I know that money is down with papers but that is kind of BS because when these articles are on philly.com there are always up to 20 comments and that is just people who comment not the people who read the article, and the article is usually put on this site which means even more hits to philly.com those 2 papers must be really be scrapping by...the iggles are turrible this year take a guy off the reid watch to sit in the courtroom and tell what is going on

suprised the citypaper.net doesnt have someone on it, i bet philly mag has something on the new issue but that is a few weeks away

66


General Managers at McDonalds start at 50-60 K a year so agents definitely get more then that! just saying!

sorry to say it buddy but you have NO IDEA what your talking about. my brother is a general manager at taco bell and makes 61K a year. and he didnt goto college!& he started at 55k 3 years ago. So an agent that went to college makes at a bare minimum 80-90K a year... if you dont believe me, google it. dont worry though buddy you cant always be right!

LOL at taco bell manager making 61K. Your nutz cuzo. You know how many people with college educations are out there struggling to get jobs and keep them. No raises, sitting at around 40 to 50k. They would just go take that job. Give me some proof that a manager at taco bell makes 60K and I will apologize but until then I think your smoking wet.

Here goes a shitty article.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/break ... today.html

John P. Martin, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Posted: Friday, November 9, 2012, 8:15 AM
A mob associate who turned government cooperator because he may have feared that Joseph Ligambi wanted him dead is expected to testify against the reputed mob boss and other ex-associates for the first time today.

Louis "Bent Finger Lou" Monacello, 46, is likely to spend at least a day on the witness stand describing for prosecutors what he knows and did for the Philadelpha mob. Then he'll likely spend just as long fending off cross-examination by lawyers for the 73-year-old Ligambi and six codefendants.

Monacello was on the other side of the courtroom after FBI agents arrested him and the others in May 2010. That roundup capped a decade-long investigation into extortion, loan-sharking and gambling by the local mob and set the stage for the racketeering trial that began in late October and could stretch to the end of the year.

Prosecutors once described Monacello as a "high-ranking associate" and leader of a crew run by one of the defendants, George "Georgie" Borgesi, a 49-year-old nephew of Ligambi's believed to run gambling and loan-shark operations in Delaware County. When Borgesi was jailed in another case, they said, Monacello ran his rackets and visited him in prison to deliver updates.

Monacello also allegedly served as a collector for the mob, directed by Ligambi directed to collect yearly "street tax" or "tribute payments" from South Jersey bookies between 2000 to 2007.

Besides describing those duties, Monacello, who began cooperating in 2010, could be asked to recount for jurors a conversation in which Borgesi allegedly bragged about his involvement in 11 murders.

Jurors are also likely to hear about disputes within the crime family that may have led to Monacello's decision to cooperate. In 2008, Monacello was convicted of solicitation of assault for trying to hire someone to kill Martin Angelina, a reputed captain, because he believed Angelina was collecting on debts owed to him.

Prosecutors have acknowledged Monacello's role as a cooperating witness, but it's not clear yet how he will benefit. He entered a guilty plea in July 2011, which for a time was sealed from public access by the trial judge, U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno.

Lawyers for all the defendants have tried to challenge the case as flimsy - more talk that actual violence, and much of it recorded by degenerate gamblers and informants trying to wrangle out of legitimate loans or their own criminal cases. Monacello inevitably faces those same accusations when cross-examination begins late Friday or next week.

"Lou Monacello had one thing in mind, and that was Lou Monacello," Borgesi's lawyer, Paul Hetznecker, said during opening statements.

SP you are right kind of embarassing what is going on with the reporting of this....

It really is Merlino. I can't believe this. 10 years in the making and we don't get anything.

It's really shocking that the local paper isn't sending someone there each day to cover the trial..????

What has the world come to, lol....

I'm thinking these guys can beat these charges after reading some of the stuff posted in the thread right after they got indicted. I wouldn't be surprised if they were denied bail just so they can be off the street pending trial. Maybe the Feds know they have a shit case (granted if no one else flips) and think this is the only way to put them in jail even just for a little bit. They don't want 10 years of work to be for nothing. I know it's a stretch but any thoughts?

Philly is the 5th largest city in the US and has 2 major newspapers, and the fact they cannot spare or afford one reporter to cover the goings on of this trial is terrible. This is a federal crime where a citizen of philly is alleged to be a major mafia boss and conducted business right here in the city, allegedly....I do not know the reaches of the philly mob today but, I am guessing it could go to philly pd and city hall? I have no clue, but the alleged crimes have to do with ripping off citizens of philadelphia and businesses, you would think the paper or press would cover this like a major city would do. The FBI and the federal govt has had 3 major cases tried and won in philly in the past 2 years and teh coverage was excellent for those cases

wow two articles in one day.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaki...tify_today.html

seems like the defense could roll in angelo lutz to say bent finger is lying to discredit him

Lutz already admitted at the last trial he got his butt kicked.I think its common knowledge that Borgesi was involved one way or another.

Hate him or not, you know that Monacellos telling the truth. Borgesi's screwed. Watch him flip when he gets another 10 years.

The more I think about the Lutz beating its weird.I mean Borgesi drives him[Lutz] to Monacello's they say their hello's to any present family members[Monacello's family] then they go down stairs like their going to watch a ballgame.They beat the shit out of Lutz,then what.Do you help him up the steps say good-bye go out to the car and what does Georgie say?Are you hungry and Lutz says nah just drop me off.I'm obviously just speculating this but something doesn't seem right.

Nobody said federal workers make a lot starting out, I AM RIGHT. You obviously dont know anything about the GS Scale.

Some jobs pay more than others, its all relative. Obcourse the federal worker is not on his feet like a mcdonalds or taco bell worker and is in line for promotions within the agency along with pension, higher pay,etc.

try again,you think an agent with a bachelors degree makes 80-90k starting salary? you must be smoking some of that colorado newly legalized weed.

nice try though

no they dont, google it maybe in certain places they do, but the avg starting salary is 43k for a mcdonals general manager

Once the trial is all settled and done I wonder if George Anastasia will write a book on the Ligambi years...

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Louis "Bent Finger Lou" Monacello never killed anyone, he said.

He stole cars, supervised gambling operations, collected debts and "tax" payments that reputed Philadelphia mob boss Joseph Ligambi allegedly demanded from other criminals. Occasionally, Monacello told jurors Friday, he smashed windows, slashed tires, even cracked heads.

Once, on orders from above, Monacello staked out a South Philadelphia rival's house for three months before finally catching the man as he left to walk his dog one night, he said. Bat in hand, Monacello went to work.

"I swung with all my might," Monacello said, "and split (his) head open."

Monacello, 46, was the latest in a parade of informants and turncoats to testify in the racketeering trial of Ligambi, his nephew George Borgesi and five other defendants.

A former high-ranking associate, he was the most significant witness to date, an insider enlisted to bolster prosecutors' claims that the defendants used violence - or the threat of it - to run rackets for more than a decade.

Defense lawyers have derided the case as "racketeering lite," a 10-year investigation built on criminals seeking deals and thousands of secretly recorded conversations about tough talk but little proof of violence.

Monacello's message was that intimidation was often enough.

"You would remind them who you were working with, and where the money is going to and usually that would do the trick," he said. "There was always that underlying thing - that you're with the mob, and if they don't pay, they're going to get hurt."

His appearance marked his first as a government witness, a role he assumed after being arrested with the others in May 2011. His former codefendants, notably Borgesi, glared his way as Monacello, dressed in a dark suit, light shirt and lavender striped tie, entered the courtroom, walked to the stand and poured a glass of water.

Defendant Damon Canalichio turned and smiled at a friend in the gallery as the witness raised his right hand - its index finger bent - and swore to tell the truth.

At first, Monacello appeared to avoid looking toward the defendants. Then he settled in. For more than five hours, he glided comfortably along, at times talking to jurors as if he was trading war stories over a beer.

He laughed as he described catching the friend who told Monacello's wife he was having an affair. Yes, he was cheating on her, Monacello told jurors, but not with the women his friend thought.

And he smiled when he recounted another time he wanted to send a message to an associate who had been speaking a little too freely about mob business. Feigning anger, Monacello said he fired a gunshot into the air, then laughed as the man scurried from the room.

"That was a joke," he assured the jury. "Even if it may not sound funny - if you were there, it was."

Most of the questions from the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney John S. Han, focused on Monacello's longtime association with Borgesi, a reputed capo in the crime family.

They met when both were teens in South Philadelphia in the early 1980s. Monacello was the son and grandson of Philadelphia police officers, and later held jobs as a city clerk, a bartender and trade school operator.

Borgesi was a bookmaker at 17, and emulated his uncle, Ligambi, then a soldier for mob boss Nicky Scarfo, he said. "He had no qualms about telling you he was a gangster," Monacello said.

In the late 1990s, Monacello said, he was riding in a car with Borgesi when the pair began talking about a killing that had been in the news. According to Monacello, Borgesi turned up the car radio volume and then, flashing the numbers with his hands, whispered that he was a "professional" with 11 murders to his credit.

The prosecutor asked Monacello's reaction.

"You find out you're sitting next to a serial killer? It definitely got my attention," he replied.

(Monacello didn't elaborate on the alleged killings and wasn't asked to. Borgesi isn't charged with and has never been convicted of murder.)

For much of the last decade, Monacello said, he helped Borgesi run gambling and loan-sharking rackets in Delaware County, including an illegal casino allegedly run in Folsom by another associate, Nick "The Hat" Cimino.

With Borgesi in prison on unrelated charges, Monacello ferried his monthly payments to Borgesi's wife, he said, sometimes stuffing envelopes of cash into the glove compartment of her car.

He also collected "Christmas taxes" each December for Ligambi, gathering the cash bookmakers paid to keep their business running without mob interference.

Sometimes, violence was necessary, like the time in 2001 that Monacello said he and others severely beat a gambler in Manayunk who was behind on his debts.

"We put in him the hospital," Monacello said. "He paid the next week."

He also recounted a day in the 1990s when he and others were enlisted to beat a contractor who was renovating a property for Ligambi but had been "giving him trouble."

"I kicked the guy in the face twice," he said. "The third time I went to kick him and I kicked Georgie by mistake."

Another victim, he said, was Angelo Lutz, an underling Borgesi suspected of stealing. (Lutz has a new career as a celebrity chef, the Kitchen Consigliere.)

Monacello recounted a late December 1998 night when Borgesi brought Lutz to Monacello's South Philadelphia home. The three men went to the basement, where Borgesi started punching Lutz.

Monacello said he noticed his artificial Christmas tree in the room. "So I took the rod out and I split his head," Monacello said.

Borgesi then allegedly drew a knife. "He says, I'm killing him," Monacello recalled.

Monacello argued against it, he said. His mother was upstairs, and besides, Lutz was nearly 400 pounds, too heavy for the two men could to haul away by themselves. Borgesi told him not to worry. "I got a guy for that," he allegedly said, before giving in and letting Lutz live.

Monacello said he ultimately tired of the family squabbles and backstabbing. According to Monacello, he had ongoing disputes with another capo, Martin Angelina, and Borgesi's brother, Anthony, was jealous because he was overseeing Borgesi's rackets. And he was sure Ligambi didn't like him.

"Meanwhile, I got the uncle who wants me out of the way," Monacello said, turning to the jurors. "Great family, aren't they? This is what it's all about."

Monacello entered a guilty plea in July 2011, with the terms initially sealed by the trial judge, U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno.

He is expected to be grilled about that and his testimony by defense lawyers, especially Borgesi's, when cross-examination begins next week.

Wiseguy: Mob boss wanted DJ Jerry Blavat whacked


John P. Martin, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
November 13, 2012, 1:00 PM

Philadelphia's reputed mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi vowed in 2009 to kill radio celebrity and restaurant owner Jerry Blavat, a mob turncoat testified today.

Ligambi was livid over a July 2009 Philadelphia Magazine article on the local mob and believed Blavat was the source of the story, Louis "Bent Finger Lou" Monacello told a federal court jury.

"He was ranting and raving, 'That [expletive] Jerry Blavat, he set this up ... Jerry Blavat, I'm gonna kill this [expletive],' " Monacello said, recounting his September 2009 conversation with Ligambi.

There were no signs that the threat against Blavat, a Philadelphia radio icon and owner of Memories, a Margate, N.J. restaurant frequented by wiseguys, extended beyond words.

Still, Monacello said, "If I were Jerry Blavat, I'd be nervous."

Reached by phone today, Blavat, long known as the Geator with the Heater, said he was unaware of the threat.

"I grew up with these guys. I know Joe. I never heard it," he said. "That's strange."

The detail emerged as Monacello resumed his turn as a star witness in the racketeering trial of 73-year-old Ligambi and six codefendants.

In cross-examination that began late this morning, Monacello acknowledged that he hopes his testimony will help him reduce a prison term that could have been as long as 10 years.

Under questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney John S. Han, the 46-year-old mobster has spent six hours confidently detailing for jurors his tenure as a high-ranking mob associate who helped run gambling and loan-shark operations for George Borgesi, Ligambi's nephew and one of the defendants in the case.

His path to government cooperator began in 2009, after Monacello was indicted in Delaware County and Philadelphia.

Among the charges was one that Monacello had tried to arrange the murder of reputed mob capo Martin Angelina. The two men had ongoing disputes, Monacello said, and he believed Angelina stole from him by "squashing" a $20,000 loan-sharking debt owed to Monacello without his approval.

According to Monacello, Angelina took $11,000 from that debtor and told the man his debt was erased.

"As a man, there are certain things you can live with and certain things you can't," Monacello told jurors, "and I wasn't gonna let Angelina rob me."

Monacello said he first decided he would severely beat Angelina. But then an associate, Frank "Frankie the Fixer" DiGiacomo, persuaded him to hire two hit men to kill Angelina for $2,000, he said.

Monacello didn't know DiGiacomo was cooperating with investigators and recording their conversations.

The attack never happened. But when word got out that he had plotted to knock off Angelina, Monacello said, he expected retaliation.

The morning after his arrest on the state charges, he said, Ligambi knocked on his South Philadelphia door. Monacello already believed Ligambi didn't like him. The mob boss came in and told Monacello and his family not to worry.

"He does this Academy Award-winning speech in front of my family - Don't worry about it," Monacello said.

Monacello then turned on the witness stand and began clapping as he smiled at Ligambi.

"Academy Award, Joe," he said, a gesture that stirred murmurs from Ligambi friends and supporters packed in U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno's courtroom.

Still, Monacello decided then not to cooperate with state police investigating the case. He pleaded guilty to the charges and later served was sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 months.

He was indicted with Ligambi and the others on the federal charges in May 2011. Monacello finally decided to cooperate, he said, because he believed his plot to kill Angelina, a made member, would cost him his life.

He said Ligambi and Angelina didn't kill him because they were waiting for Borgesi, his crew chief, to do it when he was released from prison after serving an unrelated federal term.

"These are the mob rules," Monacello said. "They didn't do anything to me because [Borgesi] brought me in. He was gonna kill me when he was getting out."

It wouldn't have been right away, Monacello said.

That wasn't Borgesi's style.

"He explained to me in the past, he's hung out with people for months before he killed them," he said. "Then one night, I would've gone out and I just wouldn't have come home."

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/break ... acked.html

Thanks for the updates, news on this trial has been sparse.

I hate these turn coats, jurors should "highly" discount their testimony as they are being coached from the Fed's and have no proof of anything except for the old "I saw it" "I lived it" or "I was there"...It's BS.

Maybe the wiretap stuff is far more incriminating, if so, they should have led with that.

@ SouthPhilly13 if your dames brother which I no longer believe you are because you haven't said anything that someone attending court would know anyone on the web can post an article from the phila paper if your really his brother let us board members know somethings that aren't already all over the internet on 20 different crime/lcn blogs...

I was an intern at The Citypaper they changed hands, by doing so, they've lost a bit of the edge they once had as far as reporting certain subjects

oh ok the city paper did have some cool stories in the past

I am not in courtroom but if I was a juror I think I would have a tough time believing bent lou's stories

Yeah they seem exaggerated from the G Men that probably told him to say Lou you need to say that you " Split his head" rather then hit or smacked him in the head...I mean you split someones head open there gonna need staples and I don't think the Mob Doctor will be at your doorstep in a flash to help ya

@dicknose I don't care what u believe. I'm not on here to prove who I'm related too.

i think bent finger lou has been very believable as of now,the defense hasnt punched holes in his story so far

You just contradicted yourself. You signed up and ranted that I'm Dame's brotha yo don't b dis respectic ma ma brotha fam u dig? My brother ain't a rat hes never ratted out anyone!