I agree with you on the time ! It should be a state case!

yea and in the state those charges are mistermeaners. Unless of course they can bring murder charges

I don't know how the federal system operates, but on a state level I've had my attorney squash my priors if the DA files a "Prior Bad Acts motion" to show you have a record, but sometimes that's kinda stuff can't be brought up

i dont believe your priors can be brought up but if your convicted then you get enhanced if you have priors

On the Federal level your priors are used combined with your offense level to determine your sentencing range within the guidelines.

None of you guys mentioned Staino,he has a clean record but he was hanging out with an FBI undercover.if I had to bet I would thing Ligambi,Staino,Mousie,and Borgesi get like 10 yrs. with the rest getting 5.Nobody is walking,I just don't see how everybody thinks just because there's no violence its a weak case.Those RICO laws are tough.The feds basically came out on the short end last time in 2001,I don't think they will make the same mistakes twice.

I don't know if its hard to prove, or if some mob associates that are currently in the FDC with those guys would roll. Mousies alleglly put out the money to finanace a a 50G drug deal that was a sting. If you go in the archives of philly.com, around this time last year they arrested over 50 people in an oxycodone ring which they were linking to mousie. Two of the associates in the scheme one of which use to be my barber have already done lengthy prison sentences, for murder and drugs.

None of these guy will likel walk, but a lot will get light sentences. Staino has no priors and doesn't have a whole lot against him. I'd be surprised if anyone got morthence 10 years. If the government is willing to offer plea deals some guys would see less time then that. This is all assuming that more serious charges are brought and no more guys flip. The more important question is wether the Philly Mafia can survive with many of its members behind bars. Joey Merlino can't do it all by himself.

All that is speculation about mousie financing drug deals. they were trying to get the fellow that got caught at the airport to rat on mousie but he took a plea deal and got sentenced already to 96 months cause he said it just wasnt true and he wasnt gona lie

If merlino comes back hardly anybody would get in bed with him knowing it would be doomsday

According to reports he is getting ready to take over. He's already got a list of guy he's going to induct. According to george anastasia, they are all tough guys. But has 14 years taught Merlino anything about what violence and publicity will do to a boss?

Well they must be fools if its true.They wont last 2 years before they are taken off the streets. The feds already have an extremely hot nut for Joey

I found out today that the word on the street is that the Ligambi case had a hearing on friday about dropping the rico and that all the defendants were in very good spirits.Can anybody add to this on what might of happened?

Thats what im saying there two tough dudes, but after having done so much time in the past and after sitting in there for another year, they wanna talk, I think we've seen cases come out of this before in the past

i think its too late now. they already took pleas

i think the only one left in that case is the biker guy trying to plea to 5 years

i have to admit i am rooting for these guys to walk. i dont know why i feel this way other than looking at the charges they are charged with and thinking to myself that thats the way its been in south philly forever and probably in every major city in the U.S.

Reputaed Mob Assicate and Pagan : Joe Fierei

He cut hair at john anthony with stainos wife whose still in there cuttin hair.

He did slip up saying he did at one point emulate those guys in a citypaper article. Even though on most segments he claims its the wrong decision for guys of that enviorment to make.

Rumor has it that the guys had a court hearing on friday and that it went really good. The main subject of the hearing was to dismiss the rico charge.

why would they dismiss the rico charge? what about the other charges? anything to do with the nicky skins evidence?until proven otherwise, i would HIGHLY doubt the feds would drop any of these charges. They would rather it being proven not true at trial ala Tommy Shots in NYC.

its a motion that Ligambis lawyer filed this past January and came up for the discussion on friday at a motions hearing http://articles.philly.com/2012-01-10/ne...ense-indictment

I never said the feds were gona drop it but there are certain situations legally to get a rico charge so it comes down to the judge

This is a pretty good counterargument by the feds, and given the new evidence of mob meetings with the gambinos attended by ligambi and co that was brought to light by the nicky skins tapes then i think the feds argument would be further strengthened.

"Prosecutors are expected to argue that all the charges detailed in the indictment are tied to a criminal enterprise headed by Ligambi.

Two codefendants, Joseph Massimino, 61, and Anthony Staino, 54, have been identified as part of the organization's ruling hierarchy. Massimino is the alleged family underboss.

Staino, according to the indictment, bragged in a conversation secretly recorded by an FBI agent working undercover that he was the "CFO" (chief financial officer) of the crime family and a member of its "board of directors."

Those conversations and others, in which codefendants identified Ligambi as the boss of the family and said the money being generated went to "Uncle Joe," are expected to be cited by prosecutors in countering Jacobs' assertions."

idk im waiting for some new stuff from george anastasia so i can get updated on the case

Yes that is very true and even though there is probably a thin chance of the judge throwing out that charge,Jacobs is laying the ground work for doubt of the enterprise. Just dont go by people talking or the recorded tapes that the feds are leaking out but by the conspiracy acts the were actually commited

This is from the most recent indictment, these charges (which you can read detailed in the indictment) set out the racketeering conspiracy pretty good IMO

"The second superseding indictment alleges that for more than a decade, 11 of the defendants, including Ligambi as the acting boss and Massimino as the underboss, as well as other members and associates of the Philadelphia LCN Family in Philadelphia and New Jersey, conspired to conduct and participate in the affairs of the Philadelphia LCN Family through a pattern of racketeering activity and through the collection of unlawful debts. The alleged racketeering activity includes numerous acts involving extortion, extortionate extensions of credit through usurious loans, extortionate collections, illegal gambling, witness tampering, and theft from an employee benefit plan. The organization's collection of unlawful debts allegedly relates to its loan sharking operations and debts that arose from their illegal gambling businesses.

According to the second superseding indictment, the defendants promoted and furthered their illegal money-making activities through violence, actual and implied threats, and the cultivation and exploitation of the Philadelphia LCN Family's long-standing reputation for violence. The defendants also used this reputation to intimidate and prevent victims and witnesses from cooperating with law enforcement. The second superseding indictment alleges various instances where defendants used phrases such as "chop him up" and "put a bullet in your head" when threatening victims. In one instance, Canalicho allegedly used a bat to beat a victim for not paying a loan debt.

The second superseding indictment alleges that some of the defendants continued their racketeering activities even after being sent to prison. For example, Borgesi and Massimino, while in prison, allegedly generated criminal proceeds for themselves and the Philadelphia LCN Family by using intermediaries to operate criminal businesses and to make extortionate demands at their direction.

Each charge of racketeering conspiracy, collection of unlawful debt, collection of extensions of credit through extortionate means, making extortionate extensions of credit, financing extortionate extensions of credit and witness tampering carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The illegal gambling and theft from an employee benefit plan charges each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. "

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/April/12-crm-542.html

The Canalichio thing is dificult for the prsecution cause i dont think they have a victim that they can put on the stand that will say they got hit with a bat or assaulted for anything related to LCN activity, he was just simply talking about it on tape and secondly he was a fighter all his life and none of it was mob related. Ive been in a bar or two, years ago when this guy was around and he simply is an uneducated goof.

You just cant throw a bunch of mumbo jumbo out and hope it sticks! The public can believe what they read but in court they have to PROVE it

Obcourse your right, i wouldnt put it past the govt to have somebody to testify about that beating, whether it was the victim or not. BUT traditionally the govt employs this tactic, throw a bunch of charges at a guy in a mob case and the jury will think he HAS to be guilty of at least something because why would the govt charge this guy with X number of things.

a few months ago there was a guy on the forum who claimed he was damion's brother and he was dispelling rumors that his brother had flipped.