He gave the proffer and gave a lot. He took the stand and testified against the cop. The cop beat the case. Cop or not the bat was a rat

- Mobster Timothy Mello -
FALL RIVER —
Timothy Mello is two days from freedom.

Mello, 54, of Dartmouth, is scheduled for release from a federal transition house on Saturday, having completed most of his 12-year federal sentence for a laundry list of crimes.

He pleaded guilty on May 24, 2004, to two charges of racketeering. In the indictment, federal prosecutors listed 12 specific criminal acts including extortion, witness tampering, drug dealing, narcotics conspiracy, gun possession, illegal gambling and mail fraud.

Investigators said Mello ran a crime ring in Fall River and New Bedford and had since the mid 1990s.

The FBI arrested Mello in 2002 following an investigation led by federal officers.

It was alleged Mello had ties to the Mafia cells in Providence and Boston and also corrupted local law enforcement officers and politicians.

One Fall River police officer was charged with accepting a bribe from Mello. He was found not guilty by a federal jury that did not believe Mello. Mello testified during the officer’s trial that he paid bribes to the officer, a contention the officer vigorously denied.

Mello made allegations about many people following his arrest. He became a cooperating witness for federal investigators, which helped reduce the sentence he served.

Federal prosecutors recommended he get a 10-year sentence, half the 20-year sentence he faced on the racketeering conviction.

US District Court Judge Patti B. Sarris told federal prosecutors they were being too kind to Mello and sentenced him to 12 years.

Federal prisoners must serve 85 percent of their sentence before being eligible to apply for release.

Mello gets credit for the time he served in custody and in home confinement from his arrest in 2002 until he began his sentence in September, 2004.

Federal prisoners can also earn up to 54 days a year of good-time credit if they follow the rules and participate in prison programs, according to Ed Ross, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Prisons.

“Once an inmate is released, there usually is some term of supervised release, supervised by the U.S. Probation Office,” Ross said. “The conditions of release are structured by the probation officer.”

Conditions typically include testing for drugs or alcohol, curfews and regular visits by probation officers.

Mello entered the transitional phase of his release in March. During that time, federal inmates get increasingly liberal conditions of custody, allowing them to find a job and set up a place to live. Mello reportedly has been at work in New Bedford for several months.

Mello was first arrested in 1975 at the age of 18. He had been arrested dozens of times by 1979 when he was convicted of attempted murder.

Law enforcement officers say he returned to crime when he was released in the early 1990s, learning his trade from Louie Alexander, who was then considered the most powerful criminal in Fall River.

Alexander disappeared from view in the early 1990s. His bones were found buried in the woods in Maine in 1994. No one was ever charged in connection with Alexander’s death.

Jack O’Neil, now retired, was chief of law enforcement for Sheriff Thomas Hodgson in 2002 when a federal task force, lead by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Kelly, got indictments against Mello.

O’Neil helped start the investigation into Mello while he was a detective lieutenant with the Somerset Police, a job he left in 2002 to go work with the sheriff.

“He (Mello) has done his time and paid his debt to society,” O’Neil said.

“Through my career I’ve tried to live by the rules, so I hope he has been rehabilitated and will make something of his life now.”

Hodgson’s office helped put Mello in prison by assigning two investigators with local knowledge to the federal task force in 2002.

“Now we hope Mr. Mello will reintegrate successfully as a law-abiding citizen,” Hodgson said. “We always hope that anyone who had a conviction and a sentence spent their time in prison focused on how to lead a good life and leave the past behind.”

Mello will remain on probation until he completes the 12 years of his sentence.