Philly Mob Figure Acquitted of Murder
P H I L A D E L P H I A, July 20, 2001 -- Reputed mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey"Merlino was cleared by a jury today on the most serious charges inhis federal racketeering trial.
Merlino was found guilty of numerous racketeering-relatedcharges, such as extortion, bookmaking and receiving stolenproperty, but acquitted of three counts of murder and two counts ofattempted murder.
Merlino and three of his six co-defendants had faced thepossibility of life imprisonment if they had been convicted onmurder charges. Other charges in a 36-count indictment includedattempted murder, extortion, drug trafficking and illegal gambling.
The verdict followed an extended trial on a 36-countracketeering indictment. The prosecution took nearly three monthsto unspool its case, putting 50 witnesses on the stand andpresenting 943 pieces of evidence. Defense lawyers, focusing onlyon the most serious charges, called 40 witnesses and sped throughtheir case in only six days.
Opening statements began March 29. The jury started deliberatingSaturday after a week's worth of closing arguments.
High-Ranking Mafia Turncoat
The government's star witness was former crime boss RalphNatale, the highest ranking American Mafia figure to become agovernment informant.
Natale spent 14 riveting days on the stand, testifying that heplotted with Merlino to take control of the Philadelphia-SouthJersey mob in the early 1990s by hunting down and killing membersof a rival mob faction. Defense attorneys called Natale a liarwhose sole motivation in testifying was to avoid dying in prison.
Another mob turncoat, Ronald Previte, was a corrupt formerPhiladelphia police officer who joined the Mafia and rose to theposition of captain — all the while working as an informant for theFBI. The defense made much of the fact that the FBI paid Previte$500,000 to wear a wire and record hundreds of conversations withMerlino and other defendants. Those tapes formed the basis of drug,theft and illegal gambling charges against Merlino.
The trial was the government's third major assault on thePhiladelphia mob in 13 years. A 1988 case led to the downfall ofmob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo and 15 associates, whilea 1994 indictment put mob boss John Stanfa away for fiveconsecutive life sentences.
While Scarfo and Stanfa tried to avoid the media spotlight, thatwas not the case for Merlino. His dark good looks, lavish spending,flashy clothes and beautiful wife made him a celebrity in the city.
Merlino's annual Christmas party for the homeless, complete withturkeys, Santa and presents for children, drew heavy mediacoverage, while his face graced numerous tabloid newspaper covers.
A 10-Year Probe
The FBI's 10-year investigation of Merlino led to his arrest ondrug charges in 1999. Merlino and 10 others were indicted by afederal grand jury in March 2000 on murder, extortion and illegalgambling and related offenses. Prosecutors decided before the trialnot to seek the death penalty against Merlino and threeco-defendants also charged with murder.
The defense team all but conceded an array of stolen propertyand illegal gambling charges. Instead, defense lawyers tried topoke holes in the government's case for murder, attempted murderand extortion.
For example, Natale testified that Joseph Sodano, a longtimenorthern New Jersey mobster, was killed because he refused to cometo Philadelphia for a meeting with mob leadership. The defensecountered that by presenting witnesses who suggested that Sodanowas actually shot during a robbery.
Also, Natale testified that defendant John Ciancaglini asked himfor permission to kill William Veasey. But three defense witnessestestified that Ciancaglini was at his mother-in-law's house at thetime of the Veasey hit.
The defense also took a calculated risk by having two of thedefendants testify. Ciancaglini and Angelo Lutz — a corpulent mannicknamed "Buddha" for his girth and the only defendant free onbail during the trial — both denied ties to organized crime. Buttheir credibility was attacked during aggressive questioning by theprosecution.