Scarfo Jr - Pelullo fraud trial

Decided to start a new thread on the Scarfo Jr - Pelullo fraud trial.

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Wednesday, January 29, 2014


Anastasia Wants To Get Off The Witness List


By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

George Anastasia would prefer to cover Salvatore Pelullo's fraud trial as a reporter, rather than having to testify as a witness in the case.

Pelullo's lawyer, however, has placed the veteran crime reporter on a potential witness list. And because potential witnesses are barred from being in the courtroom, Anastasia has been prevented from reporting on the United States of America v. Salvatore L. Pelullo et al.

Today, however, a lawyer for Anastasia filed a motion for a protective order, seeking to knock the reporter off the witness list. A hearing is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. tomorrow in Camden before U.S. District Court Judge Robert Kugler.

"J. Michael Farrrell, defense counsel for defendant Salvatore Pelullo, has listed award-winning reporter George Anastasia as a potential witness for the defense for the apparent purpose of preventing Mr. Anastasia from lawfully reporting about this trial," wrote Maxwell S. Kennerly of The Beasley Firm in a 10-page motion filed today.

"Any information that Mr. Anastasia possesses is the result of his news gathering activities," Kennerly wrote. "Mr. Anastasia does not possess any first-hand knowledge relevant to this case; he merely reported about the ongoing developments in articles that he penned for The Philadelphia Inquirer from the time search warrants were executed in the spring of 2008 until he left the paper in October 2012 ... Since leaving The Inquirer, Mr. Anastasia has been reporting on criminal trials on the website bigtrial.net."


"It's an important first-amendment issue," Anastasia said. "Anybody could manipulate the system by doing this. You could keep a reporter from covering a story if you didn't want him to cover it. All you have to is put him on the witness list."


Pelullo, an Elkins Park businessman, is one of seven defendants in the federal fraud case being tried at the Camden County Courthouse. The most notorious defendant is mobster Nicodemo S. Scarfo, the son of jailed former Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo.

The government alleges that Scarfo and Pelullo orchestrated the systematic looting of a Texas-based mortgage company, FirstPlus Financial, by secretly taking control of the board of directors in June 2007. Over the next 10 months, authorities allege, Scarfo and Pelullo helped themselves to $12 million. The money was spent to purchase luxury items such as an $800,000 yacht named "Priceless," a $200,000 Bentley, and a $200,000 downpayment on a $700,000 home in Egg Harbor Township.


In a previous big trial story, Anastasia laid out his differences with Pelullo and his lawyer:


On a personal note, I may not be able to cover the rest of the FirstPlus trial because Salvatore Pelullo has listed me as a potential witness and witnesses are not permitted in the courtroom during testimony ...

Pelullo's second attorney, J. Michael Farrell, would not say why I might be called and said he was reluctant to discuss the issue with me because I might tell the prosecution. In a brief discussion during the morning break, Farrell would offer not further explanation. I have never discussed the case with Pelullo's lawyers and am hard pressed to understand why I would be called as a witness ...

I told him, 'You don't want me on the stand.' He called that a `threat' and said I would remain on the list.

Everything I know about this case has appeared in stories that I wrote for The Philadelphia Inquirer from the time search warrants were executed in the spring of 2008 until I left the paper in October 2012. I have probably written more about the alleged scam than anyone else.

But what I could provide as a witness for the defense is baffling ...

In his motion, Kennerly said the courts are usually protective of a reporter's First Amendment rights.

"Both this Court and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals have firmly held that news reporters enjoy under the First Amendment a qualified privilege for news gathering activities," Kennerly wrote. It's a "privilege premised on the principle that compelled production 'can constitute a significant intrusion into the news gathering and editorial processes' and 'may substantially undercut the public policy favoring the free flow of information to the public.'"

"Aditonally, New Jersey statutory law expressly confers a privilege on any person engaging in news gathering activities," Kennerly wrote. "George Anastasia is considered a news reporter as defined by New Jersey statutory law and any information that he possesses is subject to this reporter's privilege."

To overcome a reporter's qualified privilege, Kennerly writes, Pelullo's lawyer has to demonstrate that he tried to get this information from other sources, that the information is only available through the journalist and his sources, and finally, that the information sought is crucial to the case.

"Since defendants have failed to show that any testimony they expect Mr. Anastasia to provide meets any of the criteria necessary to overcome his newsperson's privilege, he must be removed from the witness list," Kennerly concluded.


http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/01/anastasia-wants-to-get-off-witness-list.html

Do you know what Scafo's defense will be?? He seems pretty screwed with his hand in the cookie jar...

He seems pretty screwed to me too...and he still has that other trial in NJ with the Lucchese's to deal with.

Theres been pretty much no coverage of the Scarfo/Pelullo fraud trial in Camden. I'm not sure what the status of it is. Is the trial under way? Or are they just ruling on different motions now? Anyone know?

I think the trial in Camden started according to this report:

http://articles.philly.com/2014-01-10/news/46033765_1_pelullo-and-scarfo-nicodemo-scarfo-jr-jurors

But I may be wrong I'm just a watcher on anything in the north, only know what I've read (which makes me pretty useless lol)

I remember reading that article but then...nothing. All coverage stopped. George Anastasia isn't the only crime reporter in town...you would think someone would cover the damn trial.

It's on-going on bloomberg, mostly figuring out what can be admitted as evidence and motions about who can testify at this point.

George A's motion is here:
http://www.filedropper.com/usavscarfoetal866

Thanks Nicky.

G-carlo the main ones have started like stated above .The rest of them don't start till april...

Judge rules longtime Philadelphia mob reporter can cover Scarfo Jr trial


A veteran reporter who has covered organized crime in Philadelphia and South Jersey for more than 40 years will be permitted to watch a white-collar mob trial, despite his name appearing on the witness list, a judge ruled Thursday.

George Anastasia, who wrote for the Inquirer until October 2012, was put on the defense's witness list in State vs. Scarfo et al, a federal case alleging reputed mobster Nicodemo Scarfo (son of jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicky Scarfo Jr.) and an associate, Salvatore Pelullo, along with several attorneys, orchestrated a massive racketeering scheme netting them millions.

Anastasia had planned to report on the case for BigTrial.net but has been blocked from entering the courtroom since the beginning of the month because his name was on the potential witness list. The defense had requested that potential witnesses be sequestered.

On Thursday, Judge Robert Kugler granted a motion to end Anastasia's sequestration.

"Frankly, I'm not convinced at all that Mr. Anastasia has any admissible evidence," Kugler said.

In 40 years, Anastasia said, he's never been put on a witness list.

"It's a First Amendment issue; it sets a precedent," Anastasia said. "It could mean for any trial, an attorney or a defendant knows a reporter who, for whatever reason, they don't want to report on a case, they can just put them on the witness list."

The case charges Scarfo, Pelullo and lawyers Gary McCarthy, David Adler, Donald Manno, and John and William Maxwell in a 25-count indictment alleging that they defrauded shareholders of the Texas-based FirstPlus financial mortgage company out of $12 million.

Defense attorneys have argued that the company was ill-fated from the start and there was no financial impropriety. They also say references to the mafia are a distraction technique used by the government.

Pelullo's attorney J. Michael Farrell said he wanted Anastasia to testify that he never linked Pelullo to organized crime in a published article until the indictment in the FirstPlus case came out.

Farrell, whose voice rose to a shout at some points during his motion, said such testimony would help refute the government's claim that Pelullo was a mob associate.

"The fact that he did not (mention him prior to 2006) makes the fact that he is not an associate more likely," Farrell said.

"How do you know any of that?" Kulger asked. "How do you know that Mr. Anastasia has never before received information linking your client to organized crime?"

"I'll take that risk," Farrell said.

"You're not going to get to take that risk," Kulger said.

Anastasia's attorney, Maxwell Kennerly, said a database search of articles could easily produce the same information Farrell was seeking and was not grounds for Anastasia's testimony.

"Any information that Mr. Anastasia possesses is the result of his news-gathering activities," Kennerly said, adding that he would likely oppose any subpoenas under First Amendment privilege rights granted to journalists.

Courts have long upheld a reporter's right to cover legal proceedings, and in New Jersey, shield laws protect journalists from revealing confidential sources.

The trial, which is expected to last up to three months, is in its fourth week.

On Thursday, David Roberts, who worked with Pellulo to acquire FirstPlus, testified about how Pelullo, in conjunction with attorney William Maxwell, sent threatening letters to board members asking them to step down.

The initial strategy was to purchase enough stock to acquire the bankrupt company, Roberts said, but when the group couldn't come up with the money, Pelullo and others turned to threats and blackmail.

The letters, drafted four days before the takeover in June 2007, included allegations of sexual assault, financial impropriety, and threats of calling federal authorities to report them.

At a celebratory dinner after the old board had been dismantled and a new one taken the helm, Roberts - who was made a new board member - said Pelullo took him outside and told him, "I just made you a millionaire."

Roberts said that a few weeks later, Pelullo's tone changed dramatically when he threatened him, as well as John and William Maxwell, also defendants in the case.

"He said that if we ever rat, our wives will be (expletive) by (expletive), and our children will be sold off as prostitutes," Roberts said.

For Roberts, who thoughts went to his daughters, who were 3 and 5 at the time, it was a jarring statement.

"I was upset and terrified but my decisions were, I was following whatever needed to be done" for the company, he said.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_je...QzwRL6BS1MDP.99

Nicky has the other trial with the Lucchese gambling ring coming up too, right? 2014 isn't gonna be a good year for Jr...

To me that's the biggest nail in the coffin. If any juror has kids and thinks "Hey they could have threatened me like that too" then these guys are royally screwed.

They already are (screwed) I don't see them getting off easy on this. I wonder what his mob lawyer donald manno is gonna get or might even decided to cooperate during the length of the trial I don't think a defense attorney wants to do hard time.

I haven't seen all of the evidence against him but I think that he has a better chance of getting off than Scarfo or Pelullo have. If he cooperated it would KILL his practice. He would lose all status that he has.

Snakes, the gambling trial is a NJ trial rather than a fed trial, making it a nightmare to actually look up. My guess is you actually would have to got to the courhouse to get anything interesting.


As for the fed trial, this might be interesting to some of you:
http://www.docdroid.net/8q3r/usa-v-scarfo-et-al-docket-no-.pdf.html

Tons of conversations between Nick Jr and Nick Sr.

Excellent...thanks Nicky.

Ahhh, thanks a lot for this, Nick.

It's a 7 Volume series of probable cause affidavits, search warrants, FBI reports. Pretty cool. I'm not a criminal lawyer, but the amount of transcripts from wired lines in this case is pretty remarkable. And juries much prefer those wires to convicted felon rats.

Great find Nicky. After reading it I am wondering who CS#1 is. I'm going to read through it again, does anyone have any ideas?

This is a real crime worth taking a shot at. Fuck bangin around south philly for a few bucks. Unfortunately the Feds got em dead to rights. Little Nicky thanks for posting that link.

Interesting that Scarfo went to Joey Chang Jr to try to recruit him. Isnt Joey Chang in pretty bad shape? I didn't realize he was even capable of getting back into the life?

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014

Jurors Hear Of Serenade For A Takeover
By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

It was mood music for a corporate takeover.

A few hours after a rowdy shareholders meeting formalized what federal authorities allege was Salvatore Pelullo's secret takeover of FirstPlus Financial, Pelullo hosted a celebratory dinner for company officers and members of the board of directors at a posh steakhouse in Dallas.

As he sat at the head of a long table in a private dining room at DelFrisco's on that night in October 2007, a violinist serenaded Pelullo repeatedly with the same song, said Robert O'Neal, then chairman of the board and president of FirstPlus.

O'Neal, testifying for the prosecution at the racketeering trial of Pelullo, mobster Nicodemo S. Scarfo and five other defendants, said the song was all too familiar and somewhat ominous.

"It was the theme from The Godfather," he said in response to a question from Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Small.

O'Neal was the second FirstPlus official to take the stand in the now month-old trial. Among other things, he told the jury that his signature had been forged on at least two company documents authorizing the $1.8 million purchase of a financial company.

That purchase was one a several gambits the government alleges Pelullo and Scarfo orchestrated after taking behind the scenes control of FirstPlus in June 2007. The racketeering indictment alleges that Scarfo and Pelullo siphoned $12 million out of the struggling, Texas-based mortgage company, using the funds to support high flying lifestyles that included expensive cars, lavish homes and a yacht they christened "Priceless."

Scarfo, 47, has been identified as a member of the Lucchese crime family in North Jersey. He is the son of jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo. Pelullo, 45, of Elkins Park, has been identified as a mob associate.


O'Neal, a chiropractor from Beaumont, Tx., said he was brought into FirstPlus by William Maxwell, an attorney and friend who had been named special counsel to FirstPlus. Maxwell's brother John was the CEO of the company. The Maxwell brothers are co-defendants in the case along with three other attorneys, including Donald Manno of Cherry Hill, Scarfo's longtime defense attorney.

O'Neal is expected back on the stand when the trial resumes Thursday. Court is in recess tomorrow.

Earlier today David Roberts, another former FirstPlus official, completed his fourth day on the witness stand. Roberts testified that he was threatened by Pelullo and that while Pelullo was listed only as a "consultant," he was in fact the person running the company.

"What was said was what was done," Roberts said of Pelullo.

Roberts said Pelullo used fear and intimidation, including allusions to his mob connections, to bully him and others in the company. In earlier testimony, he told the jury that shortly after taking control of FirstPlus Pelullo warned Roberts and the Maxwell brothers that if they ever cooperated with the government, "our wives would be raped by ni**ers and his children would be sold as prostitutes."

Roberts, who said he had two daughters aged three and five, said he was frightened by the threat and decided, "I wasn't going to be a problem. I was going to do what I had to do."

During cross-examination, defense attorneys hammered away at Roberts' credibility and motives for cooperating, pointing out among other things, that he had lied on his resume -- Roberts conceded that he had "embellished" -- and that he borrowed $38,000 from Pelullo even while claiming he feared him.

Roberts served as secretary of the company and was a member of the board of directors from the summer of 2007 until early in 2008. He was also vice president of a FirstPlus subsidiary. He said he earned an annual salary of $150,000.

The FBI first questions him in September 2008, he said, about six months after his job had been terminated. He said he wasn't surprised to get a visit from federal investigators because he had had concerns about the way FirstPlus was operating.

"From the inside it did not look like what I envisioned a public company would look like," he said.

O'Neal told a similar story about the way FirstPlus was run. He said he was brought into the company by William Maxwell and introduced to Pelullo as a "consultant." He said he was unaware that Pelullo had two prior convictions for fraud, facts that would have impacted his decision to get involved.

He said William Maxwell later boasted about criminal appeal work he was going to do for "Little Nicky" who he later learned was jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo D. Scarfo. The elder Scarfo has been jailed since 1988 on racketeering and murder charges for which he was sentenced to 55 years in prison.

Testimony and evidence introduced at the trial has records of Pelullo and the younger Scarfo visiting the mob boss in prison in Atlanta and taped phone conversations from prison in which Scarfo and his son discuss what the government alleges was the FirstPlus takeover.

O'Neal said he twice traveled to the Philadelphia - South Jersey area with William Maxwell. On both
occasions, he said, they met with Sal Pelullo and on one occasion they went to an Italian restaurant where he was introduced to the younger Scarfo.

Maxwell, he said, pointed to Scarfo who was standing in front of the restaurant and said, "He's the man. He's the money." O'Neal said he assumed Scarfo was "the Godfather."

O'Neal said after he became president of FirstPlus he was "very concerned about the leadership of the company." He said William Maxwell assured him that Pelullo would not be involved in the operations, but O'Neal said that assurance was hollow and that Pelullo remained very active in the decision making process. O'Neal said he opted to resign early in 2008, claiming he did not have the time to commit to the job as president.

In fact, he said, he lied about why he wanted to step down. His real reason, he said, was his concern about organized crime.

"I didn't want to make anyone mad," he said. "I just wanted to get out."

On cross-examination by Scarfo's lawyer, Michael Riley, O'Neal admitted that anything he knew about the Mafia came from movies and news reports. He said he had had very little contact with Italian-Americans in Texas.

Throughout the trial, the defense has hammered away at two themes -- FirstPlus was a failing company that floundered not because of fraudulent business deals, but because of its weak financial position; and the introduction of the spectre of organized crime into the case is an attempt by the government to sensationalize and hype an otherwise complicated and boring story of a financial collapse.

Returning to the dinner at DelFrisco's and The Godfather music, Riley asked O'Neal if it would be unusual to hear Mexican music being played in a Mexican restaurant. He also asked him if his perceptions of Pelullo and Scarfo weren't clouded by "the stereotype that Italian-Americans" from the northeast part of the United States were Mafia.

Isn't that the same, Riley asked, as northerners who believe everyone from Texas "wears a cowboy hat, drives a pickup truck and has cows."

O'Neal said it wasn't just The Godfather theme, but "the way it was done."

"He was playing it directly to Mr. Pelullo," said O'Neal, adding that the violinist played the theme three or four times in succession. He also said John Maxwell's two sons, one in high school and the other in college, acted as "body guards" for Pelullo, accompanying him whenever he got up from the table.

Riley asked incredulously if O'Neal wanted the jury to believe that "two boys, one in college and the other in high school" where providing security for a Mafia figure? O'Neal struggled with the answer, but said that's what he seemed like to him.

While not part of today's testimony, other government documents and records indicate that the October 2007 shareholder's meeting was the focal point of the takeover of FirstPlus. The government alleges that Pelullo threatened officials to get shareholder votes in line and used intimidation to thwart a rival group of shareholders who opposed the new board of directors that the government said Pelullo had put in place.

The dinner at DelFrisco's was to celebrate the victory, but O'Neal said he was taken aback as were other company officials who attended.

As a final question, Riley asked O'Neal, "Do you wear a cowboy hat, drive a pickup truck and have cows?"

"Two out of three," said the witness.

George Anastasia can be contacted at George@bigtrial.net.

Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/02/jurors-hear-of-serenade-for-takeover.html#r9MKXhHXfbUKmF8M.99

Thanks Del...about time we got an update on this trial. I was wondering what the hell was going on with it.

Thanks buddy.

This pelullo seems like a major jagoff.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014


Scarfo Family's Troubled History Now Part Of FirstPlus Trial


By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

He was nearly killed in one of the most infamous gangland shootings in the violent history of the Philadelphia mob.

His older brother has changed his name to get out from under the family stigma.

A younger brother tried to commit suicide for the same reason and has been comatose for 25 years.

That's part of the depressing personal history of Nicodemo S. Scarfo, a story that has made its way into testimony in the now seven-week old racketeering and fraud trial playing out in federal district court in Camden.

Scarfo, 47, is the lead defendant in the case. He and Salvatore Pelullo, a 45-year-old Mafia wannabe, are charged with orchestrating the secret takeover of a Texas mortgage company in 2007 and then ripping it off to the tune of $12 million.

But folded into the testimony about corporate structure, SEC filings and lawyerly dull diligence, the anonymously chosen jury panel of 18 (six are alternates) has also been getting a primer of the turbulent history of the local mob.

Scarfo and his jailed father, Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, are at the center of that story.

"You're aware, aren't you, that he was shot in 1989 and almost killed?" Scarfo's lawyer, Michael Riley, asked his client's probation officer, Sharon O'Brien as she testified earlier today.

O'Brien, who is due back on the stand when the trial resumes tomorrow, said she was. One can assume the jury is also aware since this was not the first time Riley has mentioned the Halloween night shooting at Dante&Luigi's Restaurant that left the younger Scarfo with six bullet holes in his body.

Both the defense and the prosecution have used elements of the bloody Scarfo family saga to underscore their positions in the trial.

Riley has masterfully laid out the defense claim that prosecutors have used the spectre of organized crime to sensationalize and prop up fraud allegations that have little, if any, foundation. He has also told the jury that his client has been targeted by law enforcement -- often unjustly -- for most of his adult life because he shares the same name with his infamous father.

Little Nicky Scarfo is considered one of the most violent mob bosses in the history of the American Mafia and has been described by some prosecutors as a "psychopath" with a disturbing penchant for violence.

Prosecutors have painted Scarfo and Pelullo as corporate gangsters who used strong arm Mafia tactics, including threats of violence, to take over FirstPlus Financial and then, in a classic mob play, bust the joint out.

Ironically, it is Pelullo, on secretly recorded conversations picked up on FBI wiretaps, who has made most of those threats and who has talked like a B-movie bad guy. Scarfo's story, however, is the wheel around which the mob allegations spin.

It could be months before the jury is asked to sort it all out. Scarfo and Pelullo, both convicted felons, could face prison sentences of 30 years or more if convicted. Five other defendants, including four attorneys and the former CEO of FirstPlus are also on trial.

Scarfo's father, Little Nicky, and Lucchese crime family boss Vittorio "Vic" Amuso have been identified as unindicted co-conspirators in the case. Testimony and evidence has included details of visits Scarfo and Pelullo made to a federal prison in Atlanta where Scarfo was serving a 55-year term on racketeering and murder charges.

The elder Scarfo, 84, has a parole date of 2033, meaning he will probably die in jail. From testimony and evidence offered by the prosecution, he has been portrayed as a sounding board and cheerleader for what authorities say was the plan to takeover and loot FirstPlus.

He also warned his son about problems in the New Jersey underworld, describing several key members of the Lucchese family with whom the young Scarfo was associated as "rats" who should be avoided.

A letter Scarfo wrote to his son from prison in January 2008 -- about the same time the FirstPlus scam was unfolding according to authorities -- was introduced as evidence earlier in the trial. Attached to the letter, according to testimony, were court documents related to a wiretap affidavit and transcript from a 1999 federal investigation of organized crime figures.

The targets of that probe apparently included brothers Michael and Martin Taccetta and several members of the Perna family, fathers and sons, all of whom were members or associates of the Lucchese organization.

"My dear Son," Scarfo wrote, "hold on to these 39 pages for the future. Review them. Tacettas and Pernas are rats and the younger ones are glorified rats by proxy. And who knows how far they will go in the future. As far as I'm concerned, they're all lying rats.
"Love, Dad xxoo"

"Hardly a Hallmark card, is it," Riley quipped when cross-examining a federal prison official about the letter.

Donald Manno, a former Scarfo lawyer who is a co-defendant in the case, described the note as an attempt "by an old man" to "protect his son as best he could." Manno, who is representing himself, asked the same prison official the question that Riley posed to the probation officer today.

"You're aware that the son was shot seven timse, almost killed, by enemies of the father...you're aware of that?" Manno asked.

There has been no detailed explanation of what led Scarfo to make the allegation about the Taccettas and Pernas. The Taccetta brothers have been jailed on federal racketeering charges and on murder charges tied to a state case in Toms River involving the bludgeoning death of a video poker machine operator with golf clubs.

Martin Taccetta, released from prison a few years ago, is under indictment in Morris County in a pending state racketeering gambling case that includes 30 other mob members and associates, including the younger Scarfo and four members of the Perna family.

Michael Taccetta is due to be released from federal custody shortly.

One underworld source, while not discounting the possibility that some of those individuals mentioned by Scarfo may be cooperating, added that Scarfo, in jail since 1987, "is delusional. He thinks everybody's a rat."

The letter and bits and pieces of the overlapping mob connections are part of the intriguing back story that the jury in the FirstPlus case has been hearing. The jury also was shown a letter from the elder Scarfo to Pelullo and one from Amuso to the younger Scarfo congratulating him on being remarried.

Scarfo's marital problems were also part of the testimony today. He divorced his first wife in February 2007 and married his current wife on Valentine's Day of that year. His wife, Lisa Murray-Scarfo, was indicted in the FirstPlus case and has pleaded guilty to a mortgage fraud charge linked to the couple's purchase of a $715,000 home in Egg Harbor Township.

The down payment for that home came from money siphoned out of FirstPlus, authorities allege, and the mortgage itself was arranged through companies the government has linked to the scam.

O'Brien, the probation officer, was asked about two of those companies today, Global Net and Learned Associates and Scarfo's ties to them. O'Brien said she never determined exactly what the relationship was, but said her office was aware of the ongoing FBI investigation into FirstPlus and did not want to jeopardize it by raising questions with Scarfo.

Evidence introduced at the trial indicates that at the time Scarfo completed his three years of probation under O'Brien's supervision in March 2007 he was being paid $33,000-a-month as a consultant for Seven Hills Management, a Pelullo-backed company that authorities allege was also part of the scam. Scarfo also told O'Brien that he was about to begin working a second job for William Maxwell, a Texas lawyer whose brother John was the CEO of FirstPlus.

William Maxwell was special counsel to FirstPlus at the time. The Maxwell brothers are co-defendants in the ongoing trial. A letter from Maxwell indicated that he was going to pay Scarfo $150,000-a-year to develop business contacts and identify companies that could be purchased in New Jersey. The job also included a car, cell phone and business expenses.

"An opportunity like this is one I can build a tremendous career on," Scarfo said in a note to O'Brien about the job offer. The government alleges the salary from Maxwell and the consulting fee from Seven Hills were part of the scam and ways to funnel money from FirstPlus to Scarfo.

O'Brien said that Scarfo never fully disclosed his finances to the probation department, as he was required to do under the terms of his supervised release. She also said he lied to her by denying he had had contact with convicted felons and organized crime figures, two other prohibitions.

Personal details of Scarfo's life were also part of her testimony. She told the jury that before moving, Scarfo was living in Ventnor with his first wife, his daughter, his mother and his (comatose) brother.

Later, after divorcing and remarrying, she said Scarfo made a point of asking her to come and see his new baby. His second wife gave birth of a baby boy a few months after they were married on Valentine's Day 2007, she said.

O'Brien said Scarfo proudly told her he had named the enfant "Nicodemo Scarfo 3d."


http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/02/scarfo-familys-troubled-history-now.html

Aren't they both currently locked up in state prisons?

Yea they are both locked up in state prison. One is due to be released soon but this is obviously bad reporting.

I expected better from GA.

CAMDEN Defense attorneys in a federal racketeering case against reputed mobsters Wednesday attacked the prosecution's theory, using the testimony of a key government witness who offered insight into the alleged fraudulent takeover of a financial services company.


Cory Leshner, the witness who pleaded guilty in September for his role in the takeover of Texas-based FirstPlus Financial Group, testified in U.S. District Court in Camden that alleged mob associate Salvatore Pelullo launched several business ventures five months before Pelullo knew the financial services firm existed.

Pelullo's attorney said that contradicted the government's theory that Pelullo created the companies with the intent of taking over FirstPlus and defrauding its investors.

Prosecutors say Pelullo, along with reputed mobster Nicodemo Scarfo Jr. and others, acquired the entities in 2007 as part of a scheme to defraud FirstPlus' investors and loot the publicly traded company of millions of dollars.


Prosecutors describe 47-year-old Pelullo - a top associate to Scarfo, son of jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo - as the de facto chief executive of FirstPlus.

In a 25-count indictment handed down in October 2011, prosecutors said Leshner worked for Scarfo and Pelullo and was responsible for day-to-day tasks at FirstPlus, including managing bank and credit accounts to conceal the source of money pilfered by the mob.

Pelullo's attorney, Michael Farrell, told jurors Wednesday that Leshner took a plea deal of five years in prison so he could avoid the 100 years laid out in the indictment.

Leshner, 30, a Pennsylvania lawyer with a wife and child, said the prospect of less jail time "played a role in my decision, but was not a primary factor."

Rather, Leshner said, "my conscience had caught up with me."

He said he used to be close with Pelullo, though. "I thought of Mr. Pelullo as a father figure," Leshner said, "and he thought of me as a son."

He added: "I was proud being with Sal. He made me feel good about myself. He's a vivacious guy. He makes you believe what he's saying, makes you believe you're a part of it."

The trial, which began in January, is scheduled to continue Thursday.



aseidman@phillynews.com

856-779-3846 @AndrewSeidman

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Defendant Jailed For Contempt In Fraud Case
By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

The judge didn't think it was funny.

But apparently some of the defendants did.

As a result, one of them has ended up in jail. John Maxwell, the former CEO of FirstPlus Financial and a defendant in an ongoing racketeering fraud trial, was cited for contempt of court, had his bail revoked and was carted off to the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia Thursday. He's been a "guest" at the federal facility ever since, joining co-defendants Nicodemo S. Scarfo and Salvatore Pelullo who have been denied bail and have been jailed since their arrests in November 2011.

Maxwell was apparently laughing during the cross-examination of Cory Leshner, a former top business associate of Pelullo's who has emerged as a key prosecution witness in the now two-month old trial. Leshner will be back on the stand when the trial resumes Monday.

Maxwell will be back at the defense table along with Scarfo, Pelullo and four other co-defendants, including Maxwell's brother William, a lawyer who was special counsel to FirstPlus while the alleged $12 million fraud took place. The other four defendants are free on bail.

Whether Judge Robert Kugler lifts the contempt order and reinstates bail for John Maxwell is an open question. Maxwell's court-appointed lawyer, Mark Catanzaro said he plans to ask Kugler to reconsider. Catanzaro said his client was "in shock" when Kugler lowered the boom.
The judge, however, said he was tired to warning the defendants about their comportment during the trial.

In a one-page contempt order filed Thursday, Kugler wrote that "Defendant, despite numerous warnings, caused an audible outburst in the court in the presence of the jury. No lesser sanction than revocation of bail would be sufficient to prevent further violations of the court's order. Defendant is in contempt of court."

The latest dustup occurred Thursday afternoon shortly before the trial recessed for the week. (There have been no Friday trial sessions.). Leshner was being cross-examined by Michael Riley, Scarfo's attorney, who had asked a series of questions about Pelullo and his split personality. Pelullo has been described as full of bravado and arrogance, but also as someone who could be kind and generous.

The trial includes several references to Pelullo making threats and Riley was asking about one in which Pelullo allegedly threatened to choke someone. Leshner said he had heard Pelullo make those kinds of comments, but had never seen him actually assault anyone. It was during that question-and-answer examination that several co-defendants apparently broke out laughing, according to a transcript of the court session that day.

With that, Kugler ordered the jurors to leave the courtroom. When they had been removed, he looked over at the defense table and asked, "Would you like to spend the next few nights in jail gentlemen because you think it's that funny?"

Since Scarfo and Pelullo are already in jail, the question was obviously addressed to some of the other defendants. Catanzaro said his client was not the only defendant laughing, but was apparently the one that Kugler saw.

While it sounds like something out of a Junior High School home room, the consequence were more severe than after school detention.

"How many more warnings is it going to take to get your attention that I'm not going to put up with this nonsense?" Kugler asked.

On Feb. 26, shortly after Leshner took the stand for the first time, Kugler issued a similar warning to Pelullo who was apparently smirking and laughing as Leshner described how Pelullo had introduced him to Scarfo at a barbecue in Ventnor on Memorial Day in 2006.

Based on the transcript, it's impossible to tell what brought on the laughter. Leshner had told the jury that Pelullo introduced Scarfo as "Nick Promo." Later, Leshner said, he learned Scarfo's real identify. Again, Kugler abruptly ordered the jurors to leave the courtroom.

Then he lit into Pelullo, asking him, "You want to keep laughing, Mr. Pelullo? You think this is funny?"

Kugler said he had warned Pelullo during pre-trial hearings and at the start of the trial that boisterous behavior would not be tolerated. He said Pelullo's conduct, "laughing out loud" at the witness "so that everybody could hear him" was not acceptable. He noted that Pelullo is already in jail and, since his attorney is court-appointed, apparently has no money. A fine, the judge said, would not have any impact.

The only recourse, he said, was to ban him from the courtroom. Presumably Pelullo would follow the proceedings from a closed circuit TV monitor in another room were that to happen.

It didn't come to that, however. After a five-minute recess, one of Pelullo's two court-appointed attorneys, Michael Farrell, apologized for his client, telling the judge there was no "malice" in his actions.

Kugler sounded less than satisfied, but relented on punishing the defendant.

"Mr. Pelullo, if you can't control yourself we have people who will," the judge said. "I will tolerate not another sound out of you...You will be barred and that will be it."

Pelullo then told the judge, "I apologize your honor...Thank you, your honor."

Described as a brash and arrogant businessman prior to his arrest, Pelullo didn't change after he was jailed. He has had a rocky relationship with the judge from the start. Among other things, he has chided Kugler on blog postings from prison, questioning his integrity and honesty, challenging the order that he be held without bail and implying that the judge is a second prosecutor in the case.

Kugler is a no-nonsense jurist who has handled some of the toughest and more complicated cases to come through the federal courthouse in Camden. Among others, he presided over the Fort Dix Five terrorism trial, a marathon proceeding that attracted national attention. Several of the court-appointed attorneys in the FirstPlus case, including Riley, Michael Huff, who represents William Maxwell, and Troy Archie, another Pelullo lawyer, were court-appointed defense attorneys in that proceeding as well.

Leshner's lawyer, Rocco Cipparone Jr., was also in the Fort Dix case.

John Maxwell may have paid a price for the actions of several defendants that brought Kugler to the boiling point.

"I don't think Mr. Maxwell was the only one," Catanzaro said while asking Kugler to reconsider his contempt order and the revocation of bail. But the judge would not budge. And, he added, "a similar fate awaits other people who violate my orders."

George Anastasia can be contacted at George@bigtrial.net.

Leshner's lawyer Rocco is a great lawyer and good guy. It's funny how they mention him at the end as representing the Fort Dix guys. When I went to my first consultation with him I asked who his most notable client was and he said he represented some of the Fort Dix guys. I was like "didn't they get life?" Lol, he was like no "life plus thirty years" , hahaha alright sign me right up guy! He did an amazing job though worth every dollar.

Saturday, March 8, 2014


Bentley, A Yacht And Piles of Cash; A Key Witness Describes The Lavish Lifestyle Of Salvatore Pelullo

By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

He's been on the witness stand for a week and during that time he's offered the jury a behind-the-scenes look at what authorities allege was the $12 million ripoff of FirstPlus Financial.

He's admitted to falsifying records, padding expense accounts and "moving money around" to make it appear as if it came from or was going to legitimate business deals.

He sailed on the $850,000 yacht that was bought with cash from the scam, he said. He arranged some of the paperwork for the purchase of a $217,000 Bentley Continental GT that also figures in the fraud. He fabricated records to make a $40,000 trip to Europe appear like a business expense. And he set up "sideways accounts" that allowed his boss to funnel money to two mistresses.

Those were just some of the things that he saw and did while working for Salvatore Pelullo before, during and after the takeover of FirstPlus, a troubled Texas-based mortgage company, said Cory Leshner, who described himself as Pelullo's "personal assistant."

"I thought of Mr. Pelullo as a father figure," Leshner told the jury. "And he thought of me as a son." And that, he said at another point, "made me feel proud...I was willing to do whatever he asked."



Salvatore Pelullo with Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo

Leshner, who has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and faces up to five years in prison, is due
back on the stand when the trial resumes tomorrow.

Dressed in a suit and tie, his voice clear, his comments concise, the burly 31-year-old first took the stand on Feb. 26 and quickly emerged as a key witness in the now two-month-old trial; the first "insider" to provide details about what the FBI and federal prosecutors allege was a blatant money grab orchestrated by Pelullo, 46, and Nicodemo S. Scarfo, 48, the son of jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo.

The two are charged with secretly taking control of FirstPlus Financial in June of 2007 and siphoning $12 million out of the company to support their lavish lifestyles.

Leshner told the jury he landed a part-time job with a Pelullo company while still an undergraduate at West Chester University (where, ironically, he would earn a degree in criminal justice). He went to work fulltime for the Elkins Park wheeler dealer after graduating in 2006. One of 13 defendants originally indicted in the case, he pleaded guilty last year and agreed to cooperate. Five other defendants, including Scarfo's wife Lisa Murray-Scarfo, also have pleaded guilty but have not become witnesses for the government.

In addition to Pelullo and Scarfo, the defendants on trial include John Maxwell, the former CEO of First Plus, Maxwell's brother, William, who was special counsel to the company, and three other lawyers, David Adler, Gary McCarthy and Donald Manno.

From the witness stand, Leshner has fleshed out the allegations contained in a 107-page, 24-count indictment handed up in November 2011. The indictment capped a five-year federal investigation. The government alleges that in the summer of 2007 Pelullo and Scarfo orchestrated the takeover of FirstPlus Financial, a foundering Texas-based mortgage company, and exercised behind-the-scenes control, setting up business deals from which they reaped staggering benefits.

By October of that year, Leshner told the jury, they had gotten $7 million out of the company. Most of the money came from the purchase -- at grossly inflated and overvalued prices -- of companies that Pelullo and Scarfo had set up in the Philadelphia and South Jersey area and through "consulting fees" paid to Pelullo and Scarfo through front companies they secretly controlled.

He said that while there was paperwork and a labyrinth of companies through which the cash sometimes traveled, the marching orders were simple. "It was," he said, "how much money can we get to Mr. Pelullo and how fast."

Leshner said he was first introduced to Scarfo at a barbecue on Memorial Day 2006 in Ventnor. At the time, he said Pelullo introduced him as "Nick Promo." Leshner said he quickly learned who Scarfo really was and knew of his mob connections.

"I grew up in the Philadelphia area," he said.

He also told the jury that most of his dealings were with Pelullo who, through evidence and testimony, has been portrayed as more of a gangster than Scarfo. Brash, arrogant and quick to threaten and intimidate, Pelullo is the one whose wiretapped rants have provided the government with the foundation for many of its allegations.

Leshner said he saw a different side of Pelullo at first, describing him as a hard charging and determined businessman who rightly boasted of having become a millionaire in his mid 20s without having a high school degree. Scarfo, on the other hand, fit the image of a "computer nerd" that others have also applied to him.

Leshner told the jury that the money taken out of FirstPlus was used to finance Pelullo's lavish lifestyle, a lifestyle, he said, that Pelullo was already living before the move on the Texas mortgage company.

But, he added, "it became more lavish after June 2007."

Leshner said his father went to work for Pelullo around 2005 when Pelullo owned a company that cleaned and maintained buildings. Leshner said he was hired while still in college and that he rose from being a laborer and gofer to personal assistant and, eventually, the vice president of Seven Hills Management, one of the Pelullo companies tied to the FirstPlus fraud.

One of his first jobs after graduating from West Chester in December 2006, he said, was to maintain Pelullo's condo in Miami and to serve as a gofer and assistant there. The jury saw photos of the condo which overlooked a marina. There was a pool table in one room, art work on most of the walls and rooms decorated with thick, rich furniture and brassy chandeliers. There also was a Ferrari parked in the condo garage, he said.

Pelullo, according to Leshner, moved between Philadelphia, Miami and Dallas once the FirstPlus scheme was launched. Originally, he said, Pelullo thought he could finance the takeover through the



purchase of company stock, but when that proved impossible -- there was a "poison pill" provision in the company by-laws that would thwart any hostile takeover, Leshner said Pelullo told him -- the plan changed to getting control of the board of directors.

By June 2007, Leshner said, Pelullo and Scarfo had behind-the-scenes control of the board and the money started to flow out to them. Evidence introduced earlier in the trial also indicates that both Pelullo and Scarfo communicated by telephone with jailed mob boss "Little Nicky" Scarfo and visited him in a federal prison in Atlanta where he is serving a 55-year sentence for racketeering and murder.

Scarfo, 84, and Vittorio "Vic" Amuso, 80, the boss of the Lucchese crime family, were inmates together in Atlanta. Both are named as unindicted co-conspirators in the FirstPlus fraud indictment.

The layered scheming that Leshner described involved, among other things, a $100,000-a-month consulting contract for Seven Hills that was arranged by William Maxwell, then special counsel to FirstPlus. Leshner said Pelullo frequently referred to himself as "the consultant" and frankly admitted that while he was calling the shots, he could never appear as an officer or a member of the board of directors of FirstPlus because he had two prior fraud convictions.

Seven Hills in turn arranged to funnel $33,000-a-monthy to Learned Associates, a Scarfo front, Leshner said. He said he did not know of any consulting work Scarfo did and said that Pelullo, rather than consulting, was actually running FirstPlus.

Leshner's testimony also focused on the lifestyles that the money bought.


"Trips to Europe, dinners, casinos, just kind of whatever he wanted to do, he did" on the FirstPlus dime, Leshner said of Pelullo.

Pelullo bought a Bentley, he said, at F.C. Kerbeck in Palmyra, and drove it to a Fourth of July party in Ventnor. He then had the car, a black, 2006 Continental GT model, shipped to Florida. On another occasion, he said, Pelullo showed up one day and told him, "I'm buying a boat."



It turned out to be an 83-foot pleasure yacht named "Priceless." While arranging a loan proved impossible, Leshner said, the purchase was eventually negotiated for cash that came from FirstPlus. The boat cost $850,000. With taxes, the total was $901,125, he added.

The listed owner was P.S. Charters and while their names never showed up on any documents, the yacht belonged to Pelullo and Scarfo, he said.

Leshner was on board for the maiden voyage that in retrospect might have been an omen of what was to come. He said he, Pelullo and William Maxwell, along with their girlfriends and two other FirstPlus employees, Cole Maxwell, the 20-something son of John Maxwell, and Todd Stark, described as head of security and entertainment for Pelullo, were on board for what was to be a six-hour cruise from Miami to the Bahamas.

But one of the yacht's two engines blew out and 21 hours later the yacht limped into port in Nassau with its electricity malfunctioning and its plumbing not working. The group, with the exception of Cole Maxwell who didn't have his passport and had to stay on the boat, spent several nights at the Atlantis Hotel -- the bill was $12,300, Leshner said -- then flew back to Miami. Maxwell stayed till the boat was repaired and sailed back with the yacht's captain.

One thing the younger Maxwell did bring along, said Leshner, was an arsenal of weapons. One of the charges in the indictment focuses on the possession of guns by Scarfo and Pelullo, both convicted felons who are prohibited from owning firearms.

Shortly before they set sail from Miami, Leshner testified, Cole Maxwell showed up with a "bag of guns." Later, Leshner said, he was with Pelullo in Pelullo's master bedroom on the yacht as he sorted out the weaponry and gave a gun to each man on board.

The indictment lists the arsenal which included two rifles, a 12-gauge shotgun, a Sig Sauer 9mm pistol, a Taurus .38 caliber revolver, a Taurus .22 caliber pistol, approximately 2,500 rounds of ammunition for the rifles and seventeen additional boxes of bullets.

While the guns were never fired, Leshner said it was all hands -- armed -- on deck as the yacht struggled through open waters with a dead engine and another boat approaching. Leshner offered no further details, but another source familiar with the incident said Pelullo and the others feared pirates
and believed their show of force scared off a possible intruder that night.

Leshner also described how he doctored expense account items so that a trip to Europe taken by Pelullo could be paid for through his FirstPlus consulting arrangement. The sham, he said, was that Pelullo was researching possible investment opportunities in the cosmetics trade.

"I researched on line different places in the areas which Sal visited and said that he was there to research cosmetics at these different places," Leshner explained.

When Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D'Aguanno, the lead prosecutor in the case, asked if Pelullo in fact that been to any of those locations, Leshner said, "No." When he was asked who told him to come up with the false information, Leshner replied, "Sal."

Pelullo was nearly cited for contempt while laughing at Leshner when he first took the stand on Feb. 26 and John Maxwell was, in fact, cited and jailed for laughing at Leshner on March 6 (see earlier FirstPlus story posted March 8).

Leshner also said that on Pelullo's orders he set up "sideways accounts" through which thousands of dollars in cash were funneled to two women, identified as Cajmoun and Nadjmer. The women, one whom worked in the FirstPlus office in Irving, Tx, were Pelullo's mistresses, Leshner said. Pelullo later divorced his wife and married Nadjmer, who was also known as Sabrina, he added.

The relationships were rocky, he told the jury.

"Mr. Pelullo would often get fed up with the two of them for any number of reasons and would break if off with them only to start it back up soon thereafter," he said.

Scarfo also had a direct line into the FirstPlus cash stream, Leshner told the jury. He said Scarfo leased an Audi S6 for $1,200-a-month as a company expense. And Pelullo and others helped arrange the down payment and mortgage for a $715,000 home Scarfo and his second wife purchased in Egg Harbor Township after the FirstPlus takeover.

Leshner attended law school at night while working for FirstPlus and continued after the FirstPlus financial bubble burst following a raid by the FBI in May 2008 that targeted dozens of locations and individuals. When the FBI came to his door, Leshner said, "I was scared to death...I was deathly afraid."

But he said that for the next five years, through the indictment and up until the eve of the trial, he espoused the same "party line" that Pelullo and his co-defendants are basing their defense on: the collapse of FirstPlus was simply a business deal gone bad and the money spent buying companies and paying for consulting fees were legitimate expenses that were part of a failed venture.

Leshner said he earned his law degree from Widener University Law School and passed the bar in Pennsylvania. His law career was short lived, however. He voluntarily agreed to be disbarred after cutting his deal with the government and pleading guilty last year. Under the terms of that plea agreement, he said, he faces five years in prison, substantially less, the defense has pointed out, than the 20 years he was facing if convicted at trial.

During cross-examination, Michael Farrell, the more boisterous of Pelullo's two court-appointed defense attorneys, hammered away at Leshner's motivation and credibility. He alleged that Leshner and his girlfriend, who subsequently became his wife, falsified information on a mortgage application for a home in Reading in 2007.

Wasn't that the same thing Leshner was accusing Pelullo and Scarfo of doing, Farrell asked?

Farrell also repeatedly asked Leshner about his reasons for joining the prosecution "team" and adopting the government's "party line," implying that Leshner was saying whatever the government wanted to hear in order to live up to a plea deal he negotiated to cut his own criminal liability.

"I didn't join anybody's team," Leshner said, adding, "I couldn't deal with the party line of Mr. Pelullo. My conscience caught up to me."

Married and with a young daughter, Leshner said he expects to be sentenced to jail.

"I pleaded guilty because I am guilty," he said in response to a question from D'Aguanno. "I couldn't keep up the explanation and the party line that I had been fed from the time I worked for Mr. Pelullo...I'm going to have to look my daughter in the eye and explain to her that when you do something wrong you stand up and face the consequences and you learn from it."

http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/03/a-bentley-yacht-and-piles-of-cash-key.html#more

nice pic of scarfo, probably one of the most recent pics of him out there.

These guys were really eating good compared to.a lot of these city guys.

these guys are gone for life

I think with the sentencing guide lines they cant get more then 15yrs. shit what Martha stewart did was probably 100 times worse. I think scarfo beats acouple of charges if I was a juror I would be snoozing threw a lot of this. I don't even know why they bring up lcn or mafia when these trials happen all the time around the usa. scarfo did good to insulate himself from thee witnesses using his causin pelluo as the bag man his screwed. but really with them opening shell companies in philly and south jersey you think the philly mob would want to know what the hells up they had to see or here about them rolling in Bentleys and shit. there was one article were scarfo told pelluo to be carfefull parting in philly cause they didn't recognize him, I think that means they had no respect for him or his boss scarfo.

What is Pelullo's record? Scarfo Jr is a convicted felon several times over and is looking at more then 15 years with his priors.

Yea right are you kidding? Maybe 10-15 years but that's definitely not life when your 46 years old

Actually, they are both facing 30 to life. Not saying they will get that but who knows…..

I know that Pelullo's relatives were with the Philly family. This has got to be his father or Uncle (there are three Pelullos brothers: Leonard, Peter, and Arthur). I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

http://articles.philly.com/1996-11-09/ne...eonetti-pension

we'll see what happens...would you agree 30 or more is life?

Not to mention scarfo jr has another trial hanging over his head. Hes done.

The guy said Pelullo was a gangster and Scarfo Jr was a computer nerd lol. No wonder the Lucchese guys in Jersey don't respect Jr.

Cheech and delacroce you're right, my mistake, well see what happens

My take on that would be that Scarfo is a gangster and pellulo is the nerd.

If these guys weren't as stupid as they sound they would have hid a majority of the money. A Bently and a 850K Yacht isn't exactly "low key"

If anyone is interested in how they come up with the sentences:
http://www.ussc.gov/Guidelines/2013_Guidelines/Manual_PDF/index.cfm



Scaro's charges are:
1 NICODEMO S. SCARFO Pending 18:1962(d) RICO CONSPIRACY (1)
1 NICODEMO S. SCARFO Pending 18:371 SECURITIES FRAUD CONSPIRACY (2)
1 NICODEMO S. SCARFO Pending 18:1349 WIRE FRAUD CONSPIRACY (3)
1 NICODEMO S. SCARFO Pending 18:1343 WIRE FRAUD (Consulting and Legal Services Payments) (4-16)
1 NICODEMO S. SCARFO Pending 18:1343 WIRE FRAUD (Acquisition Payments) (17-19)
1 NICODEMO S. SCARFO Pending 18:1956(h) CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MONEY LAUNDERING (20)
1 NICODEMO S. SCARFO Pending 18:1349 CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT BANK FRAUD (21)
1 NICODEMO S. SCARFO Pending 18:371 CONSPIRACY TO MAKE FALSE STATEMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH LOAN APPLICATION (22)
1 NICODEMO S. SCARFO Pending 18:1512(k) CONSPIRACY TO OBSTRUCT JUSTICE (23)
1 NICODEMO S. SCARFO Pending 18:371 CONSPIRACY TO SELL OR TRANSFER FIREARM AND AMMUNITION TO A PROHIBITED PERSON, OR POSSESS A FIREARM BY A CONVICTED FELON (24)
1 NICODEMO S. SCARFO Pending 18:922(g)(1) FELON IN POSSESSION OF A FIREARM (25)

I remember reading when they raided scarfos house the found a gun or 2 ain't Noway around beating that for such a smart guy he should have had his wife her firearm permit that's auto 10 for him maybe the judge runs stuff concurrent. Can't blame him with the philly papers saying he gonna make a move to take over philly you need guns bet that was never the case bet he just wanted to pouch some of his dads old guys into the luchess and grab south jersey cause when he was capo of the jersey crew went they all based like 2 3 hours north of a.c.

It is bad" and anyone i talk to they are so worried" that someone has a wire ,or they are with Philly or with NY it is crazy.

I was speaking to someone out side there house and they had there head on a swivel" It is partly true what is being put out there no one is saying it but they are acting it.

I am not saying that it is as bad as the news is putting out there but the usual suspect's are not acting normal...

serp I like reading your post but I don't don't know what the hell your getting at. you know nj, and my question is scarfo jr is down near a.c. and he was capo of the jersey crew for alittle while. what I read about the luchese jersey crew (pernas and taccesttas) is there all around the suburbs of Newark isn't that like a 2 hour drive down or up to scarfo area. I think he was trying to make the crew expend all over the state north and south and that's why uncle joe had the sitdown with the gambinos. and how about all scarfo sending his son all the federal paperwork on the pernas and taccetas calling them rats he really puts his kid in a bad spot. now the jersey luchese hate him and no one really knows if the philly guys like him or not. always thought it was kinda cheap of joe merlino to shoot him, he wasn't even a made guy. it was his father who demoted his dad. I bet crea had to put a new capo over the jersey guys cause theres a lot of them and there all under indictments still.

I was talking about the guys that hang with him on and off, they are walking on egg shells cos of that stuff.I can talk around it but cant say it,I know u know what i mean.But i don't know if it is as bad as the news is saying cos no one will speak....

Yes he was taken down u know this and there is a recording of the young Pernas saying stuff.Don't know if it what the r saing he was put down for,or did Crea get wind of it and crush it all and lil Vick, all cos what may or may not have been about to happen. Don't know just talk ,but is sure is sounding that way now..
I said it last year but i did not know it was that bad.

Pmac :we know he was a big big earner why just out of the blue would anyone push that away and knock him down . things that make you think, had to be a bigger reason then what was herd on tape.

Serp what are you saying man, like if you had to sum it up into cliff notes?

No clue what he is saying. It's like trying to read backwards

Okay I am going to take a shot in the dark here, but I think what he is trying to say is that Nicky Jr. must have gotten his stripes pulled for more reasons, other than what was heard on the Perna tapes. I think he means that with all the money Scarfo Jr. was making you would think they would have let him stay on as capo.

Maybe it was because Scarfo Sr, Scarfo Jr, and Vic Amuso were not sharing any of the money being brought in from FirstPlus with the rest of the family? I do not know this is just what my understanding of what serpiente is saying. I am probably wrong but who knows.

It is widely know Steve Crea hates Scarfo Jr, realizes that he is a shit-can scion that was made for purely political reasons. Vic liked both scarfos but wanted to kill his best earner (steve). Then again we all know how Vic's reign ended. I'm sure to some extent being a amuso loyalist doesn't help his cause.

These sort of trials are not good for a family that Crea has kept relatively stable and out of the headlines for extented period.

Thanks LittleNicky that makes sense. If Steven Crea hated Scarfo Jr. why in the world would he keep him on as a capo. Scarfo Jr. is lucky its not 20-30 years ago. He probably would have been killed. As Chin gigante said, we do not break our captains, we kill them.

On another note in Scarfo Jr's trial, you would have thought that a guy that is clearly not a complete dummy like Scarfo Jr. would known better than to spend all that money. I mean Scarfo Jr. knows the Feds have always had a hard on for him and his father. If he had not made the large purchases, then I am not sure the Feds would have had much of a case against him (at least it would have been harder to prove). Scarfo Jr. and his cheerleader Pellulo will be lucky to ever get out of prison if they get convicted

Former CEO: Scarfo group made false accusations to seize firm

March 27, 2014 7:00 PM

CAMDEN In more than three hours of testimony spread over two days, the former chief executive of a mortgage company said that a group allegedly led by reputed mobsters made false accusations to seize control of his firm.


Dan Phillips, 64, was CEO of Texas-based FirstPlus Financial Group until 2007, when he and the company's board of directors relinquished control to an investment group.

That group, prosecutors said, was made up of lawyers and other individuals working under the direction of Nicodemo Scarfo Jr., son of jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, and alleged mob associate Salvatore Pelullo.

The two men allegedly made millions through the company unlawfully, spending the money on luxury cars and a yacht, among other things, prosecutors said.

Pelullo devised the plan, with a man named William Maxwell, to take over FirstPlus, prosecutors said.

The plan called for making false allegations and threatening a lawsuit against a board member of FirstPlus, forcing that person to use his influence and persuade the board to give up control of the company, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors cited a letter Wednesday as evidence of such allegations.

The letter was allegedly written by Jack Draper, who at one point worked with Phillips at the company. The letter accused Phillips of using the company as his "personal checkbook."

Phillips, who denied the allegation, said he believed someone other than Draper wrote the letter. That someone, Phillips alleged to jurors, was Maxwell, who authorities said was working with Pelullo and Scarfo to take over the company.

Maxwell's brother, John, became CEO of the company after the takeover, prosecutors say.

Draper "just wasn't capable of drafting a letter like this," Phillips said, citing the detail.

Phillips also recalled one of the first times he met Pelullo, to whom he was introduced by one of the Maxwell brothers, he said.

Phillips, in court, said that Pelullo accused him of being "asleep at the wheel" and told him that the takeover of FirstPlus would not be happening if Phillips was on top of things.

Phillips said that he eventually talked to company board members and that they decided to give up control of the company.

On Thursday, defense attorneys questioned the stability of FirstPlus before that moment, pointing to Phillips' affairs with coworkers as a sign of its fragility.

Mark Catanzaro, the attorney for John Maxwell, named two of the three women with whom Phillips admitted having affairs. "The third one, you can't even remember her name, correct?" Catanzaro said.

Phillips said he could not.

"Is that your idea of a professional atmosphere?" Catanzaro asked.

After being ordered by the judge to answer, Phillips replied, "It's not professional, no."

Michael Farrell, the attorney for Pelullo, repeatedly asked Phillips whether he was physically harmed by Pelullo. Each time, Phillips replied, "No."

The trial began in January and is expected to last at least through April.


Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/...sSJUj7AqbxxL.99

At Scarfo trial, each side invokes mob to press its case

Julia Terruso, Inquirer Staff Writer

CAMDEN - The meeting at a North Jersey bar was convened to set things straight. Contrary to rumors bouncing around the Philadelphia-New Jersey mob world, Pete "The Crumb" Caprio did not have a hit out on Nicodemo S. Scarfo, son of the jailed, infamous mob boss.

"If it was so, I said youda been gone a long time ago," said Caprio to an associate in a secretly taped conversation of the meeting.

The February 2000 recording - by mob associate and government informant Philip "Philly Fay" Casale - was played for jurors and dissected by attorneys Thursday in Scarfo's FirstPlus mortgage fraud trial, well into its fourth month.

In the case, before U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler in Camden, Scarfo and an associate, Salvatore Pelullo, along with lawyers and corporate partners, are charged with taking over the Texas-based FirstPlus Financial mortgage company and looting its shareholders of $12 million.

On Thursday, as an expert on the mob testified, both the prosecution and the defense invoked organized crime allegations to support their positions, and a revelation emerged about the notorious Halloween attempt on Scarfo's life 20 years ago.

The defendants are charged with racketeering, extortion, fraud, money laundering and obstruction. Scarfo and Pelullo also face RICO charges for alleged mob ties and extortion.

The government says the FirstPlus shakedown was a mob enterprise led by Scarfo, who it says is a made member of the Lucchese crime family.

His attorney, Michael Riley, says the government is invoking Scarfo's incarcerated mobster father, Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, to portray the son as more involved in organized crime than he was and to make a bad business deal seem illegal.

Riley said Thursday his client's family has been maligned for years because of the Scarfo name. One of his brothers changed his name and another tried to commit suicide, spent 25 years in a comatose state, and died last month.

On Thursday, jurors accustomed to hearing testimony about SEC filings and bank documents listened to FBI Special Agent Kenneth Terracciano give them a primer on mob structure and rules, and explain Scarfo's relationship to a cast of characters with nicknames such as "Joey electric" and "Beeps."

Terracciano, with crew-cut white hair and a slight North Jersey accent, said he had worked on organized crime for about 10 of his 19 years with the FBI.

Scarfo's father ran the Philadelphia mob from 1982 until he was convicted of racketeering and eight counts of murder in 1988. Trouble came to the younger Scarfo, Terracciano said, on Halloween 1989, when a masked gunman interrupted him at dinner at Dante & Luigi's in Philadelphia by shooting him eight times, nearly killing him.

The case has gone unsolved, but on the stand, Terracciano told jurors he believed the shooter was Joey Merlino, son of Salvatore "Chuckie" Merlino and the alleged current mob boss of Philadelphia.

Terracciano said "Chuckie" Merlino "had a beef" with the older Scarfo at the time, stemming from an internal struggle over control of the family.

Speculation has surrounded Joey Merlino - who denies involvement and has never been charged - but no one in authority had publicly pointed the finger at him until Thursday, Riley noted.

"You told this jury and everyone else that wants to listen for the first time since 1989 that Mr. Merlino shot Mr. Scarfo?" Riley pressed Terracciano.

"He gave his opinion, he said what he said," Judge Kugler interjected.

Following the attempt on his life, Scarfo moved to North Jersey where his father had set him up with the Newark crew of the Philadelphia Lucchese family for protection, Terracciano said. "He remained in Northern Jersey and ultimately became a member," he said.

Less than 10 years later, FBI agents warned Scarfo about threats to his life, this time from Peter Caprio, whom Terracciano described as a known killer and fellow member of the family.

On Feb. 18, 2000, Caprio and a wired Casale met at a diner before heading to the bar to see Scarfo. In the recording of their conversation, Caprio and Casale, along with others, are heard discussing how little they know about Scarfo, inquiring about his body type, age, line of work, and whether anyone had seen him since he was shot.

Riley highlighted the dialogue to distance Scarfo from the mobsters.

"These guys who worked with the father for many years and knew the father when he was running the streets for the family, don't have any idea who he (the younger Scarfo) is, what he looks like, what he does or how old he is," Riley said.

With the jury sent out, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D'Aguanno argued that one reason the younger Scarfo was not on the mobsters' radar could have been that he was in and out of prison in the 1990s on racketeering charges - something he said should be presented to the jury. He said Riley had opened up that time frame in question.

The six other defense attorneys, otherwise mostly silent, objected one by one, starting with Barry Gross, attorney for David Adler, a New York-based lawyer who is among the accused. Gross said allowing such testimony could taint the six defendants with no organized crime ties.

Ultimately the judge did not permit the testimony to be presented to the jurors.

Prison telephone records of conversations between the elder Scarfo and his son, played to the jury earlier in the trial, appeared to provide a stronger mob connection in the case:

"Honest to God we're a good six to ten months off from being able to help everybody," Scarfo tells his father, allegedly referring to crime associates, in a phone conversation from 2007.

In another jail conversation in 2007, following the dismantling of the former FirstPlus board of directors, Pelullo tells Scarfo's father, "We crushed them. . . . It was all upon your direction. . . . The only people that can (expletive) it up now is us."

Read more at ↓http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_j ... SLsWtcQ.99

At Scarfo trial, each side invokes mob to press its case
CAMDEN - The meeting at a North Jersey bar was convened to set things straight. Contrary to rumors bouncing around the Philadelphia-New Jersey mob world, Pete "The Crumb" Caprio did not have a hit out on Nicodemo S. Scarfo, son of the jailed, infamous mob boss.

wow this is going into the 4 month of trial wat a snooz fest. all this mob talk and the case has nothing to do with the lcn except 1 made guy who never threaten anyone or beat anyone bet this case has a screwed up outcome. its in Camden federal court aint that like the poorest place around bet the judge hasn't seen a case that didn't involve crack murder dope slanging in yrs. probably goes easy on scarfo.

Here's the Latest:

Friday, April 18, 2014
Prosecutors and defense lawyers invoke the mafia during Scarfo trial


The meeting at a North Jersey bar was convened to set things straight. Contrary to rumors bouncing around the Philadelphia-New Jersey mob world, Pete "the Crumb" Caprio did not have a hit out on Nicodemo S. Scarfo, son of the jailed, infamous mob boss.

"If it was so, I said you would have been gone a long time ago," said Caprio to an associate in a secretly taped conversation of the meeting.

The February 2000 recording - by mob associate and government informant Philip "Philly Fay" Casale - was played for jurors and dissected by lawyers Thursday in Scarfo's FirstPlus mortgage fraud trial, well into its fourth month.

In the case, before U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler in Camden, Scarfo and an associate, Salvatore Pelullo, along with lawyers and corporate partners, are charged with taking over the Texas-based FirstPlus Financial mortgage company and looting its shareholders of $12 million.

On Thursday, as a prosecution expert on the mob testified, both the prosecution and the defense invoked organized crime allegations to support their positions, and a revelation emerged about the notorious Halloween attempt on Scarfo's life 20 years ago.

The defendants are charged with racketeering, extortion, fraud, money laundering, and obstruction. Scarfo and Pelullo also face RICO charges, accused of having alleged mob ties and of extortion.

The government says the FirstPlus shakedown was a mob enterprise led by Scarfo, who it says is a made member of the Lucchese crime family.

His lawyer, Michael Riley, says the government is invoking Scarfo's incarcerated mobster father, Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, to portray the son as more involved in organized crime than he was and to make a bad business deal seem illegal.

Riley said Thursday that his client's family has been maligned for years because of the Scarfo name. One of his brothers changed his name and another tried to commit suicide.

On Thursday, jurors who had grown accustomed to hearing testimony about SEC filings and bank documents listened to FBI Special Agent Kenneth Terracciano give them a primer on mob structure and rules, and explain Scarfo's relationship to a cast of characters with nicknames such as "Joey Electric" and "Beeps."

Terracciano, with crew-cut white hair and a slight North Jersey accent, said he had worked on organized crime for about 10 of his 19 years with the FBI.

Scarfo's father ran the Philadelphia mob from 1982 until he was convicted of racketeering and eight counts of murder in 1988. Trouble came to the younger Scarfo, Terracciano said, on Halloween 1989, when a masked gunman interrupted him at dinner at Dante's & Luigi's in South Philadelphia and shot him eight times, nearly killing him.

The case has gone unsolved, but on the stand, Terracciano told jurors he believed the gunman was Joey Merlino, son of Salvatore "Chuckie" Merlino and the alleged current mob boss of Philadelphia.

Terracciano said Salvatore Merlino "had a beef" with the older Scarfo at the time, stemming from an internal struggle over control of the family.

Speculation has surrounded Joey Merlino - who denies involvement and has never been charged - but no one in authority had publicly pointed the finger at him until Thursday, Riley noted.

"You told this jury and everyone else that wants to listen for the first time since 1989 that Mr. Merlino shot Mr. Scarfo?" Riley pressed Terracciano.

"He gave his opinion, he said what he said," Kugler interjected.

Following the attempt on his life, Scarfo moved to North Jersey, where his father had set him up with the Newark crew of the Lucchese family for protection, Terracciano said. "He remained in Northern Jersey and ultimately became a member," he said.

Less than 10 years later, FBI agents warned Scarfo about threats to his life, this time from Peter Caprio, whom Terracciano described as a known killer and fellow member of the family.

On Feb. 18, 2000, Caprio and Casale, who was wearing a wire, met at a diner before heading to the bar to see Scarfo. In the recording of their conversation, Caprio and Casale, along with others, are heard discussing how little they know about Scarfo, inquiring about his body type, age, line of work, and whether anyone had seen him since he was shot.

Riley highlighted the dialogue to distance Scarfo from the mobsters.

"These guys, who worked with the father for many years and knew the father when he was running the streets for the family, don't have any idea who [the younger Scarfo] is, what he looks like, what he does or how old he is," Riley said.

With the jury sent out of the room, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D'Aguanno argued that one reason the younger Scarfo was not on the mobsters' radar could have been that he was in and out of prison in the 1990s on racketeering charges - something he said should be presented to the jury. He said Riley had opened up that time frame in question.

The six other defense lawyers, otherwise mostly silent, objected one by one, starting with Barry Gross, lawyer for David Adler, a New York-based lawyer who is among the accused. Gross said allowing such testimony could taint the six defendants with no organized crime ties.

Ultimately the judge did not permit the testimony to be presented to the jurors.

Prison telephone records of conversations between the elder Scarfo and his son, played to the jury earlier in the trial, appeared to provide a stronger mob connection in the case:

"Honest to God, we're a good six to 10 months off from being able to help everybody," Scarfo tells his father, allegedly referring to crime associates, in a phone conversation from 2007.

In another jail conversation in 2007, following the dismantling of the former FirstPlus board of directors, Pelullo tells Scarfo's father, "We crushed them. . . . It was all upon your direction. . . . The only people that can [obscenity] it up now is us."

http://www.fivefamiliesnyc.com/2014_04_01_archive.html

Lucchese associate asks for mistrial after being ejected from courtroom
A reputed Lucchese crime syndicate associate on Monday sought a mistrial in his prosecution for allegedly draining $12 million from a mortgage lender and forcing its bankruptcy, claiming a New Jersey federal judge infringed his rights and tainted the jury by ejecting him from court.

Salvatore Pelullo filed a motion on Monday asking the court to declare a mistrial in the prosecution of his alleged role in the extortionate takeover of FirstPlus Financial Group, a Texas mortgage lender. Pelullo has been unable to attend his own trial for a month, following an order from U.S. District Court Judge Robert B. Kugler barring Pelullo from the courtroom after he made several outbursts that may have been audible to the jury.

Pelullo said in his filing that by expelling him from the courtroom, Kugler violated his Fifth Amendment right to due process and Sixth Amendment right to be assisted by an attorney and tried by an impartial jury. The judge’s decision was unwarranted, according to the brief, because Pelullo’s “outbursts” were merely his attempts to confer with counsel and were not significantly disruptive to the proceedings.

“Although it is undisputed that Mr. Pelullo made a comment concerning government witness Ken Stein's veracity, it is equally undisputed that he made this comment in the course of conferring with counsel during the course of trial, a right guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment,” the brief said.

“In response to Ken Stein's testimony regarding the receipt of certain information, Mr. Pelullo informed his counsel that Mr. Stein was lying, which was information that counsel could only learn from Mr. Pelullo. In short, Mr. Pelullo was assisting his counsel in the precise manner that a defendant is supposed to do during the course of a trial.”

Pelullo also pushed back against federal prosecutors’ claim that his comments were audible to the jury. According to the brief, Pelullo’s remarks were not audible to Kugler or the court reporter, and are inaudible on an audio recording of the proceedings.

The brief also said jurors have seen Pelullo in his prison clothes, prejudicing them against him and precluding a fair, impartial trial.

Oral argument has been requested, but is not yet scheduled, according to court filings.

Kugler banished Pelullo from the courtroom last month after Pelullo said, “That’s a lie,” as Stein, a government witness, testified. According to court filings, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D’Aguanno alerted the court that he heard the comment and said he saw a juror look in Pelullo’s direction after the comment was made. Three U.S. Marshals later reported to the court having heard the same comment.

Pelullo had already been warned about his outbursts following another incident in late February, in which Pelullo laughed loudly while another witness testified. Kugler warned Pelullo that he would be booted from the courtroom if there were further incidents.

J. Michael Farrell and Troy A. Archie, Pelullo’s attorneys, quickly filed a motion asking Kugler to allow their client back in to the courtroom, arguing that removing Pelullo from court for the remainder of his trial violates his constitutional rights, and effectively punishes him for suffering from bipolar disorder, which is to blame for Pelullo’s outbursts. The attorneys also assured the court that Pelullo would curtail his behavior going forward, but Kugler denied the motion.

Pelullo’s attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

According to an October 2011 indictment, Pelullo worked with fellow reputed Lucchese family member Nicodemo Scarfo to seize control of Beaumont, Texas-based FirstPlus by intimidating its board of directors into approving new board members handpicked by and under the influence of Pelullo and Scarfo. Following the takeover, the board approved multimillion-dollar acquisitions of companies owned by Pelullo and Scarfo that were grossly overvalued and essentially worthless, authorities said.

FirstPlus investors meanwhile were in the dark about the company's financial situation, thanks to false and misleading U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, prosecutors said. They had little indication anything was wrong until the company's announcement in June 2009 that it had initiated Chapter 11 proceedings in the Northern District of Texas.

Pelullo faces 25 charges, including racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, extortion, interstate travel in aid of racketeering, money laundering and obstruction of justice.

Kugler denied a motion to dismiss the case late last month, ruling Pelullo and Scarfo failed to prove prosecutors withheld evidence that might have proved their innocence and violated the scope of warrants when they seized various electronic records during a May 2008 raid.

Pelullo is represented by J. Michael Farrell and Troy A. Archie.

The case is U.S. v. Scarfo et al., case number 1:11-cr-00740, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

http://www.law360.com/articles/528851/lucchese-associate-asks-for-mistrial-due-to-court-ejection

I wonder what Phil Leonetti is thinking of all of this. Being that his cousin never listened to him about getting out of the life.

first time I can ever think of a big trial with so called mob guys were the guy life is on the line from another room. sal must have made some points with the jury in the d.a.s eyes that they asked for him to be gone from the room I starting to think its gonna be a crazy tommy shots trial outcome. maybe scarfo walks ain't Camden like the blackest place in nj. maybe the jury isn't so favorable to the prosecutor s.

read gangland today some pretty cool pics of vic amuso and scarfo together. guess them to are real close. vic amuso rites to nicky jr nowonder all the luchese hate him. vic and scarfo don't look like they aged from 30yrs ago what a crazy couple.

wonder how he got the pics. theres a pic of scarfo with taccetta who he writes to his son him and his brother are rats and sends him 39 pages of paper work. if the paper work is true them guys are gonna be shelved. but some bogus paperwork got capo al Bruno whacked, the gov said they made a mistake. scarfos the man guys more costa nostra then sonny fran.

So True. Sonny Franz didn't appear to have a problem with someone taking his kid out. I think Scarfo would do the work on his own kid. LOL.

From Ed Scarpo's blog today-

Scarfo FirstPlus Co-Defendant Sought Mistrial, Was Denied

The most recent news available for the FirstPlus Financial bust-out, according to court records, is that U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler declined to dismiss a host of charges -- including racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, extortion and money laundering -- against Nicodemo Scarfo and Salvatore Pelullo.

On April 22, Pelullo filed a motion asking the court to declare a mistrial in the prosecution of his alleged role in the extortionate takeover of FirstPlus Financial Group, a Texas mortgage lender. Pelullo has been unable to attend his own trial for a month, following an order from U.S. District Court Judge Robert B. Kugler barring Pelullo from the courtroom after he made several outbursts that may have been audible to the jury.

Pelullo said in his filing that by expelling him from the courtroom, Kugler violated his Fifth Amendment right to due process and Sixth Amendment right to be assisted by an attorney and tried by an impartial jury. The judge’s decision was unwarranted, according to the brief, because Pelullo’s “outbursts” were merely his attempts to confer with counsel and were not significantly disruptive to the proceedings.

“Although it is undisputed that Mr. Pelullo made a comment concerning government witness Ken Stein's veracity, it is equally undisputed that he made this comment in the course of conferring with counsel during the course of trial, a right guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment,” the brief said.

“In response to Ken Stein's testimony regarding the receipt of certain information, Mr. Pelullo informed his counsel that Mr. Stein was lying, which was information that counsel could only learn from Mr. Pelullo. In short, Mr. Pelullo was assisting his counsel in the precise manner that a defendant is supposed to do during the course of a trial.”

Pelullo also pushed back against federal prosecutors’ claim that his comments were audible to the jury. According to the brief, Pelullo’s remarks were not audible to Kugler or the court reporter, and are inaudible on an audio recording of the proceedings.

The brief also said jurors have seen Pelullo in his prison clothes, prejudicing them against him and precluding a fair, impartial trial.

Oral argument has been requested, but is not yet scheduled, according to court filings.

Kugler banished Pelullo from the courtroom last month after Pelullo said, “That’s a lie,” as Stein, a government witness, testified. According to court filings, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D’Aguanno alerted the court that he heard the comment and said he saw a juror look in Pelullo’s direction after the comment was made. Three U.S. Marshals later reported to the court having heard the same comment.

Pelullo had already been warned about his outbursts following another incident in late February, in which Pelullo laughed loudly while another witness testified. Kugler warned Pelullo that he would be booted from the courtroom if there were further incidents.

J. Michael Farrell and Troy A. Archie, Pelullo’s attorneys, quickly filed a motion asking Kugler to allow their client back in to the courtroom, arguing that removing Pelullo from court for the remainder of his trial violates his constitutional rights, and effectively punishes him for suffering from bipolar disorder, which is to blame for Pelullo’s outbursts. The attorneys also assured the court that Pelullo would curtail his behavior going forward, but Kugler denied the motion.

Pelullo’s attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

According to an October 2011 indictment, Pelullo worked with fellow reputed Lucchese family member Nicodemo Scarfo to seize control of Beaumont, Texas-based FirstPlus by intimidating its board of directors into approving new board members handpicked by and under the influence of Pelullo and Scarfo. Following the takeover, the board approved multimillion-dollar acquisitions of companies owned by Pelullo and Scarfo that were grossly overvalued and essentially worthless, authorities said.

FirstPlus investors meanwhile were in the dark about the company's financial situation, thanks to false and misleading U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, prosecutors said. They had little indication anything was wrong until the company's announcement in June 2009 that it had initiated Chapter 11 proceedings in the Northern District of Texas.

Pelullo faces 25 charges, including racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, extortion, interstate travel in aid of racketeering, money laundering and obstruction of justice.

Kugler denied a motion to dismiss the case late last month, ruling Pelullo and Scarfo failed to prove prosecutors withheld evidence that might have proved their innocence and violated the scope of warrants when they seized various electronic records during a May 2008 raid.

Pelullo is represented by J. Michael Farrell and Troy A. Archie.

The case is U.S. v. Scarfo et al., case number 1:11-cr-00740, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

well we know by at least 2007(operation heat bust) scarfo jr. had been bumped down to soldier and replaced by ralph perna, and that was well before Crea had officially taken over the reigns from Amuso. that just goes to show the wanning influence Amuso had on the street years before he actually stepped aside.

TUESDAY, JUNE 3, 2014

Closing Arguments Due In FirstPlus Fraud Trial
By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

Closing arguments are expected to begin tomorrow morning in the multi-million dollar fraud trial of mobster Nicodemo S. Scarfo, his business partner Salvatore Pelullo and five co-defendants.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D'Aguanno is scheduled to address the jury after Judge Robert Kugler completes a lengthy explanation of the laws that apply in the case. Kugler began his jury charge today and spoke for about three hours. He will likely spend another hour before turning the case over to the prosecution for its final arguments.

The complicated case revolves around allegations that Scarfo, 48, and Pelullo, 46, secretly took control of FirstPlus Financial, a troubled Texas mortgage company, in 2007 and then systematically siphoned nearly $12 million from the firm throughout phony business deals and bogus consulting contracts.

The sixteen member jury panel (four are alternates) have heard nearly five months of testimony and have seen thousands of pieces of evidence that the prosecution says lays out the fraud in exacting detail. But the defense, in an argument that is expected to be repeated again and again during closings, has said that the government has overstated and sensationalized the evidence and that the failure of FirstPlus was a result of a poor economy, not fraud and criminality.

Scarfo's mob connections, he is the son of jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, added yet another twist to the story. The defense claims the spectre of organized crime was thrown into the case -- among the witnesses was a former FBI organized crime specialist -- in order to hype an otherwise drab business story built around tedious financial statements and laborious SEC filings.

But the prosecution has alleged -- and has used wiretapped conversations to support its contention -- that Pelullo and Scarfo used threats and intimidation to wrest control of FirstPlus in the summer of 2007. Pelullo, who was a behind-the-scenes consultant to FirstPlus, orchestrated the takeover, according to the government, and resorted to verbal threats to advance the scheme which included sitting a new board of directors in October 2007 that answered directly to Pelullo and Scarfo.

Pelullo has been described as a mob associate and a mob wannabe. He has two prior fraud convictions.

Scarfo, who has convictions for racketeering and gambling, was identified as a made member of the Luchese crime family and a one-time capo, or captain, in that organization. Testimony has also included details about an attempted mob hit on Halloween night in 1989 in which Scarfo was shot and nearly killed.

His lawyer, Michael Riley, has told the jury that his client has been targeted not for anything he has done, but for who he is. His name and his father's infamous reputation nearly got him killed, Riley said while implying that those same factors were key elements in the government's decision to charge him in the current case.

Also on trial are former FirstPlus CEO John Maxwell, Maxwell's brother William, a lawyer who worked for FirstPlus, and attorneys David Adler, Gary McCarthy and Donald Manno. Manno, who was Scarfo's criminal defense attorney for years, has represented himself during the trial.

The case, which began in January, has included testimony for several former company insiders, including Cory Leshner whose stint on the witness stand provided some of the most damaging testimony. Leshner is one of six co-defendants indicted along with Scarfo and the others who pleaded guilty. He is the only one to testify for the government. Scarfo's wife, Lisa Murray-Scarfo and his cousin, John Parisi, also entered guilty pleas. Leshner, Parisi and Murray-Scarfo have not been sentenced.

The evidence introduced during the trial broke the defense into three sections.

Scarfo, Pelullo and the Maxwell brothers were portrayed as the most actively involved in the systematic looting of the company. Much of the cash funneled as consulting fees to companies controlled by Scarfo and Pelullo went through William Maxwell, who was on a $300,000 monthly retainer to First Plus.

Two of the other lawyers, Adler and McCarthy, were tied to what the government alleges were failures to properly account for business dealings with the SEC or other government regulators. Manno was tied to fraud allegations centered primarily on an escrow account that the government alleges was set up to allow Scarfo and his wife to purchase a $715,000 home outside of Atlantic City.

The home was one of several lavish purchases allegedly financed with cash taken from FirstPlus. The government also alleged that Scarfo and Pelullo purchased an $850,000 yacht (named Priceless), a company jet and luxury automobiles. Pelullo spent $217,000 on a black, 2006 Bentley Continental GT, according to testimony. Scarfo leased an Audi S6 for $1,200-a-month on the company's dime, authorities allege.

The FirstPlus investigation became public in May 2008 when the FBI staged a series of coordinated raids in Philadelphia, South Jersey, Miami -- where Pelullo had a condo and where the yacht was docked -- and Irving, TX, where FirstPlus was based.

More than three years later, in November 2011, a federal grand jury in Camden handed up a 107-page, 24-count indictment outlining the charges in the case. Scarfo's 84-year-old father and another jailed mob leader, Vittorio "Vic" Amuso, 80, were named unindicted co-conspirators. Amuso was the boss of the Luchese crime family. He is serving a life sentence. The elder Scarfo is serving a 55-year term for murder and racketeering. His earliest release date, according to prison records, is 2033 when he will be 103 years old.

Kugler has dismissed a handful of counts during the course of the trial, but none of the major charges. The closing arguments are expected to last several days (the jury does not sit on Fridays). D'Aguanno's closing could run into Thursday. Scarfo's attorney is expected to offer the first defense closing, followed by lawyers for Pelullo, the Maxwell brothers, Adler, McCarthy and then Manno.

Under the rules of federal criminal trials, the prosecution will then get the last word, offering a rebuttal closing. Jury deliberations are expected to begin late next week at the earliest. Scarfo and Pelullo face the stiffest potential sentences, 30 years to life.

George Anastasia can be contacted at George@bigtrial.net.

Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/06/closing-arguments-due-in-firstplus.html#rA5rQEuRH7gj6djT.99

Best Friends Til The End! Besties Selfie hahah

Who was the Jersey capo before Scarfo? And WAS Scarfo the capo in charge of Ralph Perna?

Nice pic steve-o

Robert Caravaggio.

Bucky

saw this after, yup

Was Scarfo in charge of Perna before Perna got bumped up?

I would imagine so.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014

Layers Of An Onion Define Multi-Million Dollar FirstPlus Fraud
By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

A federal prosecutor used mobster Nicodemo S. Scarfo's own words today to describe the alleged takeover and looting of a Texas-based mortgage company that is at the heart of what authorities charge was a $12 million scam orchestrated by Scarfo and his business partner Salvatore Pelullo.

"Layers upon layers, like an onion," Scarfo, 48, said in a secretly recorded telephone conversation with Pelullo, 46, that was picked up on an FBI wiretap back in 2007 as authorities contend the takeover of FirstPlus Financial was unfolding.

For nearly three hours today, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen D'Aguanno, the lead prosecutor, detailed the allegations in the racketeering conspiracy case against Scarfo, Pelullo and five co-defendants. D'Aguanno said underneath those layers of the onion -- false SEC filings, phony stockholder reports, bogus consulting contracts and fraudulent business purchases and expenses -- was the financial scam that poured millions into the pockets of the two lead defendants.

"They're joined at the hip, from their criminal activities to their alleged business activities," D'Aguanno said of Scarfo and Pelullo, who frequently referred to each other as cousins even though there was no blood relationship.

D'Aguanno called Pelullo the "de-facto" head of FirstPlus Financial. He said Pelullo "controlled" the company and that he "reported" to Scarfo. Both men had lucrative consulting contracts once they secretly took control of the company's board of directors in the summer of 2007, the prosecutor alleged.

Co-defendant William Maxwell, a lawyer on a retainer of $100,000-a-month to FirstPlus, helped set up those consulting agreements with Seven Hills Management, Pelullo's company, and Learned Associates, Scarfo's front, according to the prosecution.

Pelullo had a contract similar to Maxwell's that paid him $100,000-a-month. Scarfo's contract called for $33,000-a-month. He later had another contract with Maxwell for $150,000-a-year, the prosecutor said.

None of those deals were ever disclosed in SEC filings or reported to company shareholders, said D'Aguanno who then asked the jury a question that he repeated again and again - "Why?"

The answer, he said, was because the deals were part of a massive fraud set up by Scarfo and Pelullo, both of whom had criminal records that would have had to have been disclosed had their names been listed on company filings.

Pelullo has two prior fraud convictions and was cited in the past for lying to the SEC, D'Aguanno said. Scarfo has two prior convictions linked to organized crime gambling and racketeering cases.

D'Aguanno is expected to continue his closing argument when the trial resumes tomorrow. He will then be followed by the seven defense attorneys who will also address the jury. First up is Michael Farrell, one of two court-appointed attorneys representing Pelullo. Farrell, a high energy litigator with a loud and aggressive courtroom style, is expected to take three or four hours to present his closing.

With no court on Friday, the other closings will likely resume on Monday and last most of the week before jury deliberations can begin.

The defense, as it has throughout the five-month old trial, is expected to argue that the failures of FirstPlus were not caused by fraud, but by a poor economy. Defense attorneys have also argued that the government has interjected the presence of organized crime in the case to sensationalize what would otherwise be mundane financial charges that have little basis in fact. They also have contended that any chance FirstPlus had of succeeding ended when the FBI staged a series of raids in May 2008, seizing company records and assets.

D'Aguanno told the jury that the criminal enterprise at the heart of the FirstPlus fraud was not the mob, but the Scarfo-Pelullo organization. He said, however, that both men used the reputation of organized crime to bolster the threats and extortion that allowed them to take over the company in the summer of 2007.

Scarfo's father, jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, and Vittorio "Vic" Amuso, the jailed leader of the Luchese crime family, were named as unindicted co-conspirators in the case. The elder Scarfo exercised "influence and control" of his son and Pelullo, D'Aguanno said, adding that both mob leaders -- even though they were in jail -- were to share in the financial benefits of the takeover.

Scarfo Sr. and Amuso were fellow inmates at a federal prison in Atlanta in 2007. Pelullo and Scarfo Jr. visited the elder Scarfo several times and discussed the FirstPlus takeover with him, D'Aguanno charged. Scarfo Jr. has been identified as a made member of the Luchese organization.

D'Aguanno also said a prison conversation between the two Scarfos in which they mentioned taking care of "Uncle Vic" was a coded reference to Amuso and his potential share in the looting.

Scarfo Jr. was on probation at the time the fraud unfolded, D'Aguanno said. He said that Pelullo, William Maxwell and Donald Manno, a co-defendant and longtime criminal attorney for Scarfo, were part of a scheme to lie to the probation department about Scarfo's associations and job opportunities in an fraudulent attempt to have his probation restrictions lifted.

If Scarfo had gainful, legitimate employment as a consultant for FirstPlus, why not just tell that to the probation department, D'Aguanno asked? The reason, he said, was that that disclosure might have led to government inquiries into what he was doing and disclosed his relationship with Pelullo.

Ironically, D'Aguanno said, authorities were already investigating those connections while Scarfo and the others tried to hide them.

Other defendants in the case include William Maxwell's brother, John, who was the CEO of FirstPlus after the alleged takeover and attorneys David Adler and Gary McCarthy who handled business and SEC filings for the company.

D'Aguanno opened his remarks by playing a tape for the jury in which Scarfo and Pelullo laughed and joked about the untimely passing of J.D. Draper, a FirstPlus insider who authorities said helped the two plan the behind-the-scenes takeover.

Draper, who was named compliance officer of the company, died unexpectedly of a heart attack in December 2007. On the tape, Scarfo and Pelullo mockingly talk about how they are broken up by his passing.

D'Aguanno said Draper was one of the few insiders who knew all the details of the scam and his passing eliminated any concerns on the part of Pelullo or Scarfo that he might turn on them and go to authorities.

"I'm crushed, tears are coming to my eyes," Pelullo said on the tape which was played twice during the trial and a third time today.

After more mock comments about sorrow and condolences, Scarfo told Pelullo that Draper's death was "one thing I know you can't take credit for."

But the government contends that Pelullo, in secretly recorded conversation and in emails, took credit for nearly everything else that brought him and Scarfo behind-the-scenes control of the company. And all of it, D'Aguanno said today, was based on fraud.

George Anastasia can be contacted at George@bigtrial.net.

Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/06/layers-of-onion-define-multi-million.html#z8ssUGKIhm3trFIC.99

Technically yes but i doubt any of those guys respected him.

Mafia Smoke, No Fire In Fraud Case, Pelullo's Lawyer Says

By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

He wasn't a gangster. He was a turnaround expert.

And if the government had just left him alone, Salvatore Pelullo would have turned FirstPlus Financial, a struggling Texas mortgage company, into a profitable business enterprise.

Do the math!

That was the message, accompanied by nearly 100 slides and a heavy mixture of passion and sarcasm, that Pelullo's lawyer, Michael Farrell delivered to a federal jury today in a highly charged summation that offered a decidedly different view of the testimony and evidence from the one presented by the prosecution during the five-month trial.

The government, Farrell said repeatedly, failed to back up its charge that Pelullo and mobster Nicodemo S. Scarfo looted the company after secretly taking control of its board of directors in the summer of 2007.

"The government never gave these people a chance and they want you to convict them of crimes," said Farrell, the first of seven defense attorneys to offer closing arguments. Farrell will be back in front of the jury when the trial resumes Monday. He is expected to take most of the day to complete his summation.

"This is a guy with a track record of immense business success," Farrell said of his client, pointing to businesses Pelullo had started in the past, to a newspaper article identifying him as one of the top 40 businessmen under 40 and personal financial records that listed properties and assets that at times exceeded $1 million.

Farrell described Pelullo, 46, as a high school dropout with intuitive business acumen who had developed a "business model" for taking distressed companies and turning them into successful operations. He was, Farrell added, a "risk taker" who had run afoul of the law in the past. Pelullo has two prior fraud convictions.

But the defense attorney, contradicting a major premise in the prosecution's case, said there was never any attempt to hide Pelullo's role as a consultant to FirstPlus or to defraud the company.

"Loot the company?" he nearly shouted at one point. "They were trying to grow the company."

Farrell's summation came after Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen D'Aguanno wrapped up nearly six hours of closing arguments shortly after the lunch break today. D'Aguanno described Pelullo as the "central figure" in a scam built around "a fraudulent set of legal and consulting agreements."

He said Pelullo and Scarfo use fear, intimidation and the reputation of the mob and their links to it to advance a scheme that netted them millions while running the company into the ground. Both Pelullo and Scarfo, through companies they controlled, had consulting contracts with FirstPlus. A third defendant, lawyer William Maxwell, had a legal contract with the firm.

Maxwell was being paid $100,000-a-month plus expenses. The government contends he set up consulting contracts for Pelullo, at $100,000-a-month, and Scarfo, at $33,000-a-month, as part of an insider move to siphon cash out of the company.

Other defendants on trial are Maxwell's brother, John, the CEO of FirstPlus, and lawyers David Adler, Gary McCarthy and Donald Manno.

Using slides and charts that flashed on large screens around the courtroom, Farrell challenged the goverment's contention that after Pelullo and Scarfo took control of the company board of directors, its assets dropped from about $11 million to $1,700. In fact, he contended, companies that were purchased by FirstPlus had tangible value of millions and were not the straw entities that the prosecution alleges.

The purchases -- the government has charged that Pelullo and Scarfo controlled most of the companies that FirstPlus bought -- were part of a plan to turn the company around, part of a business model that Pelullo had developed and used successfully over the years.

Farrell also chided D'Aguanno and FBI Agent Joe Gilson, the lead investigator in the case. The defense attorney implied that the two law enforcement officials lacked the financial background and training to accurately assess what was taking place.

He said the FBI targeted Scarfo, the son of jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, because of his suspected mob ties. The younger Scarfo was on probation in 2007 after serving more than three years in prison for a conviction in an orgnaized crime gambling case. He has another conviction for racketeering.

The organized crime investigation into Scarfo, dubbed "Son Block," morphed into a probe of white collar corruption, Farrell said, and went off track because the government didn't understand the financial world.

The government "wants you to believe Scarfo was a mobster," Farrell told the jury. The evidence and testimony indicate he was "a computer nerd," the lawyer said.

Both Pelullo and Scarfo had criminal records and were cognizant of the fact that those records could create problems with government regulators and shareholders. But neither attempted, as the government alleges, to hide their involvement as consultant to the company, he said.

"They had strikes against them," he said of their criminal pasts. "They had obstacles. But they believed they could succeed."

Returning to another theme that has been part of the defense throughout the trial, Farrell said a series of FBI raids in May 2008 in which FirstPlus records were seized and Pelullo and Scarfo were identified as targets thwarted any attempt for the company to succeed. It wasn't fraud, but the government's actions, he argued, that deep sixed FirstPlus Financial.

He urged the jury not to buy into the government's arguments.

"They believe you'll convict solely because of the Mafia smoke," he said. But it's smoke, he said, with "no fire."

George Anastasia can be contacted at George@bigtrial.net.

I love how another guys lawyer calls scarfo a computer nerd. he must just keep his face down stairing at a paper.that's a first.

I don't see how they can convict here. Verdict should be in soon.

I completely disagree. They're both done in my opinion.

Should be interesting to see which one of these two flips - if not both - although I don't know what Pelulio would have that the coppers wanted but Scarfo is a different story - imagine how Nick Scarfo Sr. would react to his son turning?

He'd fucking kill himself!

we will see

really? always respect posts but did you read the indictment?

these guys are cooked

Was there concrete financial evidence? Besides them collecting a salary? I'm honestly a little unsure, at work right now. Like what exactly do they have on a scarfo?

I didn't.read the indictment btw, maybe I take a look tonight while I.watch the game

Imagine that huh! You're quite the optimist there guy. Maybe you should go join Fox 29 news with your buddy Dave there guy!

I guarantee they are done. They have hundred of hours of tapes (including pelullo talking to scarfo sr), an extensive and obvious financial record, about 10 cooperating witnesses. You are lunatic if you think this anything less than guilty and 20-30 year bid for jr.

Let's not forget these two knuckleheads are felons that were caught with a bunch of guns. I remember reading Scarfo had a semi in his house and that they had a cache of weapons on their yacht. I'm curious to see the indictment who got charged for that, that alone with jr's priors he'll get 10 years

That would be interesting to see. What do you all think the likelihood of Scarfo Jr. flipping would be? And Pellulo?

Absolutely, Nicky. Assuming they find him guilty, and I think they will, the sentencing guidelines call for Scarfo to get upwards of 20 plus years.

Judges rarely go outside the Federal Guidlines for predicate felons. And the judge isn't going to go outside those guidelines for someone named Scarfo. Not in a million years.

Definitely don't see Scarfo flipping. Don't know much about Pelullo though. Seems like a wanna-be that may not have much to give as far as mob related dirt. I'm guessing they both take a cpl long bids and fade into the sunset

FirstPlus Trial Heading To The Jury
By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

After nearly six months of testimony and more than a week of detailed and grueling closing arguments, jury deliberations are set to being in the FirstPlus Financial racketeering fraud trial of mobster Nicodemo S. Scarfo and six co-defendants.

Donald Manno, Scarfo's former criminal defense attorney and a co-defendant in the case, is expected to complete his closing arguments this morning. Manno, who is representing himself, will be the final defense attorney to address the anonymously chosen jury panel.

A rebuttal closing argument this afternoon from the prosecution will complete the argument phase of the trial, setting the stage for the start of deliberations either late today or tomorrow.

Manno was detailed and highly effective yesterday afternoon when he spoke to the jury for about an hour. The one-time federal prosecutor, who referred to himself in the third person, told the jury to consider the facts and not the "diversions, distortions and false circumstantial evidence" around which the prosecution has built its case.

"Don Manno was not involved in any conspiracy," he told the jury.
But he made it clear that he couldn't say the same thing for some of his co-defendants. In particular, he singled out Salvatore Pelullo and Scarfo, both of whom, he said, rejected his advice and lied to him. Manno argued that he was kept in the dark about many of the financial dealings involving FirstPlus, a troubled Texas-based mortgage company that authorities allege Pelullo and Scarfo secretly took control of in 2007.

Pelullo, described as the "key figure" in the fraud by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen D'Aguanno, used bogus consulting contracts and phony business transactions to siphon $12 million out of the company, the government alleges. Much of the money was used to finance a luxurious lifestyle that included the purchase of a $850,000 yacht, a $207,000 Bentley and a home near Atlantic City for $715,000 for Scarfo and his new wife, Lisa.

Manno, who is named in only five of the 25 counts in the case, was charged with fraud in connection with a mortgage for that house purchase. He opened his arguments yesterday by playing a tape in which he and Pelullo argued over what information Scarfo and Pelullo were providing on the mortgage application.

The tape was one of hundreds secretly recorded on FBI phone wiretaps during the FirstPlus investigation. The conversation, on March 5, 2008, took place as Lisa Murray Scarfo was preparing to go to a closing on the home purchase. The mortgage had been arranged through Pelullo and Peter Fox, a FirstPlus associate who died during the investigation.

Lisa and Nicky Scarfo were married on Feb. 14, 2008, three weeks before the deal closed. In papers filed with the mortgage company, she was listed as a single woman. Authorities alleged that Scarfo and Pelullo were deliberately keeping Scarfo's name off the mortgage papers. They also charge that W-2 forms and income tax filings that inflated Lisa Murray's income were used to get the mortgage approved.

Lisa Murray Scarfo has pleaded guilty to bank fraud and is awaiting sentencing.

In the conversation, Manno told Pelullo there was no reason to lie.

"You guys are fuckin' nuts," he said. "You're nuts."

"What are you doing here?" he asked at another point. "You're in a fuckin' fishbowl...The FBI is going to be all over this transaction...There's no reason to hide anything."

By lying about Lisa Murray's marital status, "you raise the spectre of fraud," Manno told Pelullo.

Manno told the jury he was unaware at that time that the financial documents filed with the mortgage application were fraudulent. Had he been part of that conspiracy, he told the jury, he wouldn't be raising a red flag about Murray's marital status. Manno didn't know about the fraud, he told the jury, because Scarfo and Pelullo "lied to him."

Manno urged the jury to listen to the tape, to listen to the voice inflections. Borrowing a line from other closing arguments from both the prosecution and the defense, he said the taped conversations were a "window" into the minds of those who were talking and who were unaware they were being recorded.

He told the jury that Manno "was trying to protect people from committing crimes. And what do they do? They lie to him."

Manno's closing, which continued this morning, capped more than a week of arguments from defense attorneys in the case, including a marathon closing from Michael Farrell, Pelullo's court appointed attorney. Farrell spent nearly three days addressing the jury, showing them nearly 1,000 slides and offering a decidedly different spin on the events that the government alleges were an orchestrated fraud.

The overriding defense arguments in the case are that the FirstPlus financial collapse was brought on by government intervention and a faulty economy, not fraud, and that the spectre of organized crime was introduced by the prosecution in order to hype an otherwise mundane and technical financial case.

All seven defendants in the case are charged with racketeering conspiracy. The indictment also includes allegations of bank fraud, wire fraud and obstruction of justice. There are also two weapons offenses. The other defendants include former FirstPlus CEO John Maxwell, Maxwell's brother William, a lawyer who worked for FirstPlus, and lawyers David Adler and Gary McCarthy who were hired to handle SEC filings and others financial matters for the company.

Like Manno, several defendants, through their lawyers, sought to distance themselves from Pelullo, 46, a flamboyant Elkins Park businessman with two prior fraud convictions. .

Mark Catanzaro, the court-appointed attorney for John Maxwell, argued in his closing that his client was not guilty of any of the charges. He said Maxwell had depended on the advice of lawyers and others with SEC expertise when he signed off on documents that the government says were part of the fraud.

Maxwell was charged, Catanzaro argued, because he wouldn't go along with the government's theory of the case and agree to cooperate. "John Maxwell was taken along for the ride" because he wouldn't help the prosecution make its case against "those they really wanted, Nick Scarfo, Sal Pelullo and organized crime."

Catanzaro said Pelullo was one of those people who "has to make it sound more grandiose, make themselves more important" in whatever situation they find themselves.

"If Sal Pelullo caught a minnow he would tell you it was a shark," Catanzaro told the jury. "If it had taken 30 seconds to reel the fish in, it would have taken him the better part of the day. But only after the boat capsized three times. And the shark would have killed everybody but him."

Working with Pelullo, Catanzaro said, was "a Saturday Night Live skit." John Maxwell realized that, he said, and learned how to deal with him. "You get used to him and you turn him off."

Scarfo's lawyer, Michael Riley, also pointed to Pelullo, telling the jury that Scarfo's knowledge of what was going on at FirstPlus "came from Sal Pelullo." But returning to a theme that was part of Farrell's long winded argument, Riley said the government had tried to turn an organized crime investigation into a white collar fraud case. And, he argued, they had failed.

"They wrapped it up in Mafia smoke," he said. "...calling it organized crime when there was...not a substantial attempt to effectively investigate this case."

There was no mob involvement in FirstPlus, Riley said, despite attempts by the government to make it appear that way. He urged the jury to focus on that, adding that "Mr. Scarfo is not on trial for being a member of organized crime."

But Scarfo and Pelullo were on trial for racketeering conspiracy and fraud, charges that had some basis in fact based on the evidence surrounding the mortgage fraud count, Manno said in his closing yesterday.

Returning to the taped conversation from March 5, 2008, Manno again said the only thing he was doing was acting as a "good lawyer" when he cautioned Pelullo not to lie about anything in the mortgage application.

"I don't want to create a little crack that some fuckin' FBI agent can take and run with," Manno said as the FBI witetap recorded it all.

"Not only did they create a crack," Manno told the jury, but by that point, the FBI was already listening in.

George Anastasia can be contacted at George@bigtrial.net.

these guys are toast

heres an idea...when you are siphoning millions from a company fraudulently maybe you dont buy a yacht, bentley and mansion.

maybe, just maybe you get in and out quick, bury the money and head south and live comfortably.

god forbid, right?

People who refer to themselves in the third person freak me out.

They may be. Manno did make a good argument though. I haven't seen enough of the evidence. Rats sure do know when to abandon a sinking ship though. Can't be good for the defense that they are all pointing the finger at each other.

jury deliberations started today, if convicted both pellulo and scarfo face 30 years to life.

30 years to life? For stealing? Granted they did steal a lot but Christ, that's a little excessive in my opinion. I don't post much but holy shit. If they killed a few people in the process they'd probably be facing 10-15, instead of 30 to life. I'm being sarcastic.

Was the jury all dropped on their heads? Where is the verdict?

these guys arnt to afraid of scarfo there just throwing haymakers at him and pellulo. other lawyers called him a nerd. should have plead guilty and tooka 10piece. I thought manno was his cousin or good friends with his dad. the wiretaps help him but he new what was going on, he used to be a prsecutor.

No verdict yet

Jmack what's up homie!? Jury has been deliberating for a couple days, that's huge for the defense. I'm not so sure everyone is as fucked as most of you think. I wonder how hard it really is to get to a juror when you have big money. I'm sure it's not easy but let's not forget it has been done before with Gotti, Jr, DeLeonardo, and a few other cases.

Not too much man. They may be out a while. There are a lot of counts and a lot of evidence to consider. It may take a week. Who knows they may come in tomorrow.

Were they even offered a plea deal? Because 10 years is a good sentence for the amount of money they stole. It's crazy if they were offered and refused.

MONDAY, JUNE 23, 2014

Jury Deliberations Continue In Scarfo Fraud Trial
By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net


The jury completed a fourth day of deliberations this afternoon without reaching a verdict in the FirstPlus racketeering fraud trial of Nicodemo S. Scarfo and six co-defendants.

The anonymously chosen panel of seven women and five men are expected to return to the U.S. District Courthouse in Camden at 9 a.m. tomorrow to resume the process. The panel sent a question to Judge Robert Kugler late in the day that led to some speculation about where the panel is headed.

The question had to do with the interrogatories or predicate acts listed to support the racketeering conspiracy charge that heads the indictment. All seven defendants are charged with conspiracy. The government has to prove at least two of the predicate acts as elements of the conspiracy charge. In response to its question, the panel was told it had to be unanimous in finding two of those acts proven.

"I guess this means they're still on count one," said one defendant as lawyers and other courtroom observers tried to analyze what the question meant.

The case involves 25 counts, but the principal charge is racketeering conspiracy. The consensus seemed to be that the conspiracy charge would largely determine how the panel would find on each of the remaining counts which were individual crimes that the prosecution argued were part of the larger conspiracy.

The government has alleged that Scarfo and co-defendant Salvatore Pelullo orchestrated the behind-the-scenes takeover of FirstPlus, troubled Texas-based mortgage company, in the summer of 2007. The indictment alleges that the pair then used phony contracts, bogus consulting agreements and over-priced business acquisitions to siphon $12 million out of the company.

The money was used, the government contends, to support a lavish lifestyle for the lead defendants and to finance the purchase of a yacht, a corporate jet, a Bentley and a home outside of Atlantic City. Scarfo and Pelullo have been held without bail since their arrests back November 2011.

Thirteen defendants were originally charged in the case and several, including Scarfo's wife, Lisa Murray Scarfo, have pleaded guilty.

During jury deliberations, Scarfo and Pelullo are being held in a lockup at the federal courthouse. The other defendants and their lawyers are free to come and go, but are on 15-minute notice. The jury question this afternoon brought everyone back to the fourth floor courtroom.

Throughout the day, lawyers and defendants come and go, although many are doing work on portable computers are the defense table.

"Been watching a lot of movies," said John Maxwell, the former CEO of FirstPlus and a co-defendant in the case.

"These guys are the victims of collateral damage," said a friend and supporter of Gary McCarthy, a lawyer and co-defendant. "The government wanted those two (Scarfo and Pelullo) and didn't care what happened to anyone else. It's a disgrace."

Scarfo and Pelullo are charged in almost every count in the case and face the most predicate acts as well. Scarfo, for example, is charged with racketeering conspiracy in count one, according to the verdict sheet the jury is working on. The jury is required to find him guilty or not guilty of that charge and to support that finding by answering "yes" or 'no" to eight interrogatories that ask whether the government has proven him guilty of wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, obstruction of justice, extortion, interstate travel in aid of racketeering, money-laundering and fraud in the sale of securities.

Judge Kugler told the jury members that they have to be unanimous on two of those specific allegations to support the conspiracy charge.

There are interrogatories listed for all seven defendants, but Scarfo, 48, and Pelullo, 46, have the most listed under their names.

Other defendants in the case include Maxwell, the former CEO of FirstPlus; his brother, William, who served as an attorney for the company and allegedly funnelled consulting work to Scarfo and Pelullo through FirstPlus; David Adler, a lawyer who specialized in SEC filings, McCarthy, a lawyer who worked on business and financial issues and Donald Manno, Scarfo's long-time criminal defense attorney.

Manno is charged in only five of the 25 counts. The allegations against him center of bank fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice involving a mortgage for a $715,000 home Scarfo and his wife purchased in 2008 and attempts by Scarfo to subvert the requirements of his probation at the time the FirstPlus fraud was allegedly unfolding.

Scarfo, the son of jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, was on supervised release following his conviction in a mob-linked gambling case when the FirstPlus fraud was alleged to have taken place.

His father and jailed Luchese crime family boss Vittorio "Vic" Amuso were named as unindicted co-conspirators in the case with the government alleging that the younger Scarfo and Pelullo consulted with Little Nicky and intended to kick up money to both imprisoned gangsters as part of the scheme.

In addition to the racketeering conspiracy charge, the case includes one court of securities fraud, 17 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to file a false bank statement and one count of obstruction of justice.

Scarfo, Pelullo and the Maxwell brothers also face weapons offenses.

Jury deliberations began last Wednesday following a six-month trial and more than a week of marathon closing arguments from the prosecution and defense.

The defense has argued that the government overcharged the case, turning a failed business operation into a massive fraud. In fact, the defense argued again and again, FirstPlus failed because of a poor economy and the government investigation that undermined what Pelullo and others were trying to do to rebuild the company. The defense also argued that the prosecution introduced the spectre of organized crime to hype the charges and allegations. They argued that the investigation, which began with the code name "Operation Son Block" and with Scarfo and the mob as its target, went off track because investigators did no understand arcane and detailed financial matters that were at the heart of the operation and various SEC and related filings.

In his rebuttal closing prior to the start of jury deliberations last week, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen D'Auganno, the lead prosecutor in the case, told the jury to stayed focused on the allegations and the evidence.

"What the defense has tried to sell you as a business model is really a model for fraud," he told the jury.

George Anastasia can be reached as George@bigtrial.net.

Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/06/jury-deliberations-continue-in-scarfo.html#DqdKmj3sydvReLjt.99

With all the personal guarantees from posters here I'm quite surprised the jury is still deliberating, haha

I say they walk the judge whipped out his big dick way to many times during the trial

They walk

Still no news on these two morons?

That jury has got to be wanting to get the fuck outta there and go home.

Was there ever a normal trial in Philly,what the f... is so complicated.Is it the jurors are they caught up in the bright lights and glitz of being around mob guys.A-Guilty B-Not Guilty and that's it done deal.

From ed scarpo's blog last night-

Saturday, June 28, 2014
Partial Verdict Reached in Scarfo-FirstPlus Trial?
The story is not up now, but on my blog list below you can see a Big Net post that must have been yanked. If you hit the link to the story there's only a blank page there.

Is the jury working on Saturday?

All I know is, this story was posted, five hours ago, by Anastasia, then yanked -- so only this scrap remains:

Verdict In FirstPlus Trial, But Deliberations Contniue - *By George Anastasia* *For Bigtrial.net* The jury has reached a verdict on some of the charges in the FirstPlus Financial fraud trial, but is still wrestling...

I say they hang on manno. Gotta think guilty on scarfo and pellulo.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Verdict In FirstPlus Trial, But Deliberations Contniue



By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

It looks like the jury has voted to convict in the FirstPlus Financial racketeering fraud trial.

But at this point we don't know which one -- or how many -- of the seven defendants have been found guilty.

Jury deliberations resume today in the six-month old trial. But questions submitted by the anonymously chosen jury panel to Judge Robert Kugler last week offer some insight into the process and have given rise to speculation that the panel has voted to convict someone.

In a note sent Thursday afternoon, the last day of deliberations last week, the panel wrote: "We are unanimous on some counts, but we are not unanimous yet on others (the word "yet" was underlined twice in the note). Are we under any time constraints to reach unanimity?"

That question, coupled with an earlier inquiry about the way to respond to the racketeering conspiracy charge, has led to speculation that the jury has voted to convict at least one and possibly more of the defendants on the principal count in the 25-count indictment. All seven defendants are charged with conspiracy.

"It doesn't look good," said one member of the defense camp last week.

The six-month trial has focused on government allegations that mobster Nicodemo S. Scarfo and mob associate Salvatore Pelullo secretly took control of FirstPlus Financial, a troubled Texas-based mortgage company, in 2007 and siphoned more than $12 million out of the company through a series of bogus business deals and phony consulting contracts.

Five other defendants, including the former CEO of the company and four lawyers, are also on trial.
All seven defendants have been charged with racketeering conspiracy. A number of other charges, including wire fraud, bank fraud, mail fraud and money-laundering are part of the case, but not every defendant faces every charge.


Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/#TIj4Wqq3kIyOX4eJ.99

Scarfo Junior is toast. He'll be a little old man when he gets out. And it wouldn't surprise me if they're all found guilty of the top count of the indictment.

they are fucking cooked, no way they get not guilty

im surprised some of the posters i respect thought they would get off

Cheech I wasn't saying they would necessarily beat it, just they might have a better chance then some people thought. Looks like I was wrong though, and I have no problem admitting that.

That's big to admit that. I think they will hang on manno.

thanks and I'm curious to see what happens to Manno too, from what I read it seems he did a solid job defending himself.

Wasn't aimed at u Mikey. Who knows any way. Verdict ain't in

Hell. I thought bobby Versace was getting off

I think from what I read Manno had a compelling closing argument. I think he is got a shot.

Me too but I guess sometimes when it's a heinous crime people get convicted one way or the other..

Bobby Vernace.

Versace's the gay guy that got popped in Miami .

He was getting off with Andrew Cunanan

"Manno urged the jury to listen to the tape, to listen to the voice inflections. Borrowing a line from other closing arguments from both the prosecution and the defense, he said the taped conversations were a "window" into the minds of those who were talking and who were unaware they were being recorded."

Manno represented one of my brothers before and tells it like it is. The creating a "crack" comment for a "fucking fbi agent". I think is hard to perceive w.o. hearing the audio. I really hope he's acquitted but I don't see that happening. I'd like to read the indictment. It's a shame these two assholes got him involved with this. Like Jmack said earlier I'd like to see more of the evidence it's hard to form an opinion. He made aware to Pellulo what was what and then asked the question what are you guys doing? My honest opinion is the guy's a straight shooter in my book I know or have known plenty of wealthy people retain him for their business,trusts,estates. It really doesn't pay to defend these guys anymore twenty years ago yes but today no. As far as Scarfo and Pellullo from what I've read it's not like they even had a chance to enjoy the $$$ they got caught right away.

my phone changed it

Still no verdict. I don't get what's the Rico conspiracy? The luchese family. When they use Rico its surprised to be a group or gang an gone know?

I figured as much, Cheechee. You know I'm a ballbreaker .

i should have just said bobby glasses like i know him

still no verdict must be hung on some charges. 2 guys and some lawyers crush some company no need for the rico shit think they wasted more mooney on this trial then scarfo and friends made.

I believe they can throw in Rico Conspiracy charges as long as there is a pattern of criminal activity among a group of individuals. Reoccurring pattern in this case would of been them siphoning the money through the channels they were using so it appeared to look "Clean" on paper. But they should of left Scarfo out of this whole transaction and just paid him out of their pockets even though I know that sounds a lot easier to do then it really is especially with the volume of $ they were stealing..

Geez I just read one of defendants killed themselves and they dismissed a women juror who are usually more sympathetic towards something of that nature. Plus they have Scarfo and Pellullo laughing about it, that's going to hurt them, any sympathy the jury has for them has gone out the window given they heard that tape. Has anyone heard anything yet about the verdicts ?

Philly.com stating that a verdict is about to be announced. Jurors came to an agreement last night, but sent judge a note stating they wanted to sleep on it before finalization. I'm still saying guilty, just a matter of how many of the charges they get them on.

Verdict coming any minute

Scarfo and pelullo guilty on Rico

Both maxwells guilty - so far guilty on 14 counts 10 to go

I'm shocked. Shocked .

Bye Bye dickhead!

lol

Exactly. They didn't have a prayer.

Pelullo's transformation is complete. He is now a wankster.

He can flip before sentencing and sink the luchese Jersey faction but I think he apple out his fathers tree. Take them decades.

I always fully admit that I know very little about Philly except for what I've read. But I do know a couple of New York guys who know Junior Scarfo, and from what I've heard I seriously doubt that he'll flip. But I guess stranger things have happened. One thing is for sure: He's going to get hammered at sentencing.

I bet Sal had already started recording Scarfo during the trial while they were in the can.

always wondered what bronx/north jersey lucchese guts thought of scrafo jr just joining them like that, reminds me of a little kid starting a new school in the middle of the year because his parents have moved,

This guy seems like a real hand job. Definitely not LCN material, according to Nicky Sr. standards. I wonder what the little tan guy thinks of his blogs?

http://articles.philly.com/2012-10-11/ne...boss-blog-posts

Like I said, from what I've heard they actually like him. And trust me, I was just as surprised as you are .

Don Manno, who represented himself during trial and was acquitted, told me: "It was the hardest case of my life"

There is a live twitter feed on this site

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/live_chats/Live-tweets-from-Scarfo-trial.html

i thought there were guys badmouthing him, and then they took him down from captain for one of the pernas

over 20 years you think?

Scarfo Jr. has gun charges, in addition to this RICO conviction. Maybe he bunks with his dad, forever.

I was talking about the Bronx crew. And if Stevie likes him, that's all that matters .

I think the guidelines call for over twenty, upwards of twenty five. And the Judge ain't going outside the guidelines for a made guy named Scarfo. He'll be a little old men when he walks out.

there must be some good relationships with some scarfo associated guys and lucchese guys. I've seen the infamous scarf/amuso pic so you figure some hi up lucchese guys must think scarfo jr is a stand up guy - which would show that those same luchesse guys don't have much respect for merlino

so im guessing that scarf jr had some drama with the lucchese jersey crew - prob the pernas- but a lot of the higher ups in the bronx respected him and thats how he was able to earn

So do we know if he was actually broken down from Captain for Perna?

If Crea likes him and I'm SURE he was getting a NICE kick from the First Plus bust out then maybe Jnr retained his stripes after all?

Not that it's going to matter much for the next 30 odd years.

Stevie accepted him. And I don't care what anyone says, he didn't have to. Because it's a pretty well know fact that Stevie hates Vic's guts. So Junior Scarfo must have shown them something.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Jury finds Lucchese wiseguy Scarfo Jr guilty on all counts during financial fraud trial

Mobster Nicodemo S. Scarfo and his business associate Salvatore Pelullo were convicted today of looting more than $12 million from a Texas-based mortgage company through a series of phony business deals and bogus consulting contracts.Scarfo, 48, the son of jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, was described by the government as the behind-the-scenes power in the secret takeover of FirstPlus Financial in 2007.Pelullo, 46, an Elkins Park businessman with two prior fraud convictions, was the point man in the scheme, according to authorities. A wannabe wiseguy who quoted lines from The Godfather and brought a street corner swagger to business meetings, Pelullo was accused of using threats and intimidation to force company officials to do his bidding.The anonymous chosen jury, which deliberated for parts of 10 days over two-weeks, also convicted former FirstPlus CEO John Maxwell and Maxwell's brother, William, a lawyer who worked for the firm.

The verdicts were announced shortly after 11 a.m. to a courtroom packed with friends and family members of the defendants and with government officials. The process took more than twenty meetings as Judge Robert Kugler read each of the 25 counts in the case and the jury foreman declared "guilty" or "not guilty" to each charge faced by each defendant.Scarfo and Pelullo have been held without bail since their indictments in November 2011. They showed little emotion as the process played itself out. Scarfo heard the word "guilty" tied to his name 25 times. Pelullo charged with one less count, heard it 24 times.Both men, because of their prior criminal convictions and because of their principal roles in the scam, face from 30 years to life when sentenced by Judge Kugler. The verdicts capped a federal investigation that began more than seven years ago and became public in May 2008 when the FBI conducted a series of coordinated raids in Philadelphia, South Jersey, Miami and Irving, Tx (where FirstPlus was based).

Authorities charged that the takeover of FirstPlus began in the spring of 2007 when Scarfo and Pelullo began to maneuver for control of the troubled mortgage company and at one point was a key player in the subprime lending business but had subsequently fallen into bankruptcy.Scarfo and Pelullo were accused to using fear and intimidation to insert their own candidates on to the company board of directors in the summer of 2007and were controlling the company by that point, even though their names never appeared on any company documents or on filings with the SEC and other government agencies.Full of bravado and bluster, according to witness testimony, Pelullo was involved in the day-to-day operations of the company and used his own arrogance and allusions to his organized crime connections to instill fear into those who balked at doing his bidding.

At one point, according to a company official who testified during the trial, Pelullo threatened the official, telling him his wife would be raped and his young daughters sold as prostitutes if the official didn't go along with Pelullo's directions.Testimony from former employees, including Cory Leshner a top Pelullo associate who became a key prosecution witness, helped the government build its case which was also based on hundreds of secretly recorded phone conversations and thousands of pages of documents.The jury verdicts were followed by the start of a forfeiture proceeding this afternoon. The government is seeking a yacht and an airplane purchased by Scarfo and Pelullo, a Bentley purchased by Pelullo and other assets and bank accounts tied to the probe.The readings of the verdicts came in a tense courtroom where friends and relatives had become gathering earlier in the morning. The jury panel had sent a note to Judge Kugler late yesterday afternoon announcing that it was close to a consensus but wanted to sleep on its findings before announcing them.

The verdicts announced for the racketeering conspiracy count that topped the indictment set the stage for what was to follow. Scarfo, Pelullo and the Maxwell brothers were found guilty, but Adler, McCarthy and Manno were found not guilty. What followed was the recitation of the remaining counts and as the jury foreman declared "not guilty" again and again on separate fraud charges, friends and family members of Adler, McCarthy and Manno began to smile and quietly nod to one another.One friend of McCarthy's offered a quiet fist pump as he sat in the third row of the packed courtroom as heard "not guilty" announced to a securities fraud charge, 17 wire fraud charges and one money-laundering charge that McCarthy faced.
The reaction was similar from friends and family members of the other defendants. Manno's wife, Rita, broke into tears of joy after the final "not guilty" was announced to one of the five charges her husband faced. One of her daughters sat next to her, gently rubbing her back."A six-year ordeal is finally over," said Manno, a veteran criminal defense attorney who had represented Scarfo for years.Manno, who represented himself, said he never second-guessed his decision. He said it gave him a chance to "personalize" the defendant. Throughout the trial he spoke of himself in the third person and in a detailed closing argument he hammered home the key point in his defense: he was a lawyer trying to counsel Scarfo, not a member of the conspiracy. More important, he argued and the government's own wiretaps appeared to confirm, neither Scarfo nor Pelullo followed his advice.

Like the two other lawyers acquitted, Manno contended that he was lied to by Scarfo and Pelullo and was never fully aware of what they were doing behind-the-scenes at FirstPlus."They split the case the way we had argued for in a severance motion," Manno said of the jury's verdict, referring to a motion rejected by Judge Kugler who have Scarfo, Pelullo and the Maxwell brothers tried together and Ader, McCarthy and Manno tried in a second trial.Adler declined to comment as he left the courtroom, but smiled and said any questions should be handled by his defense attorney Barry Gross.Gross, himself a former federal prosecutor in Philadelphia, thanked the jury and the judge and said his client "looks forward" to returning to his legal practice. Adler, based in New York, specializes in SEC filings.

In a prepared release later in the day Gross, who works for the Philadelphia law firm of Drinker, Biddle&Reath, said in a statement released by the firm later in the day, "There was an enormous quantity of information that the government presented in this case, but the jurors clearly took their responsibilities very seriously and justice was finally achieved."Manno said the same thing more succinctly. "It ended the way it should have," he said, before heading off with his wife, daughter and son-in-law to celebrate the outcome.Neither Maxwell brother offered any comment. Both appeared to numb as the guilty verdicts, one after another, mounted against them.
Before the jury came in, John Maxwell, who despite his complaints about media coverage has consistently and graciously made himself available to the media, said "It is what it is...As a kid I used to do some bull riding. This can't be any harder than that."

Three other defendants, lawyers David Adler, Gary McCarthy and Donald Manno, not guilty of the charges they faced.The government has alleged that mobster Nicodemo S. Scarfo and his business associate, Salvatore Pelullo, secretly took control of FirstPlus, a troubled Texas-based mortgage company, in 2007. The two then orchestrated a series of phony business deals and bogus consulting contracts that allow them to siphon $12 million from the company, according to the case against them.
The money was used to support a lavish lifestyle. Authorities allege that Scarfo and Pelullo bought a yacht valued at nearly $900,000; that Pelullo purchased a $217,000 Bentley automobile, and that Scarfo and his wife, Lisa Murray Scarfo, bought a $715,000 home near Atlantic City.Throughout the trial, the defense has argued that FirstPlus failed because of a poor economy and the negative impact of the federal investigation which became public after a series of raids in May 2008. The defense also argued that the government has used the specter of organized crime to sensationalize the charges but insisted there was no mob involvement.

Thirteen defendants were originally named in a 25-count indictment handed down in November 2011. Six defendants, including Scarfo's wife, have pleaded guilty. She is awaiting sentencing on bank fraud charges linked to a mortgage for the home near Atlantic City.In addition to Scarfo and Pelullo, those on trial include former FirstPlus CEO John Maxwell, his brother, William, who worked as a lawyer for the company, and lawyers David Adler, Gary McCarthy and Donald Manno.All seven are charged with racketeering conspiracy. Other counts in the indictment include bank fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice. Not every defendant faces every count. Scarfo and Pelullo also face weapons offenses.


http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/07/verdict-expectedtoday-in-firstplus-trial.html#ok1aESkgJ2F0h5Sq.99

Says it all, doesn't it?

And if he does come home in twenty plus years, what do you think the button is going to count for in the year 2035?

And although most here think its simply a matter of time before Pellulo rolls consider the other side.

Who even says there's an offer on the table? What really can he give the Feds? Can he even offer anyone else up? They've got Scarfo, it's doubtful Pelullo even delt with any other OC figures with dealings of any note.

So he may not roll after all. Mainly because he can't, not out of choice...

We know by at least 2007(operation heat) that Ralph Perna had officially taken over the crew. Perna was reporting to and kicking up directly to Dinappoli and Maddonna who were both on the ruling panel at that time. a lot of wiretaps confirm this.

Thanks Dell.

Ha! Amen to that.

Who knows maybe Joey will let him back in then!

Agreed. I doubt he was ever a full skipper to begin with.

Seems like there was just too many people involved,eventually something was going to go wrong and it did.I say if your going to do these things make a quick buck and get out.I know that's hard but when the greed sets in it's over.

When you flash the cash it's over. Bentley's, yachts etc etc are all BIG middle fingers to the Feds.

Daring the FBI to arrest you.

And the Feds LOVE a dare.

If these morons wrapped up the cash in a couple of suitcases and sat on it in a safety deposit box for 10yrs maybe this would've ended differently. But nobody ever accused these two of being too smart.

WOW! I AM SHOCKED!

Seriously it is funny to watch all the guys challenging the overwhelming, obvious fact these guys would be found guilty going back and editing their posts.

Not me, Pally. I first posted that Junior Scarfo would come home a little old man something like two years ago. They weren't railroaded, and it wasn't a witch hunt against Italian Americans by an overzealous prosecutor (I just love it when the fanboys pull out that oldie but goodie).

These guys were guilty as sin and dumb enough to flaunt what they stole. And they have no shot at appeal because there isn't a jury in the free world who would see it any differently.

I don't think Jr was ever a skipper .

Tacetta and the Pernas have had North Jersey for as long as I can remember.

I agree tho , Jr is an idiot , why pull off this sophisticated scam and then flaunt it to LE . If these guys just learned to stay off the grid , they might have had a good life.

Sometimes these securities fraud cases are too complex for the juries but it sounds like this jury had their act together and asked a lot of the right questions and guidance.

It will be interesting to see if Jr can do the time

Scarfo Jr.has come a long way from the days of him hitting[allegedly] that girl in the elevator during his dad's trial back in 88.Different look,everything.I don't think he ever had it in him to be the ''hardcore'' gangster.More or so the white-collar crime was more or less his thing.I guess either way it all counts the same in the end.

don't got 2 pennies to rub I kinda feel bad for the guy but then iagaun who bankrupt cause of these guys. goes down in gangster legend like the persicos gottis ect. sad they didt try to make the company work? like you get paid anyway. merlinos legends just grows bigger looking like the smart guy down florida banging chicks driving lembos. is that rite lembos or lebos

when you think about it the reason scarfo jr was probably striped of the capo tittle cause he was bringing bags of cash to steve crea and vic amuso wife his own dad was caught on tape saying to take care of uncle vic you think his underboss crea wasn't getting 10k a month from scarfo, you know his dad taught him the money flows up, scarfo lived by them rules even give his city a.c. to the genovese. they could see the jerseys guys didn't like him cause hes some type of traitor from philly. think the gov had a real hardon for him. just read pelluo kids trying to leave philly his sister blames scarfo ect.

The Perna's are basically bookies, nothing more. Fact, they do whatever NY tells them to do.
If scarfo was demoted, NY was behind it for whatever reason and who really knows what the true reason was.. Maybe Crea did it because of resentment to amuso.

That's the point I've been trying to make. Stevie took the kid and he didn't have to, so he couldn't have thought he was a total fuckup. Or maybe Stevie just looks at Scarfo Sr. as a link to the old mob and he did it out of sentiment. But he sure as shit didn't do it for Vic. He hates Vic's guts, and Vic was boss IN NAME ONLY for years, so he sure as shit didn't get a "message from prison" to straighten the guy out.

And this isn't my New York zip code speaking, but everything goes through the Bronx/Harlem faction now anyway. But like I said earlier, I seriously doubt that Junior Scarfo was ever the official skipper to begin with.

I pretty much agree with that in theory, but there are some wiretaps that make me think otherwise. like back in the mid 2000s, Ralph Perna and his son Joe were surveilled meeting with Joseph Dinapoli in the bronx, then minutes after the meeting ended Joe Perna(who's phone was tapped) called his brother and told him that Scarfo jr was being bumped down and that Ralph was taking over.

I read that too, Delly. But it doesn't convince me of anything. Now they may have told him that he was a skipper, but it doesn't mean that he was given full reign. He was a stranger from South Jersey/Philly. All I'm saying is, the current administration is pretty crafty. And it wouldn't be the first time they built a guy up in his own mind .

ya that makes sense.

Scarfo Jr has earned far more then any Philly guy since the 90's. Scarfo Sr might have been a psycho but he is LCN until they drag his corpse out of his jail cell, he must have drilled the life into Jr, he's as good a bet as any to be a stand up guy especially being a legacy. It was a good move the Lucchese's taking him on, he made a lot of money and won't rat even if he has to do 20 years.

I wll say that I thought a little different of Scarfo Jr.after reading Leonetti's book.That part where Leonetti came back to AC because his grandmother was dying and at the time Scarfo Sr.wanted to kill him so bad and Leonetti thought Junior saw him one time so he eventually he confronted him at Junior'struggling restaurant in AC and basically was cool with everything,I thought for sure he would have said something to his old man but apparantley he didn't.Surprised me.Had to give him his props for that one.

Oh yeah he will stand up and take the time that's for sure there's no way he'd ever flip while his father is alive

That raises an interesting "what if," though. His father's in his 80's now. Say the old man dies a year or two into Junior's sentence. I wonder if he'd consider it then.

I personally doubt it. And I really think it's all moot anyway. I don't think he knows a fucking thing about the current administration, so I doubt the Feds would be inclined to offer him anything. Although there's always the remote possibility that he knows something about ancient Philly business.

Agree with everything PB, since his imaginary skipper position got take from him I suspect he's been out of the loop, especially with his indictment. Everyone knows Crea is boss but doubt he knows UB or Consig after Caridi supposedely got bumped down. I'm from sunny England so what do I know

You do just fine, Tommy Boy .

Its NEVER going to work out well when you bring in an outsider to 'run' a crew.

Scarfo Jnr was from Philly. EVERYONE knew his old man asked a favour to Vic to get him straightened out.

He wasnt FROM Nrth Jersey and everyone knew his story.

He got his stripes from Vic but Crea didnt shelve the guy.
So he got his badge as a favour, a bump from Vic but was STILL a player under Crea. So give this guy his due. His family may've gotten him a start, but he's earnt the badge and at this stage looking to do close to life and holding tight.

Point being, the guy deserves respect, in that life. For whatever thats worth.

And right now. Its all he's got left. And alot of other guys caved alot easier than him. And thats worth noting.

When was Caridi bumped down from consig? I thought Joe Caridi and crea were were working out pretty good.. And does anybody know why Crea bumped him down??? I wonder what Luchese guy will flip next so we can find out who the actual UB and new consig are!!i

Plus they'll be more pictures of unknown members. YES!!! Winning#

Great post I agree. Also as PB and others have said, just because Amuso brought him into that family doesn't mean anything, him sticking around after means he's probably not as despised as lots of people think. He is going to be sitting around for a while though now...

Yeah, Mikey. That's pretty much how I see it .

As someone who has done time before it's such a shame to rot in a cell on this gorgeous weekend

It sucks on a rainy day, too .

It does suck but it sucks more on christmas eve.

I never really minded the holidays, the real stress is wondering who is banging your girl..

....Isn't that the truth!

Friday, July 11, 2014

Don Manno Gets His Life Back


By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net


Don Manno sat in a restaurant at the Cherry Hill Mall one day last week eating a piece of salmon and talking about the future.

But the past, the immediate past, kept intruding into his conversation.

It was one week exactly from the day a jury in U.S. District Court in Camden had given him his life back. Manno was calm, relaxed and philosophical about the experience. He had beaten federal prosecutors in a grueling six-month trial in which his freedom and future as an attorney were on the line.

It shouldn't have come to that, the veteran defense attorney said.

"I think the federal prosecutors thought they were going to teach us all a lesson about how to practice law," Manno said. "I don't need them to tell me how to be a lawyer. I did nothing wrong. If a jury had questioned what I did then I might think differently. But federal prosecutors aren't going to tell me how to be a lawyer."

That was as close as Manno, 68, came to displaying any of the anger and bitterness that lingers from the FirstPlus Financial fraud case in which he was ensnarled. For the most part, he was sanguine, profusely thanking and praising his wife Rita and his grown daughters Kimberley and Rebecca for helping him through an ordeal that, he says, will make him a better lawyer.

"I think I always had the ability to relate to my clients, to understand intellectually what they were going through," he said. "But now I think I have an emotional understanding. When you get a knock on your door at six in the morning and they take you away in handcuffs, you have a different understanding of the process."
Manno, like most of the defendants in the multi-million dollar fraud case, was quickly released on bail, but that didn't make the experience of being arrested and carted out of his house in front of his wife any less disconcerting.

"The humiliation factor alone can be overwhelming," he said.

The indictment came down in November 2011. For the better part of three years it has been the focus of his life. For the past six months -- the trial started in January -- it dominated. Manno's decision to represent himself added another layer of pressure and tension to the situation. But he says now it was the right move.

Last week, for the first time this year, he was in court representing someone other than himself.

"I had a client with a case in municipal court in Camden" said Manno, himself a former federal prosecutor whose criminal practice has revolved primarily around Superior and Federal Court matters. "I was happy to be there," he added with a laugh.

Given the alternative, that was understandable.

"I'm 68 years old," he said. "If I had been convicted and gotten, say, 15 years, that would have been a life sentence."

Instead, he walked out of court a free man after a jury acquitted him and two other attorney co-defendants, finding them not guilty of all the charges they faced and essentially rejecting the government's contention that they were part of a massive fraud conspiracy orchestrated by mobster Nicodemo S. Scarfo and his business partner Salvatore Pelullo.

Scarfo, 49, the son of jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scrfo, was convicted of all 25 counts he faced. Pelullo, 47, was convicted of the 24 counts lodged against him. Brothers John and William Maxwell were also found guilty. John Maxwell was the CEO of FirstPlus. His brother, an attorney, was hired as special counsel at $100,000-a-month.

All were part of what the government said was the systematic looting of FirstPlus, a troubled Texas-based mortgage company, of more than $12 million. Most of the money went to support the lavish lifestyles of Scarfo and Pelullo.

Manno, who for years was the younger Scarfo's criminal defense attorney, said he couldn't feel sorry for his former client or for Pelullo who clearly emerged in both the prosecution's case and in the defense arguments Manno used at trial as the man pulling the strings in the fraud.

"It was about greed," Manno said, "about wanting a lot of money fast and not working for it. It was like Cory Leshner (a former Pelullo associate who testified for the prosecution) said. It wasn't about growing the company. It was about getting cash to Sal Pelullo as fast as possible."

Scarfo, Manno believes, "was blinded by the vast amounts of fast money for no work." He said Scarfo had rejected his warnings about the nature of the business transactions Pelullo was instituting, particularly a bank fraud built around a phony mortgage application filed by Scarfo's wife Lisa.

Lisa Murray Scarfo pleaded guilty prior to the start of the trial. She is awaiting sentencing. So is John Parisi, Scarfo's cousin. Both were sucked into the scam, Manno believes, because of the greed and the indifference of Pelullo and Scarfo.

"It's sad," Manno said, "the tragedy that is the Scarfo family."

It's easy and there's some justification for pointing to the elder mob boss, Little Nicky, and fixing blame. But there was more to it than that, Manno said.

"The tragedy that he (the younger Scarfo) brought to other people is overwhelming," said Manno. "He is his father's son. To a very real extent, he suffered because of his name (a point made again and again by the defense), but he brought a lot of this on himself. He's not a pure victim here."

Manno clearly sees himself as one of the people Scarfo dragged into the FirstPlus quagmire. He argued during the trial that he knew very little about what was going on inside the company and that advice he offered to both Pelullo and Scarfo as an attorney was ignored. Often, he told the jury, they lied to him.

Manno used one of the government's own tapes to effectively make that point. An FBI wiretap recorded a conversation between him and Pelullo in which Manno sounded both shocked and dismayed over a plan to lie about Lisa Murray Scarfo's income and employment on a mortgage application for a $715,000 home she and Scarfo were buying outside of Atlantic City.

The mortgage was arranged in part through a FirstPlus subsidiary. Scarfo's name never appeared on any application.

"Are you fuckin' crazy?" Manno is heard asking Pelullo on the tape.

In another phone call, which Manno said the FBI had not recorded, he and Scarfo got into it over the same issue and, Manno said, he warned Scarfo that he was potentially committing bank fraud.

"Let me worry about that," he said Scarfo told him.

Scarfo in fact may have the next 30 years to do just that. He and Pelullo, each with two prior federal convictions, will likely face sentencing guidelines in the 30-year to life range when they appear before Judge Robert Kugler for sentencing in October.

Manno says he hopes to have his law practice up and running full speed by that point.

"My fees are going to be a little bit higher," he said only half joking, adding that he had worked for nearly a year without any income. His only client was himself.

His decision to represent himself, he said, was the right one. No one else, he believes, could have presented his case to the jury. It was personal. And despite the vindication that came with the jury foreman declaring "not guilty" to each of the five counts he faced, Manno still carries the scars of the experience.

"I was disappointed in the government," he said. "I think the case they put on was intellectually dishonest. I was really troubled by some of the mischaracterizations that were used to justify the charges."

There was no way, Manno said, that he or lawyers David Adler or Gary McCarthy should have been indicted. And the jury verdicts exonerating them, while allowing Manno and the others to say, "See. I told you so," doesn't take the sting out of what they had to go through.

Adler handled many SEC filings for FirstPlus, filings that were based on false information provided by Pelullo. McCarthy was involved in setting up business transactions that again were part of Pelullo's fraud scheme, according to the government's case.

"You know the prosecution tries to hide behind the fiction that the grand jury indicted us," Manno said. "You know that's bullshit. The prosecution gets the indictment it wants. The grand jury is just a rubber stamp. The government said they had a obligation to try the case. Bullshit. The government has an obligation to be right."

While he didn't agree with every defense argument, Manno said he did subscribe to the overarching defense contention that the prosecution had taken a white collar fraud case and tried to make it an organized crime prosecution in order to sell it to the jury.

"The only criminal organization was the one Pelullo and Scarfo had set up," he said. "There was no mob in this."

He also said he thought that another reason he, Adler and McCarthy were charged was because Scarfo, Pelullo and the Maxwell brothers were offering a defense that said in part they had depended on the advice of their lawyers for everything they did within the company.

Again, Manno said, the prosecutors and investigators had an obligation to base the charges on facts and evidence, not on prosecution strategies. Defense attorneys defend, he said, using any and every legitimate legal tactic. But the prosecution, when the system is working the way it should, has to focus on finding the truth.

If the prosecution does that, then the system works, regardless of the verdict.

This time, Manno believes, the system worked despite the prosecution.

Over dessert, a small pecan pie custard and a cappuccino, Manno again returned to his family and what they had done for him. He estimated that he had presented his opening and closing dozens of times in his family room to his wife, daughters and sons-in-law. There was a large screen for his power point presentation. There were questions and questions and more questions. Each session, he believes, made him a better defense attorney for his client. Each session made the story he wanted to tell to the jury clearer, simpler and more easily understood.

"I was just the mouthpiece," he said. "They're the ones that made it work.

"`What are you trying to say?' they would ask me.`What's the point? Talk to the jury like they're people, not other lawyers.'"

It was all good advice. The results speak for themselves. He has his life back. And, he believes, he's an even better lawyer because of it.

George Anastasia can be contacted at George@Bigtrial.net

Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/2014_07_01_archive.html#s73UhqRWLQxq4FcE.99

( jersey). Im sure ralph asked the higher ups, what the fuck is he meeting with scarfo for, it makes no sense. Ny then says, whatever, meet with us directly, north jersey now has a new capo. I highly doubt anything changed, perna just has the title.

What title? There's no such thing as the Boss of Jersey in that family. That's newspaper nonsense.

The Pernas are in the upper echelon of that crew, no doubt. But everything they do goes through Joey G right back to Pelham Manor.

These guys are complete morons. Getting 20 years off some fraud. There's better ways to do it than risking your life in a cell.

Then again, if your last name is scarfo, you're probably screwed if you're committing any crime at all.

There you go. Definitive answer. Close the thread .

Pb
You are my bronx guy,lol
Scarfo jr was a captain and really had no authority over the north jersey crew.
Ralph perna was bringing the envelopes and probably beefed about having scarfo jr involved since he wasnt a north jersey guy( originally). The bronx conceded to Perna's logic and made him official capo of jersey( not boss). Im sure Ralph brings an envelope to Joey g. I agree. That said, ralph is a captain.
That was the same title anthony acceturro held back in the 80's.

Okay, it's semantics. But you know as well as I do that there are people on these boards who believe in that "Boss of Jersey" nonsense. My being a Bronx guy has nothing to do with it. I don't get into those geographical pissing contests. It's not my style, and I don't come here to argue.

That's why you'll never see me arguing about Philly or Chicago or anywhere else. But geography aside, Jersey is an extension of the Bronx power base through Joey G. He's the other guy's conduit, and he's the heaviest guy in Jersey by extension. Even though he lives in friggin Westchester .

Its all good PB, no argument on my end, i really enjoy your insight.
Where does " hooks" fit in ? I always thought jersey reports to him.

Same difference. Those guys are Stevie's coomps all their lives. But this time of year you can't get Hooks off the golf course .

WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 2014

Leonetti Rips Uncle, Says Cousin Didn't Have A Chance
By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

Defense attorneys for Nicodemo S. Scarfo said repeatedly during his federal fraud trial that Scarfo,
49, was targeted for prosecution because of the reputation and notoriety of his father, jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo.

The jury, of course, saw it differently, convicting the younger Scarfo of all 25 counts he faced in the looting of FirstPlus Financial, a Texas mortgage company.

But now another voice has weighed in in Scarfo's defense. It's not a defense of what he did, but rather an explanation for how he ended up where he did. And it's also a plea for some consideration from Judge Robert Kugler when he sentences Scarfo in October.

The younger Scarfo never had a chance, said his cousin, mobster-turned-government witness Philip Leonetti.

"He's really not a gangster," Leonetti, 61, said in a telephone interview with Bigtrial this week. "His father had him under his spell...I used to tell him, 'Nicky, get away from these guys.' And when he was talking to me, he would agree' But then he would talk to his father and..."


The words trail off, but the point is clear. Leonetti, the one-time underboss of the Scarfo crime family, followed his cousin's trial from afar.

He has been living in another part of the country with a new identity since his release from prison in the early 1990s. Considered one of the best mob witnesses to ever take the stand, Leonetti testified at nearly a dozen trials following his own conviction, along with his uncle and a dozen others, in a 1988 racketeering-murder case.

"I was very good at doing some bad things," Leonetti said of his life in the mob and under his uncle's influence, "but it's not who I was."

Leonetti's decision to cooperate sent shockwaves through the underworld. Among other things, his defection was a major factor in the decision of Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, the Gambino crime family underboss, to flip and help the government convict mob boss John Gotti a few years laterr.

Gravano, however, couldn't stop being Sammy the Bull and after his release from prison returned to drug dealing. He ended up back in jail. Leonetti on the other hand has carved out a new and better life for himself and his family, far removed from the underworld where he was once a major player.

Life, he says, has been good.

He wishes his younger cousin had the chance to experience it.

"There is so much more to see and enjoy," he said. "Those guys in South Philly don't appreciate or understand that. They would say that I'm the sucker now because I'm living a normal life. But I was the sucker back then when I was in the mob."

Cynics of course, and there are many, say Leonetti's motives were financial and based on self-preservation. For years sources have said that the government allowed him and his mother Nancy, Scarfo's sister, to take more than $1 million with them into the Witness Security Program. The money had been stashed in a hidden safe in Scarfo's apartment on Georgia Avenue in Atlantic City.

"Sure, his life is good," said one mob source. "My life would be good too if I had a million dollars to rebuild it. Give me a break!"

Leonetti rolls with the criticism, saying there are more important things to focus on. He said he was fortunate to have the opportunity to change his life. He doesn't regret his decision to cooperate and testify for the government and he said he would urge his cousin to do the same. The problem, however, is that Nicodemo S. Scarfo, even if he had the inclination, may not have enough information to make a deal.

"Anything he could do to help himself, he should do," Leonetti said. "That's what I would tell him. I would tell him to cooperate and save as much of his life as he can. Don't be a sucker."

And don't, he added, worry about what your father is thinking.

"My uncle is an evil guy," said Leonetti, who confessed to his own involvement in 10 murders while

a member of the Scarfo crime family. "He's no fuckin' good. You don't know how evil he is."

That's the message, Leonetti said, that he would like to convey to the judge before he passes judgment on his cousin.

"I wish they had called me as a witness," he said. "I would have told the jury."

But unless you've lived it, he added, it's difficult to understand. Both he and the younger Scarfo grew up under the dark shadow cast by Little Nicky, a psychopathic mob boss who was considered one of the most violent mob leaders in America during the period from 1980 through 1989 when he controlled the Philadelphia mob. The elder Scarfo, 84, is serving a 55-year sentence for racketeering and murder. His earliest parole date is 2033. He will likely die in prison.

"Nicky was a kid then," Leonetti said of his cousin during the violent 1980s. "He didn't want to get involved. But his father would badger him. A couple of times I remember him crying because his father wanted him to do something. My uncle destroyed his whole family."

Leonetti, who wrote a book Mafia Prince that detailed much of his life in the mob and that blistered his uncle, said he tried to do right by his cousin, but couldn't overcome the influence of the jailed mob boss. (The book was recently released in paperback.)

After he was released from prison -- Leonetti's 45-year sentence was reduced to five years, five months and five days because of his cooperation -- he would occasionally visit Atlantic City, checking in with his grandmother and his cousin.

"He didn't care that I had cooperated," Leonetti said of the younger Scarfo. "I told him then he should come away with me. He could have been with me right now. Instead, he listened to his father."

Back then, in an interview, Leonetti had predicted that "my uncle is going to get my cousin killed or indicted."

The younger Scarfo had already survived a mob hit in 1989 in Dante & Luigi's restaurant in South
Philadelphia. The Halloween night shooting left him with seven bullet holes in his body, but he miraculously survived.

"He told me he knew it was Joey Merlino who shot him," Leonetti said. "Maybe he could use that to help himself now."

Merlino has always denied that allegation, which surfaced again during the FirstPlus trial when a government expert witness said that federal authorities believe Merlino, now 51, was the shooter that night. No one has ever been charged but the statute of limitation has long since expired in that assault and it's unlikely Scarfo could use that information to help himself, even if he chose to do so.

Scarfo has two prior convictions for mob-related gambling and racketeering. He is also under indictment in Morris County in a massive mob sports betting case tied to the leaders of the Luchese crime family. The younger Scarfo became a member of the Luchese organization after he was shot and had to flee the Philadelphia - South Jersey area in 1989.

His father, in prison with Luchese mob boss Vittoro "Vic" Amuso, arranged to have his son formally initiated into the crime family as an insurance policy against possible future attacks.

But that didn't stop Scarfo from being targeted in a different way, Leonetti said, by members of the Philadelphia mob after he opened a restaurant, Amici, in Ventnor, around 1996.

"Joey Merlino sent guys down there to demand money," Leonetti said. "That's when I tol

Joey Merlino
d him to get away from those guys, to get out of there. He didn't listen."

Some things never change. Gambling, loansharking and extortion have long been the financial lifeblood of the Philadelphia crime family and with several mobsters who were convicted with him and his uncle in 1988 now back on the streets, Leonetti says those activities will continue.

"Look, if Joey Punge (Joseph Pungitore) wants to run a bookmaking operation, let him," Leonetti said of one of his former co-defendants now back on the street. "It's not hurting anybody."

The problem, Leonetti said, is when other organized crime figures try to muscle in on someone else's action. Mobsters like Merlino and George Borgesi, who was recently released from prison, have a reputation for demanding and grabbing. Some of the veteran wiseguys from Leonetti's era, guys like Phil Narducci for example, won't stand for those kind of guzzling or strong-arming tactics, he said.

"Somebody'll get killed," Leonetti said. "They should just let everybody go about their business, everyone make their own money and be honest with one another."

It's a life Leonetti remembers, but has no desire to relive. When he does pop into Atlantic
City, he said, he enjoys walking on the Boardwalk. "I think back to the days when I'd be walking with Saul Kane and talking with him," he said.

Kane, a mob associate who was known as the "Meyer Lansky" of Atlantic City, died in prison where he was serving a sentence for drug dealing. In his obituary Kane had family members list Leonetti as one of his survivors, a clear sign that he had a different view than the elder Scarfo of Leonetti's defection.

"But when I leave Atlantic City, I'm happy to go back to the life I now live," Leonetti added.

South Philadelphia wiseguys are myopic mobsters, he said, who don't see the world beyond Ninth Street. For many, Atlantic City and the Poconos define the edges of their universe. There is, says Leonetti, so much more to the world and so much more to life.

He is just sorry that his cousin will probably never get to experience it.

Leonetti said the only things he knows about the FirstPlus fraud case and Scarfo's co-defendant Salvatore Pelullo are what he's read. He said he knew Pelullo's older brother Artie, but not Salvatore.

"What were they thinking, buying a yacht and a Bentley?" Leonetti asked. "That's not smart."

The government charged that Scarfo and Pelullo had secretly taken control of FirstPlus in 2007 and then used bogus consulting contracts and phony business deals to siphon $12 million out of the company.

The money was used to support a lavish lifestyle that included their purchase of a $850,000 yacht. Pelullo also bought a $217,000 Bentley Continental and Scarfo and his wife Lisa bought a $715,000 home near Atlantic City. All of that and more, including jewelry Scarfo bought for his wife, has been forfeited to the government as part of the verdict in the case.

Now Scarfo is looking at a sentencing guideline range of 30 years to life when he appears before Judge Kugler in October.

Leonetti said he intends to write a letter in support of his cousin, asking the judge to show some leniency. Leonetti said he is one of the few people who truly understands what happened to Nicky Scarfo Jr.

"He wasted his whole life with his father," said Leonetti. "My uncle destroyed people."

Especially those close to him, he added. Mark Scarfo, the youngest of the mob boss's three sons, tried to commit suicide by hanging himself in 1988. He was just 17 years old. He remained comatose and was cared for by his mother and his brother Nicky for the rest of his life. Mark Scarfo died earlier this year during the FirstPlus trial.

The attempted suicide and the elder Scarfo's reaction to it say all you need to know about the mob boss, Leonetti said. His uncle was embarrassed by the incident. "He said if he came out of it (the coma), he was gonna send him away," Leonetti said.

Another source recalled that at the time Scarfo Sr. was on trial with Leonetti and a dozen other mobsters for racketeering. When the source offered Scarfo his condolences, the source said Scarfo brush him off and said of his comatose son, "He's soft."

That, Leonetti said this week, was his uncle -- mean, evil and self-absorbed.

His cousin, Leonetti said again, never had a chance.



Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/07/leonetti-rips-uncle-says-cousin-didnt.html#ByaFQIouodfdfghd.99

Thanks Dellacroce.

Oh this isn't good. With Nick going away now the balance has been upset. Old man Scarfo and Amuso still have sway in their families and don't appreciate especially how Jersey has been treating them. Jr. was their last guy on the outside running things for them. With Vics guys getting out now too it looks like their will be a double war with them trying to take back the family for Vic and also Scarfo using his guys from Philly to help with North Jersey. Bodies will for sure be left out in the streets.

Amuso has absolutely zero control of them today, it's all Crea.

He's trolling, Nicky.

When did Amuso finally lose whatever sway he had? Under De Fede? Daidone? It would have been after Daidone, yeah?

Youre wrong Nicky.

Vic controls Scarfo Jnr, he's a big time captain in Jersey, making millions from this firm in Texas, got hisself a Bentley, and a yacht, and a house on the shore, and...

...

Nup, he's f*****.

For whatever its worth Phil never testified (to the best of my knowledge) against any of the Scarfo south Philly / AC guys. (I believe he did testify against the NJ faction but I'm not positive)
I think Phil did more damage against NY but only from a collaborative stand point.
But his point is right on - his uncle was an absolute fucking maniac and the son never had a chance.

Scarfo has always had friends in NY, plus he is costa nostra to the fucking bone, made since the 50's, that will always bring some kind of respect.

I think the only guy from his own family Leonetti testified against was Santo Idone he was a capo under Bruno and Scarfo

Thanks Sonny Liston. (Fought out of Philly was with Blinky Palermo, absolutely did the old flip flop against Clay)
One mean son of a bitch and a tremendous fighter, died a stone junkie in Vegas I think.

That's odd... Be careful just what you believe huh.

http://articles.philly.com/2000-01-25/ne...rfo-prison-term

No he ratted on his uncle that raised him and many many others.

Yeah he did but he didn't testify against him the only person in his family he took the stand against was Santo Idone.

Didn't testify correct. He's a liar none the less just compare his recent interview with Anastasia to the link I posted. Keeps seeking publicity but is glad he's outta the life

this is a great find. LEONNETTI IS FULL OF SHIT. Someone should email George Anastasia, see if he even cares about spreading lies

Hmm, I just read the Leonetti book and Leonetti claimed Saul Kane named HIM (Leonetti) As his son. Not Nicky Sr. & Jr

I don't understand your beef with Phil as it relates to the Saul Kane article by GA. How is he "full of shit?" Because GA article didn't mention what Phil said in the book? Maybe GA just didn't print that part? Its not like they reprinted the obit.

I know I'm old but again I don't get what you're saying.

Hopefully you're not implying Phil wasn't friends with Saul.

I don't know if Phil is seeking publicity or not. I know he made a lot of money on his book.

People like GA reached out to him to get reactions and comments to Jr.'s (his cousins) trial verdict.

That's a fucked up family dynamic as once again Sr. was an absolute fucking maniac and Phil continues to strike back at him.

That's not him lying and him being full of shit IMO that's his continued hatred for what he harbors and perceives his uncle did to them.

So he lied in the book and in the most recent article. I wonder what else he lied about...

No.. Because he lies in the book and in the article about Kane listing HIM in his obit. When in fact he did not he listed the Scarfos. Big difference. I'm not disputing they were friends back in the day before he flipped I'm am disputing leonetti claim that Kane was okay with that and I'm proving it with the article from G Anastasia's own pen. Leonetti said something years later that was not true and Anastasia went along with it.

In my book they both have no creditability and need to leave it alone already! How can u believe anything he writes or he says?! Fact is YOU CANT!

BTW- if he ever did pop in on Jr., which I doubt, unless he was wired up- do u really think Jr. Would make waves with him? The guys a serial killer and now a fed informant! Of course he would if said "I got no beef. Now I gotta go. " wtf is that? Jr. Is a smart man not a gun slinging thug.

What did he "lie" about in the article?

What did he "lie" about in the book?

I guess the only way to find out would be to pull the entire obituary to see if it was an omission from GA's article.

Either way I don't see tying that small detail into "what else did he lie about?"

I think what's more fair to ask would be "what didn't he divulge" that was to his favor. An example of that is the money he took from the compound on his way out. (Referenced in article but not in book.)

And don't forget Serp from Georgia avenue had that too, he was the one who said on here he knew Phil's family got shoe boxes full of dough out of there.

Anyone who felt the need to question him just remember he was the one who posted that Scarfo's youngest son died literally weeks before anyone in the mainstream media mentioned it (GA)

These guys are low-lives. No one has respect like they use to or fear. Phila's been done they don't have the #'s or the $$$ they used too. One name that's mentioned on here a lot fired a lot of his staff at their establishment for "stealing". Would you steal from a made guy whose done a lot of times and has a few notches under his belt...well these guys did n they don't fear anything!

The were cousins they grew up literally twenty feet from each other.

Yes Phil was a great deal older but again this was a blood family all living in the same compound.

Yes I believe Phil absolutely did "drop in on him" it was the grandmother he was going to see.

Yes I do believe he told his cousin to get the fuck away from his father, absolutely.

And I'm even thinking Phil may have shown back up recently with the passing of his youngest cousin Mark if there was a service.

Who would he be afraid of? Its been established he didn't testify against any of the old family guys (sans one per Sonny Liston) who's going to kill him?

I know he'd have to be careful but again realistically who's going to kill him?

For who for what?

Sr is going to pay off a 500K bounty? I wouldn't take that bet.

Dude do I gotta find the article and quote the lies!? He said Saul Kane named him as his son and gave Scarfo the cold shoulder, not true, LIE

Gram You are right on the money....

Okay dude you go find the article. I understand everyone is entitled to an opinion and most opinions are loaded with emotion. That's fine if you hate Leonetti because he flipped. Just don't paint him as a liar without bringing something more substantial than a obituary from his friend (and make no mistake about I t Saul was Phil friend)

Serp you're the man! Welcome back paisan. I know I speak for a lot of people on here who appreciated your true insight and knowledge. You grew up and lived this, your information was firsthand, I know that. Ducktown back in the day! To you guys "Skinny" will always be Skinny Damanto and never Lawrence's nephew Skinny Joey!

I don't hate Leonetti because he is a rat. I just question the validity in his book and everything he says and his version of history, when he clearly just lied. Here is the link as already posted above in this thread, on this page, http://articles.philly.com/2000-01-25/ne...rfo-prison-term

Just to highlight the important part to make it simple for you

"This" was the paid death notice that appeared in The Inquirer and the Press of Atlantic City over the weekend. The notice listed Scarfo, who is in prison, as one of Kane's "brothers" and Nicodemo Scarfo Jr. as one of Kane's "sons."

So again you hang on an excerpt and don't know what the full obit said. Go find that and that'll settle one small detail. Let me ask you this do you think Saul Kane hated Phil for flipping? Did Phil's testimony hurt Saul Kane in any way? You questioning everything Phil has said based on this isn't enough. So again even if I were to concede this (which I'm not) what else has Phil lied about? Take your time and enlighten everyone.

No its real simple to me Phil hates his fucked up maniac uncle and holds him responsible for tearing apart his cosa nostra and blood family .

Gram lets not loose track that Phil Leonetti also tore down Cosa Nostra by virtue of his cooperation. Also, he ratted only after he was sentenced, not before leading to have us wonder what his true intentions were. Personally, IMO it was because he just couldn't do that large amount of time. He could blame his Uncle all he wants but he loved the power when they were on top. Nicky was crazy but make no mistake about it, he was a stone cold gangster and true Cosa Nostra.

Any person in that life is responsible for tearing apart their blood family, other victims families, and their mafia family when they signed on the dotted line to be involved in a Vicious Circle they call La Cosa Nostra...Point Blank

I understand your point and agree in principle. But that's separate from questioning the validity of everything he has said. And don't forget he's loaded with the emotion that of his three cousins one is dead,one is facing 500 years and the other disowned his family and changed his name. And Phil pins that exactly were it belongs on their father.

I see your point Gram. My question is, why after Scarfo Senior went away was Junior trying to take over and fought with Joey's faction for control? Then on Halloween 1989 Joey shoots Junior. So what does Junior do again, he gets straightened out by the Lucchese. He had several chances to leave his father rule and life. Nicky was in Jail. he could have ran. I think Junior loved the life. What prison time he gets it's all on him.The cousin who is dead may he RIP and the other was smart enough to disassociate with the Scarfo and change his name. I think Leonetti was honest, but as to why he cooperated, was because he couldn't do the time.

I hear where your coming from Gram, i was just saying that every guy in that life has to be accountable for their own actions, you can't put the blame on nobody but yourself when you play that game. Salute Buddy!

Phil flipping (like all others) wasn't exactly altruistic he obviously saved himself from the sentence you mentioned and afforded him a 2nd shot at life with his wife and son. (And yes I do believe he took a boat load of cash too) As it relates to junior I think it was more complicated then what you outlined and what's on the surface. Again this family was communal in that junior was burdened not only with his own family but also his comatose brother, mother and his then still living grandmother all still on Georgia avenue. I guess in a weird sense of duty or loyalty he had to fill his father's shoes I don't know, I'm just speculating. This is were a guy like Serpentine could help because as stated he knows the entire clan. (Probably knows scarfo first wife Mimi? I believe shes still alive and on the elbow too) so yes junior could have flipped way back when but i think that would have been difficult based on what he was saddled with.

Makes sense. Thank you Gram.

I hear ya my friend

Well I do assume people are generally liars when they lie. Obviously I'm not gonna find the obituary but several.independent news sources confirm it did list scarfo, after leonetti said otherwise. On top of that there are various inconsistencies between blood and Honor and mafia Prince. That at very least makes me skeptical about most things he says

Gram Makes some great points here. I'm glad Serpiente is back too.

As for the inconsistencies in the books, it's just how 2 different people recall/perceive an event. Phil didn't have a lot of respect for Nicky Crows act; flimflammer. Nicky Crow was the biggest Money Maker for all of The Scarfo Mob?? That's what the Crow says in his book. And, Philly/ South Jersey aint big enough where the Crow coulda pulled off all the shit with the jewelery store Kuggerands, brass wire gold bars nonsense without being shut down right away. Granted, it was the 70s but not the fucking dark ages. Jewelers row is a couple of blocks. So that's a bit of an embellishment on his part. I'm sure he was good at scams, but he got caught so he wasn't that great.

Let's be realistic, Philip Leonetti embellished a bit in his book. All of us do when we recall stories. But, I think his main focus was to let everyone know how fucked up his uncle was. Just like Dom Montiglio did with uncle Nino.


There are alot of stories around about Phil being a tough SOB and really enjoying (outwardly) his status. But, no one knows what goes on behind closed doors. Scarfo was a fucking maniac. You think his sister/phil's mom didn't get reminded every minute of everyday by Scarfo Sr. what he was doing for his blood family? You think her "no-show" job at the Local was given to her no-strings-attached? He probably made her kick up. LCN!!

Sr. had his hooks in Phil when he was 8-9 years old. If you started to manipulate your kids at that young age, and all they were surrounded by was Uncles in LCN (Piccolos), you can fucken bet your kids gonna be that person.

Are you guys referring to this obit and it's retraction? Just copy and paste


http://web.caller.com/2000/january/29/today/national/7295.htmlSaturday,

January 29, 2000
Mobster's obit outlines his loyalty

Associate of 'Little Nicky' lists false family members
Associated Press


ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - A mobster who died while serving time for drug trafficking got the last laugh - with his obituary.
Saul Kane, 65, a former associate of Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, died Thursday of respiratory problems linked to a heart condition.
Kane, who was serving a 25-year prison term in Louisville, Ky., had his family deliver a special death notice to newspapers: It listed the imprisoned Scarfo as his brother and Scarfo's son as one of his own sons. The notice was published Saturday in The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Press of Atlantic City.
Kane was convicted in the drug case in 1987 and sentenced to 95 years in prison, in part because he refused to give authorities information about Scarfo. The sentence was later reduced.
"What he's saying is that he was loyal to the end," the investigator said. "What he's saying is that, unlike some others, he wasn't a rat."

Whip his sister lived in the other house cos those two were estranged from each other.All the years except when we were real young did i ever see them talk, or sit out front together.Sitting out front of your house on folding chairs was big in that community,sort of like the dinner table....

Ah Gram thats cos we share some of the same old friends.
But thank you, good to have the time.We are redoing a lot of infrastructure down here ,so i am cashing in.
The building boom is gone...

Nickywhip good post and I agree w a lot of points you made but.honestly Caramandi seems a lot more believable then Phil and he probably was one of if not the.biggest earner for Scarfo at some point in time. Look at Madoff, etc... a flim flam guy w a license to steal and collect street tax... he was definitely generating some serious $$

Yo Serp AC needs an envelope taking mayor like Matthews again that'll turn it around! Seriously though I hate to hear the old girl is on the down slope again. What a great old town and I hope it somehow reinvents itself again. Too bad sports book got shot down that would have helped IMO. After conventions Vegas thrives on super bowl final four and football season in general.

nice post

amen

your wrong sonny. the bentley was sals and the boat belonged to a company. Jr never traveled on the boat. period.

your wrong sonny. the bentley was sals, nicky had an audi and the boat belonged to a company. Jr never traveled on the boat. period.
_________________________

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014

Scarfo, Pelullo, Maxwells Seek New Trial In FirstPlus Fraud Case
By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

They want a do over.

And if they're granted a new trial, they don't want any mention of the mob.

That's the essence of a 72-page motion filed by lawyers for Salvatore Pelullo and joined by lawyers for Nicodemo Scarfo and brothers John and William Maxwell asking Judge Robert Kugler to overturn their convictions and order a retrial in the FirstPlus financial fraud case.

A hearing on the motion and the government's response is set for Monday. Sentencings, which were originally scheduled for Oct. 21, 22 and 23, have been moved to January for all four defendants.

The defense motion is built around the argument that organized crime involvement was improperly and inaccurately introduced into the fraud case and created undue prejudice for the defendants. Lawyers for the Maxwell brothers have also filed separate motions raising issues specific to their clients. John Maxwell, for example, argued again that he was only following the advice of professionals hired by the company and had no direct knowledge of the scam.

Kugler rejected similar arguments that were filed by the defense both before and during the lengthy six-month trial.

While it's unlikely the judge would reverse himself, the filings set the stage for a continued appeal on what was major defense argument: the government created undue prejudice by introducing the spectre of organized crime in a case that had no proven mob connections.

The evidence in the case failed to conform to the picture painted for both the judge in pre-trial arguments and for the jury during the trial, Pelullo's court-appointed lawyers Troy Archie and Michael Farrell argued in their motion.

The "unsubstantiated allegations made the defendants criminals in the jurors' minds before the trial even started," the lawyers wrote. They argued that the prosecution relied on "gossip, hearsay, stereotypes, innuendo, appearance and image" rather than evidence in its attempt to present a case in which it was alleged that the defendants "had pilfered a public company in order to aggrandize the mob's wealth."

Scarfo, 48, and Pelullo, 46, were convicted of orchestrating the behind-the-scenes takeover of FirstPlus Financial Group in May 2007. The troubled Texas-based mortgage company was then looted, the government alleged, through bogus consulting contracts and straw business purchases that resulted in $12 million being siphoned out of the company.

Among other things, the prosecution alleged that the money was used to support the lavish lifestyles of Scarfo, the son of jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, and of Pelullo.

Those life styles included fancy cars -- Pelullo bought a $217,000 Bentley Continental -- expensive homes and a yacht (valued at $850,000) that was christened "Priceless."

The scam began to unravel in April 2008 when the FBI conducted a series of raids in New Jersey, Philadelphia and Texas. the raids targeted the FirstPlus offices in Irving, Texas, and the offices of businesses set up by Scarfo and Pelullo in Philadelphia and in the Atlantic City area. Pelullo's home in Elkins Park and Scarfo's $715,000 home in Atlantic County were also hit.

The government alleged among other things that Scarfo fraudulently obtained a mortgage for that home through the FirstPlus scam. Scarfo's wife, Lisa Murray-Scarfo, pleaded guilty to a mortgage fraud charge and is awaiting sentencing. Several other co-defendants also pleaded guilty prior to the start of the trial.

Scarfo and Pelullo were each found guilty of more than 20 counts, ranging from racketeering conspiracy and fraud to money-laundering and obstruction of justice. John Maxwell, the CEO of FirstPlus, and his brother, William, a lawyer hired by the company, were also convicted of racketeering conspiracy and related offenses. Three other defendants, including Scarfo's longtime criminal defense attorney Donald Manno, were found not guilty.

The trial opened in January and the verdicts were delivered on July 3.

The indictment handed up in the case also listed the elder Scarfo and Luchese crime family boss Vittorio "Vic" Amuso as unindicted co-conspirators. Both are serving lengthy federal prison terms and were inmates together in Atlanta at the time the scam was hatched.

But in the motion for a new trial, lawyers argued that there was no evidence -- other than Scarfo's familial tie to the his father -- to back up the government's claim that the mob was involved in the FirstPlus takeover.

"The Government has been allowed to visit the sins of the father upon the son," the motion reads in part, adding that the spectre of organized crime "infected the trial" and created an undue prejudice.

The defense said that the investigation began as an organized crime probe, but said when the evidence instead demonstrated that it was really a "garden variety white collar fraud," the government continued to promote it as a mob case, using organized crime references and allegations in wiretap affidavits, pre-trial motions and in arguments to the jury. The defense argued that those references and unsubstantiated claims created the unfair prejudice that tainted the case and that should result in the convictions being thrown out and a new trial ordered.

"The problem is that the Government refused to let go of the LCN/Scarfo fixation," the lawyers argued. "Instead of simply altering its theory to focus on the alleged FPFG fraud, the Prosecutors shoehorned their theory into an LCN mold that simply didn't fit."

George Anastasia can be reached at George@bigtrial.net.



Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/10/scarfo-pelullo-maxwell-brothers-seek.html#EuIiUT8z6vPj4jq4.99

Undue prejudice my ass .

These assholes got convicted on mountains of evidence. They didn't have a prayer, regardless of whether of not this was labeled a "Mafia" trial.

Ya theyre grasping at straws, as the article above states they tried this motion to have the mafia angle barred from being mentioned before and during the trial and it was shot down both times, no reason that it wont be shot down now.

color me naive with this question, but what determines that? is there an actual textbook definition or is it a subjective thing? i mean, regardless of guilt & evidence, there's a bias dangling in the air which impacts the potential for credibility.

im not quite sure what your getting at, but for example in the nicodemo trial the defense was able to pass a motion to bar the prosecution from mentioning the mob because they didn't have any evidence that the crime had anything to do with OC, whereas in the firstplus trial there was evidence of mob involvement. but what it comes down to is the judges decision and your right majority of judges are far from unbiased .

And all I was trying to say was that the evidence was OVERWHELMING. They could have labeled them boy scouts instead of wiseguys and it wouldn't have made a bit of difference.

oh absolutely, the feds couldn't have had a more solid case.

i read the indictment, these guys had no shot (pellulo and scarfo). they had them tailed for years.

but

i get what they are doing. you have to try something. if youre going to hell why lay down on the way?

the lawyer that got off had a good argument. the tapes actually help him. he advised against lying on the mortgage and got off. maxwell maybe? i didnt follow to closely. not a philly guy. they remind me of caricatures. they got film crews in social clubs while guys are playing cards and NOT WORKING.

can you imagine a film crew going in the ravenite or the triangle or palma boys?

Of course. You have to exhaust your appeals. I'd do the exact same thing. But it won't make a difference.

Why didn't they just plead out if there was that much evidence? Both are relatively young, it's not like they are octogenarians fighting for what's left of their lives here.

Exactly.
I keep trying to tell people on here: 90% of people criminally charged in Federal Court end up with a plea deal or a guilty verdict. The US A's office doesn't waste time putting a case on someone unless they are confident they won't look like assholes at trial. That petty shit is for States' Attorneys Offices. Ligambi et. al. was a RARITY. And they still got a pound of flesh out of Massimino and Staino.

Well, if you noticed, a lot of people got all giddy when the Feds lost a few in a row. Jurors are tired of rats and blah blah blah. And that may very well be true. But the Feds have been batting over .900 at trial for two hundred years.

And that stat is not going to change in the long run. The Feds stack the deck in their favor, the law of averages will always favor them, and they'll always beat you nine out of ten times at trial.

I agree might as well go down with a fight and maybe they get lucky on a technicality, maybe they stretch it out for a few years and witness or two dies or forgets their testimony.

Remember this case many years ago,

http://articles.latimes.com/1988-08-27/news/mn-888_1_mob-trial

Apples and oranges. That case was one for the ages .

Nicky Scarfo Jr. will come out of jail a little old man. Unless of course he rats.

But, number one, I doubt he'd do that to his father.

And number two, I doubt he has anything to trade. He doesn't know shit about the New York Luccheses or the administration.

And that's a big misconception about rats, that the Feds will take just anyone. Those pricks only want you in their program if you have someone big to trade. And I doubt Nicky Jr. has anything of value to trade for his freedom (but like I said, I doubt he'd rat anyway).

Could you see the letter SR would write to his mother if his son flipped???? That would be VERY colorful writing!

agreed. and maybe, just maybe if Pellulo didnt make a mockery out of the whole thing the feds may have agreed to not mention the mafia.

but why wouldnt they. they got pellulo going to atlanta to see Sr. and calling and mailing. make sure you help uncle vic etc. it was your typical mob bust out just on a bigger scale.

Jr. was in a tough spot. easy to say he shouldve left the life. no one knows what it was like.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2014

Judge Losing Patience As FirstPlus Appeals Continue
By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

Salvatore Pelulluo and Nicky Scarfo Jr. used their mob connections to intimidate and silence officials at FirstPlus Financial Group while setting up and carrying out the multi-million dollar looting of the Texas-based company, federal prosecutors contend.

And for that reason, they argue, evidence demonstrating ties to La Cosa Nostra were legitimately presented to the jury during FirstPlus fraud trail and should not be grounds for dismissing the convictions that were delivered back in July.

Scarfo and Pelullo "allowed various FPFG officials to learn of (their) affiliation with organized crime," Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D'Aguanno wrote in a 103-page response to a defense motion asking that the convictions be dismissed and a new trial ordered.

"That knowledge caused those officials to refrain from challenging Pelullo's and Scarfo's control of the company" and allowed Pelullo and Scarfo to carry out the "takeover and looting of PPFG," the prosecutor wrote.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Kugler has scheduled a hearing for Friday on the defense motion and government's response. Scarfo, Pelullo and brothers John and William Maxwell, who were also convicted, are scheduled to be sentenced in January.

Kugler has dismissed similar defense arguments in both pre-trial motions and during the six-month
trial. It is unlikely the judge would reverse himself, but the motions set the stage for what is likely to be protracted appeals by the defendants, all of whom could be facing lengthy prison terms.

Scarfo, 49, and Pelullo, 47, both have prior federal convictions and could be looking at from 30 years to life. John Maxwell, the former CEO of FirstPlus, and William, a lawyer retained by the company during the scam, do not have criminal records and will probably receive substantially less time.

It also appears the judge's patience is running low with regard to the constant bickering and posturing in the ongoing legal battle. In a brief letter to Michael Riley, Scarfo's court-appointed lawyer, Kugler sounded a bit miffed over a request for an extension of time requested by the defense attorney in order to review the transcript of a recent hearing. Kugler said he was surprised that review had not been undertaken before the defense began slinging its charges in post-trial motions.

"I would have hoped that before attacking the ruling of a court, one would at least review the ruling if for no other reason that to accurately depict what happened," Kugler wrote last week. "But that seems to be a theme here."

All four defendants have joined in motions seeking to have their convictions overturned and a new trial ordered. The principal defense argument is that neither the evidence nor the testimony supported the government's contention that the looting of FirstPlus was an organized crime scheme. Introducing the spectre of the mob, the defense argued, created undue prejudice and denied the defendants a fair trial.

The defense labeled the alleged scam a "garden variety white collar crime." Given the amount of money that was taken -- in excess of $12 million -- that would be quite a garden.

In response to the government's reply brief, Pelullo's lawyers continued to hammer away at the same themes, arguing in a 24-page response filed last Friday that the organized crime allegations, the alleged threats made by Pelullo to FirstPlus employees and the judge's decision to have an anonymous jury "all resulted in a miscarriage of justice."

The defense contends that the prosecution's arguments were both "inaccurate" and "contemptuous" and that the government's conclusions were "unsupportable, unreasonable and often simply ludicrous." That verbal bombardment is expected to continue when the sides square off in person in front of Kugler on Friday.

In its legal brief, the prosecution has argued that there was ample evidence to show that Pelullo and Scarfo used their mob ties to insinuate themselves into the company and to instill fear in any company official who might have raised questions about who they were and what they were doing.

While neither Pelullo nor Scarfo held any position in FirstPlus, the prosecution argued that Pelullo, an Elkins Part businessman with two prior federal fraud convictions, was the "de facto" head of the company after he and Scarfo took behind-the-scenes control by installing their own board of directors in the summer of 2007.

That "figureheard board," D'Aguanno wrote, took directions from Pelullo who was listed as a consultant but who in fact was the "de facto Chief Executive Officer."

Pelullo was described as an "associate" of both the Philadelphia crime family and the Luchese organization, a New York/North Jersey mob family. Scarfo was identified as a "made" or formally initiated member of that organization.

The government's response to the defense motion highlighted several of the key issues raised during the trial, including references to frequent meetings and phone calls in which either Pelullo or Scarfo discussed the FirstPlus scam with Scarfo's jailed father, Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, the former head of the Philadelphia mob.

The elder Scarfo, 84, was serving a 55-year sentence for racketeering and murder in a federal prison in Atlanta at the time. He was visited on almost a monthly basis by Pelullo while the scam was unfolding in 2007 and early 2008, prosecutors said. Scarfo and a fellow prison inmate, Luchese crime family boss Vittorio "Vic" Amuso were named unindicted co-conspirators in the scam.

Among other things, the prosecution contends that Amuso and the Luchese crime family were to share in the looting of the company. This was in part an obligation the younger Scarfo had to the crime family to which he belonged. It also was a payback, authorities contend, for Amuso interceding after the younger Scarfo was shot and nearly killed at Dante&Luigi's Restaurant in South Philadelphia on Halloween night 1989.

The shooting effectively ended any attempt by the elder Scarfo to control the Philadelphia crime family from prison after he was jailed in 1986. Amuso, according to testimony, arranged to have the younger Scarfo formally inducted into the Luchese organization. That membership, according to underworld protocol, made any future attempts on his life unlikely.

Prosecutors contend that one recorded conversation between the two Scarfos in which they discussed "Uncle Vic" sharing in the FirstPlus bounty was a clear reference to Amuso.

The government conceded the defense point that the FirstPlus investigation grew out of an organized crime probe into reports that the elder Scarfo, through his son and with the backing of the Lucheses and other New York mob families, was attempting in 2006 and 2007 to wrest control of the Philadelphia crime family from the anti-Scarfo group that was then in control.

The FirstPlus scam was uncovered during that probe and then became the focus of the investigation, prosecutors said. But providing the jury with the background and genesis of the case did not create undue prejudice and was not grounds for dismissing the convictions, the government argued.

Evidence of mob involvement, D'Aguanno wrote, "was also relevant to prove how the fraud was successfully concealed and to rebut the defense that the takeover...was a legitimate, albeit aggressive corporate takeover."

D'Aguanno cited testimony from a company official who said he attended the celebratory dinner in October 2007 after the Pelullo/Scarfo group had taken control following a shareholders vote that day. The dinner took place in a private room at Del Frisco's, a popular steakhouse in Dallas that Pelullo frequented.

"Pelullo was seated at the head of the table while a violinist played the theme from The Godfather," D'Aguanno wrote. "When the board member asked William Maxwell why Pelullo needed bodyguards, Maxwell explained that Pelullo did consulting work for the mob."

William Maxwell, the prosecutor said, also told the board member that he was working on a legal brief and attempt to have the elder Scarfo's conviction overturned. If he succeed, Maxwell told the board member, he "would be set for life."

"The board member's belief that Pelullo's control of FPFG was backed by (the mob) deterred the board member from contracting law enforcement officials about the defendants' scheme to defraud FPFG," the prosecutor argued.

Evidence introduced during the trial indicated that Pelullo and Scarfo took $12 million out of the company through a series of phony consulting contracts and bogus business deals. The cash was used to finance a lavish lifestyle. Pelullo bought a Bentley Continental for $217,000. He and Scarfo purchased a yacht for $850,000 and Scarfo and his then new wife, Lisa Murray-Scarfo obtained a fraudulent mortgage on a $715,000 home outside of Atlantic City.

Scarfo's wife, who pleaded guilty to a bank fraud charge, and his cousin, John Parisi, who pleaded to a fraud charge linked to one of the straw companies, are scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 17.

The case included hundreds of wiretapped conversations as well as thousands of company documents, including emails which showed, the government contends, that Pelullo clearly was directing the company.

The Maxwell brothers, according to the prosecution, were aware of what was going on and helped expedite the fraud.

The government dismissed John Maxwell's claim that he was only following the advice of legal and financial advisors hired by FirstPlus.

"With respect to the securities fraud conspiracy, Maxwell conveniently ignores the government's evidence which demonstrated that (he) clearly understood that Scarfo and Pelullo were in control of FPFG and that Maxwell knowingly falsified SEC filings to conceal that control," the government's brief reads in part.

As to William Maxwell, who was hired as a $100,000-a-month legal consultant for FirstPlus and who funneled cash to Scarfo and Pelullo through company-financed consulting contracts, the prosecutor wrote that there was "overwhelming evidence of William Maxwell's guilt, particularly from the recorded conversations and his relentless funneling of money from his attorney trust account to Pelullo and Scarfo."

In essence the government contends that while the target was a financial institution, the scam at FirstPlus was nothing more than a mob bustout scheme, similar to what organized crime figures have done for decades after taking over legitimate businesses like bars and restaurants. The bustout entails using the business's credit line to run up exorbitant bills that will never be repaid while at the same time siphoning cash and selling off assets from the company.

"Simply put," D'Aguanno wrote. "the government's evidence overwhelmingly established the involvement of organized crime in the scheme to take over and loot FPFG."

George Anastasia can be reached at George@bigtrial.net.



POSTED BY GEORGE ANASTASIA AT 11:05 AM
TRIAL: SCARFO FIRSTPLUS FRAUD TRIAL

Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/11/judge-losing-patience-as-firstplus.html#eGyup1hcQOrHTwml.99

Anybody heard anything new about the case? Are they going to have a new trial?

Scarfo Jr's lawyers hint at Russian mafia involvement in scam
There might have been some mobsters lurking behind the FirstPlus Financial fraud case, a lawyer for lead defendant Nicodemo S. Scarfo says in legal papers filed recently, but their drink of choice would have been vodka not vino.

In an apparent attempt to distant himself from co-defendant Salvatore Pelullo -- and also get a shot at a new trial -- Scarfo's lawyer Michael Riley has argued that there was an "alternative theory" to the government's organized crime pitch in the high profile case and he was denied the opportunity to present it.

Pelullo, an Elkins Park businessman with two prior fraud convictions and a Ukrainian-born wife, might have been kicking back funds from the multi-million dollar scam to Russian gangsters rather than Scarfo's Lucchese crime family, Riley wrote in a motion filed last month.

"In retrospect the connections to the Russian mob are far more substantial than those with Uncle Vic," Riley argued. The "Uncle Vic" reference is to Vittorio Amuso, the jailed boss of the Lucchese crime family who was named, along with Scarfo's father Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, as unindicted co-conspirators in the looting of FirstPlus, a Texas-based mortgage company.

Riley has argued that the government's failure to disclose a parallel investigation into a group of Ukrainian-born businessmen with possible ties to both Pelullo and the Russian mob denied Scarfo a chance to offer a proper defense in the high profile trial.

The government has labeled Riley's arguments and similar claims by lawyers for Pelullo in a series of post-trial, pre-sentencing motions a fishing expedition that has nothing to do with the case. Prosecutors are scheduled to reply to the defense's latest assertions by Friday. Judge Robert Kugler has scheduled a hearing for July 17.

Riley's motion cited an FBI memo in which an unnamed informant alleged that Pelullo "loans money" to Russian mobsters. The defense attorney said that information about possible links to Russian mobsters would have provided him with an "alternative theory" to the government's position that Scarfo and Pelullo were tied to the Lucchese crime family and used those connections to intimidate officials at FirstPlus and facilitate a behind-the-scenes takeover in 2007.

Authorities allege that Scarfo, 49, and Pelullo, 47, wrested control of the beleaguered mortgage company and siphoned more than $12 million out of the company through bogus business deals and phony consulting contracts.

"The government's failure to disclose the existence of another `mob' or criminal organization with which a financial obligation could have existed, barred (Scarfo's defense) from offering an alternative explanation for unaccounted monies at trial," Riley wrote.

While taking a somewhat different approach, lawyers for Pelullo have argued that the government had an obligation to turn over details of the investigation into brothers Omelyan and Stepan Botsvynyuk because the defense might have used that information to impeach prosecution witnesses and undermine the government's theory behind the FirstPlus takeover.

Two cleaning companies controlled by the Botsvynyuk brothers -- A-Plus Cleaning and U.S. Cleaning -- at one time shared offices with cleaning companies owned by Pelullo. The Botsvynyuk companies did contract work for major department stores, including Wal-Mart, Target and Safeway.

The Botsvynyuk brothers were the target of a federal investigation that began in 2000 and ended with their convictions in 2011 on racketeering and extortion charges. Omelyan Botsvynyuk, 52, was sentenced to life plus 20 years.

Testimony at his four-week trial indicated he beat, threatened and sexually assault workers while forcing then to live in housing he provided and working six- and seven-day weeks with little or no pay. The government contended the workers were told they had to work off debts of from $10,000 to $50,000, the cost of bringing them to the United States.

Riley, Scarfo's lawyer, argued that Pelullo was at least a "subject" if not a target of the Botsvynyuk investigation and that the government had an obligation to disclose that. Riley and Pelullo's lawyer, Troy Archie, have asked for access to debriefing memos and surveillance reports tied to that case. Both lawyers have argued that information in those documents might have to used to mount a defense in the FirstPlus case and that by being denied that information the defendants were denied a fair trial.

John and William Maxwell, two brothers convicted along with Scarfo and Pelullo, have joined in the post-trial motions. John Maxwell was the CEO of FirstPlus. His brother was an attorney hired by the company. Both were convicted of helping Scarfo and Pelullo loot the company. Sentencings in the case have been put off until the end of July.

Scarfo has another battle looming in New Jersey where he remains under indictment in a organized crime-linked bookmaking case. Dubbed "Operation Heat," the investigation focused on a multi-million dollar sports betting and loansharking operation controlled by the New Jersey branch of the Lucchese crime family.

Scarfo was one of more than 30 mobsters and mob associates indicted in the case back in 2010. Six major defendants, including one-time boss Matthew Madonna and former Scarfo allies Ralph V. Perna and his sons Joseph and John Perna, pleaded guilty last month and are to be sentenced in August or September.

To date, 12 defendants in that case have pleaded guilty. Four others have died since being indicted and 18 others, including Scarfo, as still scheduled for trial.

Scarfo is representing himself in that Morris County-based case. But with a potential sentence of 30 years to life for his FirstPlus conviction, Operation Heat is not a priority for the one-time mob scion.

"He's got more to worry about," said a source familiar with the Morris County investigation.

http://www.bigtrial.net/2015/07/scarfos-lawyer-points-to-russian-mob-in.html#6j3qxuRPKV5frw4s.99

30-year term for Scarfo in fraud case


Posted: Tuesday, July 28, 2015, 3:11 PM


Reputed mobster Nicodemo Scarfo Jr. - son of Philadelphia's former mob boss "Little Nicky" - is heading back to prison, this time for 30 years, following in his father's footsteps.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler noted that Scarfo's conviction, for racketeering and conspiracy, was his fifth, and the second in the federal system, which warranted a lengthy term. Scarfo was convicted last summer of committing bank fraud and related offenses. Three others convicted with him also face sentencing this week.


"They stole every dollar they could get their hands on," Kugler said. "It got so bad that they had to take a loan out to pay employees."

In addition to three decades behind bars, Scarfo was ordered to pay more than $14 million in restitution for money that Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D'Aguanno said was stolen from the Texas-based First Plus Financial.


Scarfo, 50, of Ventnor and the others were convicted after a six-month trial for the fraud that authorities said they operated from South Jersey.

On Tuesday, Scarfo's attorney, Mike Riley, suggested the bank scam did not result in permanent damage to victims. The judge disputed that.

Kugler said stockholders lost out because the thefts, with Scarfo controlling financial matters with an "iron fist," forced the company into bankruptcy.

Asked whether he wanted to address the court, Scarfo responded, "No thank you, your honor."

Apparently unfazed by the long sentence, Scarfo smiled as he was escorted out of the courtroom by federal marshals. There were no family members there to speak on his behalf. Officials said he has a 7-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter.

D'Aguanno argued for the long sentence to serve as a deterrent to others, and to stop Scarfo who he said has spent most of his adult life in jail, on probation, or committing crime.

In 1988, Scarfo served time for assault, in 1993 for racketeering, in 1996 for illegal possession of a knife, and in 2002 for bookmaking.

While on supervised release, Scarfo began the First Plus Financial scam, collecting $33,000 plus expenses a month as a consultant, D'Aguanno said. There was no indication, D'Aguanno said, that Scarfo did any legitimate work at the firm.

D'Aguanno told Kugler that Scarfo was trained as a mob man by his father, Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo Sr., who is serving a 55-year sentence on similar charges.

In a battle to control the Philadelphia mob after Scarfo Sr. was sent to prison, his son was shot several times. Joey Merlino took control, and Scarfo later started working with the Lucchese crime family in South Jersey, D'Aguanno said.

On Wednesday, codefendant Salvatore Pelullo is scheduled for sentencing for his part in the First Plus Financial scheme. Brothers John Maxwell, First Plus Financial CEO, and William Maxwell, an attorney for the company, are scheduled for sentencing on Thursday.




Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/201507...Av2cpyPcMDLW.99

30 years is crazy!

He and the family totally expected that .
The kids are the ones that are the real losers as always.
I don't get him naming his son after his father and him self.
The only thing that the boy has going for him is that they call him by a (nick name) ...

Man crime just don't pay theses days....

Dam shame that they are using his mothers address in Ventnor some are using the address from the last big pinch in Galloway Twp.

The reporters are so lazy these days they don't check before they put a persons address up that don't have a clue..

You think some of that 30 is because of his surname as well?

30 years.

All of the looters on Wall Street are laughing their asses off.

I don't really feel bad for Scarfo. His choice. I just can't believe how many white collar executives get away with control fraud with slaps on the wrists.

30yrs is a long time to go without women and steak dinners.........hope he made a lot of memories

Get used to it ..It's the way of the world.
You go out and try something ,they will ruin you life for something little if you are connected...

This is his fault. He started this while on supervised release.

I feel bad for him because of his father, but he is 50 years old now.

Scams like this hurt people. Think of the people that lost their jobs so he could loot the fucking thing.

I love that phrase "as a deterrent". To who? Does the electric chair deter murder? Recidivism is what, 75 - 80 percent? So who exactly is being deterred? The 30 year sentence is a joke. I know people who stole 10 as much and got less than 10. The kid fucked up, broke the law, no doubt. But 30?

It's 2015 white collar frauds aren't getting slaps on the wrist anymore. His record and name didn't do him any favors either.

No doubt ! But I hear it's all about guidelines that the judge follows with a repeat offender ,let alone like I said if you are connected they will blow it up !!!

You got that right. Prison is full of white collar guys. Looks like the deterrent sentences ain't working if you read the papers or spend some time locked up and see for yourself.

That's the thing, these prosecutors claim reasons for heavy sentences, when it's your points that determine the time you get. Their reasons have nothing to do with it

How long will he actually do?

Maybe he can appeal!

Let's see, if he does not appeal and chooses to accept his 30 years. He will get roughly 4 years off good time and 3 years off for his 10% supervised release. So basically he will do 23

So, he is 73 when he gets out. Look what Sonny Franzese has done at 90!

The other guy, Pellullo, he must be very upset. He goes next and should expect the same. But you know he was secretly holding out hope he wouldn't get a huge sentence. It's human nature. But now, his world has crumbled

White collar guys are absolutely getting slaps on the wrist...

Or aren't getting prosecuted at all.

Yah your right they sure went light on Bernie.

British, if you ever want to figure out a federal sentence in the US. Here's a guaranteed way.
http://federal-prison.org/sentence-calculator/

Boy, you got that right, Nicky. I know I'd be shitting my britches if I were next up on that chopping block. Ouch!

In one way, I agree. Mob guy defrauds 200k,he gets 20 years. White collar guy defrauds 20 million, gets 7. But let me tell you, there's shitloads of guys doing that 7 and more. Healthcare fraud, mortgage fraud, bankruptcy fraud, money laundering, immigration fraud (yep there is such a thing) and so much more your head would spin.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/...812efc04cb.html

Wow they hammered him!

That's a hell of a sentence.

Serp,

The good old Press of Atlantic City used his Galloway Township house, I posted the article above.

Only because of his name, IMO. Had this been some white collar, WASP businessman, he probably would've gotten a few years and a shit load of fines.

Yeah, good example, the most notorious and absurd white collar theft of all time.

Clearly, I'm not discussing one case, but an entire field.

Well the Press has not had a mob story in a while.
Yes with the address the reporters are bad .I don't think he was in Galloway Twp. 13 years or so.
He was in a place where the houses started in the 800,000.00 range back in 05 ish when he got it .
That was in E.H.T. they have good schools there.
Dam guy was on that phone every time I laid eyes on him...

He got the sentence because of his name and record.

MightyHealthy is right though, to add some perspective not ONE charge has been brought to ANYBODY from the 08 meltdown.

Not one.

And Bernie is the poster boy for how white collar crime is NOT prosecuted. Its a miracle he was ever charged and convicted and certainly zero thanks to authorities. Evidence of his fraud was brought to the SEC in : '99,00,01,05 AND 07 and was ignored. The ONLY way he was caught was when he was on the verge of default to clients in 08 and he confessed to his sons who turned him in. He owed $65 billion. His accountants were a three man team in a strip mall.
So don't say Wall Street or white collar is prosecuted, because it isn't.

damn usually white collar crimes are the way to go.. can steal a ton and not get too fucked..
jr was destined to end up in this position though.. its sad but its the truth.. hope sr's happy that his kid lived up to his standards.. doing life pretty much..
jr seemed really smart surprised he wasn't more below the radar.. but then gain when your scarfos son and a made man youre doomed.

Along time ago me n my friend paid are Chinese food bill with a counterfeit 100 well he handed it they came looking a week later. Crime don't pay man.

Man you are so dead on !!

Bernard Ebbers, Marc Dreir, Samuel Cohen, Allen Stanford, Tom Petters, etc the list goes on. You can brush off Bernie likes it nothing but some people are essentially doing life sentences for white collar crimes.

Nick Jr had it coming. If it wasnt this case he would of just caught another. 30 years is pretty steep though. But i doubt they wanted a Scarfo running the streets and committing crimes any longer then he already was doing it. They finally got the chance to lock him up and throw away the key and they gave it to him big time. And watch, when he is in his 70's and gets released, he will probably get caught up in something again. Its the life he knows, he will never change.. its a shame really.

He did seem smart in some regards, incredibly stupid in others.

He was computer savvy, used encryption, and basically robbed without a gun

But his laundering and flaunting of the money wasnt too bright

Million dollar boats, houses, cars...gonna raise a few eyebrows.

But 30 for a non violent offense?

http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/nation/10-of-the-biggest-ponzi-schemes-in-history/

Well, now that I look at other financial crimes...most of these guys were getting 20 and 30 years so I guess it aint far off

"Some people", the majority of them aren't. There are rich, lesser known, heads of companies and banks who get essential slaps on the wrist for similar crimes. And they arent all highly publicized like those cases mentioned, they're mentioned like once or twice and then passed over.

Besides the argument is moreso that he was sentenced this way because of his name. It shouldn't be "some people". Everyone shoukd be sentenced the same according to there crime, youre cheating people out of life savings, credit, college funds, etc. Yet we see that this isn't the case. A guy is given a 30 year sentence because his name is Nicodemo Scarfo. Whereas its proven that someone convicted of the exact same crime, with a lesser known name is almost guaranteed a lighter sentence, in some country club prison program.

And looking at that list, only half of those listed got 20 years or more. And in all the cases they extorted between the 100-500 million mark. Scarfo &, Pellulo according to the indictment only got about 12 million. There's a clear discrepancy here.

Yeah for the amount, it is certainly out of whack.

I don't think he should have been looking at anything more than 15.

What about Long John's son? Life for 1st offense AND non-violent?

that is another sad case

for pot!

There is a whole lot of people that hold power and should go out of there way and use it right.

Everyone is doing something ,even if it's cheating on taxis.
Everyone is doing something. (not saying dealing weed) but just in general we all live in a glass house . Well at least the one hundred people I hang with ...

Thanks Sinatra and Sonny, agree 100%. You don't get billions in campaign funding without powerful people expecting things in return.

Lack of investigations into fraud after the crisis was a huge mistake and potential disaster going forward.

Like who? You keep saying this but who is stealing millions of dollars and getting light sentences?



Nicky Jr is a career criminal, a made member with multiple felonies to his name. That matters alot, do you not understand how that would factor in big time when it comes to sentencing? The only reason there fraud was only 12 million is because they got caught fast which is typical of Nicky Jr. Also the whole country club prison thing is pretty much bullshit.

They hammered Pelullo too!

http://mobile.philly.com/news/?wss=/philly/news&id=319537311&

wow, RIP Junior and watch you back in the can...

Pelullo wasn't made and didnt have the same history as Nicky Jr convictions wise (as far as I know, I could be wrong) and he got hit with the same sentence.

Johnny J.P. is next and he is thinking 5 years .
This is the first time he has ever been out of his bed.He has never done time in his life.He was a geek type till he hit his twenty's so this will hit him hard in his mid 50's
I guess he is not going to like this...

what did Parisi get caught doing? You never hear much about his role...

All of the big banks, blackjack. There weren't any criminal investigations into mortgage fraud, for one. But that's not really in topic and I don't like talking politics here. Pellulo seems like a huge tool. I bet he'd flip if he could. Prob has no real info.

30yrs for Pellulo is tough.

A non violent crime and his two previous only for fraud (non violent).

30 is effectively life. Seems a tough sentence considering.

@MH. You're right on Pellulo flipping. His only card was Scarfo. What else has he got to offer in rolling? Nothing.

I told you these guys were gonna get scorched two years ago.


Well, you understand the system. It should be the same for everyone. But that's a fucking fairytale. If your name is infamous and makes a case, they're going to try to flip you twice as hard. And when they can't, they see to it that the judge sees the offers that you turned down.


No doubt about that. It's sad.

Horrible for the kids. Not fair to then. I also feel bad for the people at this firm, the ordinary workers, whk lost their jobs so this guy could eat steak dinners and buy stupid boats. I don't feel bad for him. They weren't in debt or gamblers or drug users or anything. Just normal people who got fucked.

People comment on Scarfo being smart etc.

Keep in mind he was wearing this heist on his wrist.
Jewellery, houses, boats etc
Thats fucking rule number in that life.
You wear it, its a matter of time before the Bureau, the IRS, someone, comes knocking..

Have you ever watched MSNBC Money & Greed? Thats basically an entire program based around these scams. There's plenty of them and a select few get over 20 year sentences. You ever heard of Robert Lino Jr? A made guy, a active captain with a criminal history who operated a pump and dump scheme on Wall Street, got 27 years, probably will serve half that before being released, somehow got less than Scarfo, albeit only three years for siphoning off $50 million? And Scarfo Jr. Gets 30 years for $12 million dollars? Do you not understand how his name factored into Scarfo Jr's sentence?

As far as the country club thing being bullshit, I don't think so, but okay.

Great article today in the press about Nicky Jr blending into the AC Suburbs:

http://m.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/ni...7.html?mode=jqm

. He would get leases on office space, create names for the fake businesses. And so on and so on ..But trust me he is no gangster .

He jacked the tile at the esplanade construction site.

Yeah but it was cleared with the admin...Sil gave him "a look"

Haha

Hahah"and dont think I forgot you goin through my fiances fuckin underwear drawer..tht wasnt me that was Paulie you fuckin asshole!"

30 years !!! The punishment does not come close to fitting the crime, its total overkill and much too harsh. I can maybe see 8-10 years.

From what I was told there are guidelines. The guidelines get much worse if you are a repeat criminal. Nick was that and a little more . The guys like Johnny P may get close to the number you posted above ,most likely 5 for him and maybe Nicks wife may get something ,but that would leave the baby with no parents on the outside.

Thats the problem with federal guidlines, they use a point system. Repeat offender, leader of a conspiracy, organized crime, amount of money involved ect.. all add points and increase the sentencing guidlines. For any Blacks that claim white collar criminals get off easy are living in the land of oz. the feds come down very hard on white collar crime. Just watch an episode of american greed and you will get Nightmares for weeks.