From this weeks Gangland-
Grand Jury Indicts Two In Luchese Family Rubout Of Ex-Purple Gang Leader
A Bronx grand jury has indicted two members of a Luchese crime family hit team for the execution slaying of Michael Meldish, the notorious former leader of the Purple Gang who was shot to death while seated behind the wheel of his car in front of his home two years ago.
As predicted by Gang Land last month, the grand jury charged reputed mobster Christopher Londonio and mob associate Terrence Caldwell with murder, manslaughter and weapons charges for the November 15, 2013 killing of Meldish, a Luchese associate who headed a loosely connected gang of drug dealers from the Bronx and East Harlem in the 1970s and 80s.
Londonio, 41, and Caldwell, 57, who was arrested on a complaint last month that charged him with taking part in the Meldish murder, were both tied to the slaying "by DNA, phone records and license plate readers," according to the Bronx District Attorney's office.
Sources say the FBI and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office are working with cops and assistant district attorney Christine Scaccia in the murder probe.
Last month, the sources say, Londonio, who had been out on bail on a Bronx indictment for weapons charges, was hit with federal gun charges in an effort to put him behind bars while the state probers presented evidence of the mobster's alleged involvement in the murder before the grand jury. Caldwell has been held without bail on Rikers Island since his arrest last month.
Each defendant pleaded innocent Monday at his arraignment before Supreme Court Justice Jeanette Rodriguez-Morick.
During Londonio's court appearance, defense attorney Robert Blossner stated he would be withdrawing from the case because of an undisclosed "conflict of interest." Sources say the conflict stems from Blossner's representation of 80-year-old Luchese capo Matthew Madonna, the subject of a continuing investigation into the Meldish slaying.
Madonna, who pleaded guilty last week to eight-year-old New Jersey gambling charges, is slated to begin serving concurrent prison terms later this year for up to five years in the Garden State and for up to three years in New York for separate bookmaking charges lodged in 2009 by the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
