Merlino Outcome

[Freakapotimus]

Monday, July 23, 2001

Merlino juror says the panel had doubts
By George Anastasia, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Most of the jurors who acquitted reputed mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino and his codefendants of murder and attempted murder charges last week believed they were guilty, one juror in the high-profile case said yesterday.

But, he said, they also thought the government had failed to prove its case.

"In general, I would say 11 of the 12 thought these people did all the murders," said the juror, who asked to remain anonymous. "But there was enough gray area. We believed they did it . . . but we couldn't convict on a belief."

The juror, one of six men on the 12-member panel, said the credibility of key government witnesses and the length of the prosecution's case factored into the decision-making process.

Another crucial element, he said, was a ruling by U.S. District Judge Herbert Hutton during deliberations that permitted jurors to find that an act in a racketeering charge was "not proven" if the panel was less-than-unanimous. To find a defendant guilty of one count of racketeering, jurors had to find at least two other acts were "proven."

For example, the jury said the panel was evenly split on the charge for the attempted murder of Joseph Ciancaglini Jr. and favored convicting Merlino for the murder of Joseph Sodano.

Both racketeering charges were recorded as "not proven" on the verdict sheets. And later in deliberations, in order to be "consistent," the juror said, the panel voted "not guilty" on the specific counts involving those acts of violence.

Merlino and codefendants George Borgesi, Steven Mazzone, and Martin Angelina were charged with participating in the attempted murder of Ciancaglini. Merlino was charged with ordering the murder of Sodano. They were found not guilty of those charges.

On the other hand, the juror said, the panel was unanimous in rejecting the murder charges for the killing of William Veasey and Anthony Turra and the attempted murder of Anthony Milicia.

And one of the least-debated charges, he said, was the drug-trafficking count against Merlino.

"That was easy," he said. "We thought it was a setup."

Merlino and his six codefendants were convicted of lesser counts of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy that included gambling, extortion, receipt of stolen property, and collection of unlawful debts.

By and large, the juror said, the panel looked for corroborating evidence, particularly from the many hours of secretly recorded conversations that were entered as evidence. Without corroboration, he said, the panel leaned toward acquittal.

He also said the panel had serious questions about the parade of mobsters who became government informants and testified for the prosecution. Least effective of all, he said, was the government's star witness, reputed mob boss Ralph Natale.

Natale testified for 14 days at the start of the trial, linking Merlino and his codefendants to a series of murders and attempted murders at the heart of the prosecution's case.

"Natale was out of the loop," the juror said. "A lot of what he said seemed to be hearsay. We couldn't convict somebody on the hearsay of Ralph Natale."

"Natale," he added later, "could have stayed home or in jail or wherever he came from. He was not a factor."

The juror said he and other panel members thought that both the prosecution and the defense, particularly Merlino's attorney, Edwin Jacobs Jr., "dragged the case out."

He said the prosecution's case was weak, and defense arguments had little impact.

"I don't think anything the defense did came up more than twice" during the seven days of deliberations, he said.

The juror also said the jury disregarded the alibi testimony of the wives of several defendants. And he said he and other jurors felt defendants Angelo Lutz and John Ciancaglini "hurt themselves" by taking the stand in their own defense.

Their testimony, he said, "cemented" the opinions of jurors leaning toward convicting them. Both Lutz and Ciancaglini were found guilty of racketeering based on gambling and extortion charges.

Of the government's other key witnesses, the juror said Gaetano "Tommy Horsehead" Scafidi and Peter "Pete the Crumb" Caprio were the most credible. The juror described Scafidi as a "lost soul" who clearly did not want to be on the stand. He said several jurors believed Scafidi's account of the 1993 attempted murder of Joseph Ciancaglini Jr., but that several other members of the panel were not willing to go along.

"That was the hardest one," he said. "I'm convinced they did that one."

The juror described himself as one of the stronger advocates for conviction, but said he has no regrets about the outcome.

"I'm not happy about this, but we couldn't convict when there wasn't enough evidence."

The juror said the panel was also affected by the government's decision to make deals with mobsters such as Natale, and promise them lenient sentences for their cooperation. Natale was facing a life sentence on drug-dealing charges when he agreed to cooperate in 1999.

"They let some pretty nasty people get off," the juror said. "There's got to be a limit to that kind of thing."

George Anastasia's e-mail address is [e-mail].

© Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.

[Freakapotimus]

bumpx0rz!

[Freakapotimus]

Merlino pleads not guilty in mobster's 1996 slaying
By George Anastasia INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

NEWARK - A lawyer for jailed mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino called it "deja vu all over again" yesterday when his client pleaded not guilty to charges of plotting the murder of North Jersey mobster Joseph Sodano in 1996.

The plea was entered during arraignment in U.S. District Court almost seven weeks after a federal jury in Philadelphia found that prosecutors had not proved Merlino was involved in the Sodano murder.

"It's the same crime and the same evidence," attorney Christopher Warren said after yesterday's hearing before Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise. Warren told Debevoise that he would file a motion to have the charges dismissed based on double jeopardy, the legal tenet that precludes trying a defendant twice for a crime of which he has been acquitted.

Debevoise has tentatively scheduled a hearing on that issue for Oct. 5.

Merlino, who was convicted on other racketeering charges in the Philadelphia trial and is awaiting sentencing, had his own opinion of the legal imbroglio.

"There must be a new Sodano," he quipped after he was led into the courtroom. "What, did he come back to life? I just got acquitted on one. They got me on another."

Federal prosecutors are expected to argue that although the charges are similar, there is enough difference under the law to permit Merlino to be retried.

In the Philadelphia case, the gangland slaying of Sodano was a so-called predicate act used to support the racketeering charge in the case. The murder and the conspiracy to murder Sodano were two of 36 such acts listed in the indictment. A defendant had to be found guilty of two in order to be convicted of racketeering.

In the current case, Merlino is charged not with racketeering but with murder and conspiracy to murder. These are so-called substantive acts and are legally different from predicate acts, prosecutors contend.

Sodano was found shot to death in the parking lot of a Newark senior-citizen complex on Dec. 7, 1996, in what authorities allege was a dispute with the hierarchy of the Philadelphia crime family.

Sodano was a leader of the North Jersey branch of the organization and had not responded to orders issued by Merlino and mob boss Ralph Natale, according to evidence entered in the Philadelphia case.

Natale, who became a government witness, testified against Merlino. Another key witness was Peter "Pete the Crumb" Caprio, who acknowledged that he had set the Sodano hit in motion. Caprio said he had been acting on the orders of Merlino and Natale.

The Sodano killing was one of a half-dozen murders and attempted murders listed in the Philadelphia racketeering case. But after a 14-week trial, a jury said the government had not proved any of those charges.

Natale and Caprio are listed as witnesses in the latest case, an 18-count indictment that was returned in March and that includes racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges and allegations of drug dealing, gambling and loan-sharking.

The case includes nine other defendants, including Daniel D'Ambrosia, who has been identified as a major South Philadelphia bookmaker. D'Ambrosia is charged with gambling and drug dealing.

One other defendant, Vincent "Beeps" Centorino, is charged with the Sodano murder.

All 10 defendants were in court for the arraignment. Each, through his lawyer, pleaded not guilty.

George Anastasia's e-mail address is [e-mail].

© Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.