Philadelphia-based law enforcement source. “They could have waited. There were other things going on.”

Those other things include investigations into the current activities of Merlino’s top Philadelphia and South Jersey operatives, and a continuing look at four mob murders that authorities have long hoped to tie to the Merlino organization.

None of that, of course, matters to federal law enforcement officials in Manhattan where the current case was brought. And that’s the problem. There are those in the law enforcement community here and in Florida who will privately tell you that New York acted like the 500-pound gorilla in the current case. The feds in Manhattan forgot, or perhaps never learned, the lessons that are crucial in kindergarten.

Play nice. Share. Take turns.

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

http://jerseymanmagazine.com/organized-crime-disorganized-law-enforcement/

Skinny Joey, Nickey Skins And Life Without The Philly Mob

Veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia interviewed reputed Philadelphia Cosa Nostra organized crime figure Joey Merlino about his dealings with a Gambino wiseguy wired for sound by the FBI for Bigtrial.net.

They met in a Dunkin’ Donuts near the beach in Boca Raton.

Nicholas Stefanelli, a 60-something mobster from North Jersey, was full of propositions and ideas for “business” ventures.

Joey Merlino, recently turned 50 and out of jail for about a year, was all ears.

Merlino was looking for a fresh start in Florida, or so he said. Stefanelli had come recommended from a defense attorney in Newark who had worked on one of Joey’s cases. 

They talked for about an hour. At first, Stefanelli focused on ideas for bars and restaurants, businesses he knew Joey was interested in. Money and backers were available, he said. They could make something happen, he promised. Then he steered the conversation to past events in the world in which they both operated.

Stefanelli, known as “Nicky Skins,” was a soldier in the Gambino crime family.

Merlino, who everyone knew as “Skinny Joey,” had been or was (depending on your frame of reference) the boss of the Philadelphia mob. He had just finished a 14-year stint in a federal prison. He had no desire to go back. So when Stefanelli started asking about some of the guys up north and talking about pending criminal cases, Merlino pulled back.

There are certain things you don’t talk about, especially with someone you’ve just met.

 

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

http://www.bigtrial.net/2013/04/merlino-talks-about-nicky-skins-and.html#more 

Philadelphia Mob Trial: Ligambi Defense Seeks Tape Of Merlino

 

George Anastasia, the Philadelphia Inquirer's veteran organized crime reporter, reports on the upcoming mob trial in Philadelphia.

Florida-based Philadelphia mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino had at least one meeting with mob informant Nicholas "Nicky Skins" Stefanelli while Stefanelli was wearing a body wire for the FBI, federal authorities confirmed last week.

But prosecutors say the conversation, recorded in Florida sometime in 2011, has nothing to do with the mob racketeering case pending in U.S. District Court against several top Merlino associates, including alleged "acting Philadelphia mob boss" Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi.

Ligambi's defense attorney, Edwin Jacobs Jr., has said he would like to make that determination himself. He has asked U.S. District Court Judge Eduardo Robreno to order the prosecution to turn the tape over to the defense before the start of the trial.

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

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/20121001_Ligambi_defense_seeks_tape_of_Merlino.html

You can also read a brief history of Joseph Merlino via the below Philly.com link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/20121001_A_brief_history_of_Joey__after_Nicky.html

Note: The top photo shows Merlino on the left and Ligambi on the right.