Galati Ready To Rat?

Ron Galati Ready To Rat?

I always thought nicedemo would rat but he shows no signs of doing

Too early to say that, Nicodemo will try and beat the rap, if he's found guilty then he will make his mind up then.

I dont think he knows much aside from his fraud business, id think if he was more connected he would be able to get hitmen that would be a little more competent than what he threw out there.... and you are right about niccodemo and his hit was very stooopid as well

If Nicodemo rats, I guarantee that we will finally see Mikey Lance indicted as I believe Lance was his Capo.....

Yeah I agree tommy , he was allegedly involved in the johnny gongs casasanto murder aswel

But he was only the driver, let's say he walks away from this thing with ehhhh,let's just say 10 years...He's still a young man and he would be on the fast track to be apart of the top brass when he gets out, the guy is a earner, you can't take that away from him

He has some really good scams set up there in s philly. Big Pussy never ran these elaborate of scams out of his auto shop

The thing about it is... When your boss sets the example and do 12 years and come out with a smile on his face, how can the underlings do anything less, nobody does time like them merlino guys

Dante,

It's interesting he is reporting that Skinny Joey is the current boss and Uncle Joe the former Boss. Does Roebuck cover the Philly Mob regularly??

Merlino has been the Official Boss all along while Ligambi was the acting boss up until his 2011 indictment.

Yup, Massino changed everything. Take your chances at trial, if you win you go free. If you lose, you ask to see the Judge in his chambers right after the verdict is read. Only in America.

If he is the driver he is just as culpable as the person who pulled the trigger. If convicted he will get life. That said I don't know if the word of one rat is enough anymore. So even if nicodemo flips there is a chance everyone could still walk.

He does cover them regularly.

Absolutely. Nothing to lose by going to trial. He will get the same deal later.

I guess you're unfamiliar with the Felony Murder Statute. If a person dies during the commission of a Felony, it doesn't matter if all you did was drive the crash car, act as a lookout, or pull the trigger yourself. You're all equally guilty under the statute.

That's why that kid Lilo Brancato was looking at life, even though the other guy pulled the trigger. Because he was there for the break-in. That's all that matters. That he was found not guilty is irrelevant. Because if they found him guilty, he would have been looking at thirty years.

[quote=jmack

He does cover them regularly. [/quote]

Thanks Jmack and Dellacroce

PB you nailed it. Take your chances in trial then get off and be with your wife by 10pm when you rat everyone out. Nicodemo is facing a lot of "weird" evidence as the gun was in his car and he for some reason had his car out front when the hit happened but unless someone seen him shoot the guy and if he passes a gun residue test then a jury might not convict him.

This Galati dude is something else though! Getting deer off the road and setting up an accident scene? That is hilarious!!!

It still amazes me that even though he wasn't the shooter (Dom Grande was apparently( that he had the gun in his car. He looked coked out his head on the mug shot tbf

They my let them go just for being stupid.....

They took the cake from the gang that could not shoot straight...

These guys were scott free even if someone ID his Honda.
(as long as there was no trace evidence on Nicodemo person)

I do not think i have ever heard or read anywhere about a hit like this...

NNY78,

According to the Feds, its exactly what Dellacroce stated.

Ligambi has been acting and Merlino Official Boss

galati and older gentleman he wont last in prison .. he may need baseball catchers shin/knee pads to last in graterford... he may give names events times and lots of info....

A sixty three year old mafia associate idolizijg the characters in goodfellas is remarkably pathetic, even for mob standards

Don't rat Galati!

Same thing with the Junior Pagano thing. He pulled the trigger. Ratted on the other guys that were there and they went down for it.

I was thinking the same thing. That is hilarious .

Same with Chris Paciello,he never even went to the house.

Anyone here think these guys were high on something or what? Just looking at it from the outside in man this hit was a mess.

He recently did time and got out for being the driver in the Judy Shemtov slaying. If prison is what you meant by 'the house'.

I agree or really drunk... But probably just really stupid .

No sorry Petro didn't make myself clear,I meant he waited in the getaway car never going up to the Shemtov house. My bad

http://www.cosanostranews.com/2014/08/feds-want-to-flip-galati-to-nail-philly.html

Supposedly this moron hired three dumb asses to take out his daughter's boyfriend and a rival auto body shop owner in Philly, and now all three are going to testify against him. His daughter's boyfriend was shot in Atlantic City but fortunately survived, and the crazy part is they shot at him while she was with him! The article also says that his daughter is now cooperating with the FBI as well.

If this guy is really close with Ligambi and some others as law enforcement believes, how are these dunce's the best guys he could get for a hit? This might be just as bad as Nicodemo and the Gino DiPietro hit.

By the way, Galati's daughter, Tiffani, is pretty hot!

She is hot! That's fucked up that they hit him while she was with him though - she could have very easily been hit herself.

That's true. No worries pal.

Galati's daughter is really hot, I bet she has the South Philly attitude too as well

Im from Jersey and I dated both NYC Italian girls/Jersey girls and ONCE a South Philly girl I met at a Knicks at Sixers game (buddies and I took a road trip to see our Knicks), let me tell you the South Philly girl was "unique" man that South Philly attitude is like no where else in the world! (She had a lot of great South Philly LCN stories of the guys in the neighborhood too btw and she even showed me a picture on her cell phone of her and Phil Narducci at Ventura's Greenhouse Tiki bar in Margate at the shore)

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

Galati Prepares For Trial, May Take The Stand

By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

Ron Galati has decided to roll the dice and put his future in the hands of a federal jury that will begin hearing testimony later this month in his murder-for-hire case.

What's more, the South Philadelphia auto body shop owner and wannabe wiseguy is considering taking the stand in his own defense, a move that was hinted at in a motion filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Richardson, the prosecutor in the case.

In the same motion, Richardson alleged that Galati has made frequent payments to two prominent South Philadelphia organized crime figures, mob boss Joseph Ligambi and his nephew George Borgesi, but offered no explanation of what the payments were for.

Galati, 64, faces from 15 years to life if convicted. His apparent resolve to go to trial and perhaps tell his story in his own words to the jury undercuts speculation and media reports that he might cooperate with authorities.

"I don't know anything about anybody," he has reportedly told those close to him.

Prior to the start of a pre-trial hearing this morning, Galati's defense attorney, Anthony J. Voci Jr., said no decision had been made on whether Galati would testify. Voci spent most of the hearing attempting to block the introduction of evidence detailing Galati's alleged prior criminal activities. Voci said that evidence would be highly prejudicial and would make it impossible for his client to receive a fair trial. The prosecution says the evidence should be permitted, but has agreed not to introduce evidence alleging mob involvement.

U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Rodriguez said he would rule on the criminal history evidence motion shortly. The trial, in federal court in Camden, is set to begin Sept. 15.

Galati, dressed in a green prison jump suit, was brought to court this morning by two federal marshals. He is currently being housed in the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia. He has pleaded not guilty to a charge that he hired two hitmen to shoot and kill Andrew "Drew" Tuono last year. At the time, Tuono was dating Galati's daughter Tiffany.

The two hitmen and a third alleged co-conspirator have all admitted their roles in the murder plot and have agreed to testify. Tuono was shot three times outside his Atlantic City home on Nov. 30, 2013. He survived. Tiffany Galati, who was with Tuono at the time of the shooting, may also be a witness for the government.

Galati, a long-time associate of prominent Philadelphia mob figures, is facing two other criminal cases in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia. In one, he is charged with hiring the same hitmen to kill two rival auto body shop owners who he believed were testifying against him in a major insurance fraud investigation.

In the second case, he, his wife, his son and more than a dozen other co-defendants are named in a multi-million dollar insurance fraud scheme. One of his co-defendants is Ligambi's son.

The prosecution in response to a motion filed by Voci earlier, has said it does not intend to introduce any testimony about Galati's alleged mob ties, but reserved the right to address the topic should Galati's defense "open the door" on that issue.

In a pre-trial motion Richardson wrote that, "Although multiple organized crime and `mob' ties exist and are relevant to this case, the Government does not foresee the introduction of this evidence. However, the Government reserves the right to introduce references to the mob and/or organized crime associations and/or activity if through argument, questioning, and/or testimony of the defendant `opens the door' or mentions these topics."

Richardson also noted that prison records indicate Galati spoke with Ligambi by phone on at least three occasions while Ligambi was being held in the Federal Detention Center and being tried on racketeering charges. Ligambi, 74, beat most of those charges in two trials. The remainder of the case was abandoned by the government early this year.

Richardson also wrote that, "On January 28, 2014, two days after Ligambi’s release from FDC Philadelphia following an acquittal and a deadlocked jury, law enforcement surveillance observed Ligambi at the defendant’s business, American Collision. Further, throughout the investigation of this case, it was learned that the defendant made frequent payments to Ligambi and his associate, George Borgesi, through a third party and sometimes twice a week through hand-to-hand transactions at American Collision."

Borgesi, 51, was acquitted in the same trial as his uncle.

Richardson's motion did not offer any explanation for why Galanti may have been funneling money to Ligambi and Borgesi. The mob's alleged role in an earlier Galati insurance fraud scheme that led to his 1995 conviction for fraud was alluded to in witness testimony during the Ligambi/Borgesi trials.

During arguments before Rodriguez today, Voci said the defense would not dispute the prosecution's claim that Tuono was shot by Ronald Walker and Alvin Matthews and that Jerome Johnson, a long-time friend of Galati's, provided the gun and helped set up the hit. All three men are now cooperating witnesses.

But Voci said the reason for the shooting was not what the prosecution claims. Galati, should he take the stand, is expected to deny that he had anything to do with the shooting. Voci also argued that the prosecution should be limited in what additional evidence it can present to the jury about Galati's past criminal activities.

Galati's conviction for insurance fraud in a 1995 case, for example, should not be permitted because rules of evidence prohibit the mention of crimes that are more than 10 years old. Galatai was convicted and sentenced to 37 months in prison in that case which in many ways echoes the new insurance fraud case pending in Common Pleas Court.

Voci also argued that allegations that Walker, Matthews and Johnson were paid by Galati to vandalize cars and set fire to a boat and a tow-truck should not be permitted because those events, even if true, had nothing to do with the murder-for-hire conspiracy that is part of the Tuono case. Finally, he argued that any mention of the murder-for-hire case pending in Philadelphia would be highly prejudicial because the allegations are virtually identical to the allegations in the case now pending in federal court.

In both murder-for-hire cases, authorities allege Galati offered to pay Walker and Matthews and used Johnson as the go-between to set up the hits. The shootings in Philadelphia never occurred, authorities said, because the targets, Joseph Rao Sr. and his son Joe Jr., had closed their autobody shop before Walker and Matthews could make a move on them.

The prosecution argues that evidence about Galati's criminal relationships with the Walker, Matthews and Johnson help explain why the three would agree to commit murder for Galati and for that reason should be presented as evidence.

Richardson, in his motion, said evidence of Galati's relationship with the three men could also be used to counter any testimony that Galati might offer. The prosecutor suggested that Galati planned to take the stand and argue that "he had no association, especially criminal, with his co-conspirators and that the shooting of the victim was unrelated to the defendant’s relationship with him. Moreover, the Government anticipates the defendant will testify that the motive behind the Victim being shot was due to the Victim `owing people money,' `constantly getting in to fights' or his drug use/dealing."

Bits and pieces of the prosecution case have already been outlined in pre-trial motions. Among other things, authorities allege that Galati had threatened Tuono at a restaurant in Northfield in June 2013. The restaurant, identified today by Richardson as Salvo Kitchen, was owned by associates of Bogesi's, according to law enforcement sources. Those same sources said Galati "liked to hold court" while dining at the restaurant and frequently alluded to his mob connections.

While authorities have never clearly indicated why Galati wanted to harm Tuono, Richardson's motion contends that at one point Galati said he would kill Tuono himself.

"Galati told Michael Otterson [a potential witness in the case] in sum and substance that Galati would `kill him myself, I will strangle him, I will poke his eyes out' and `I am going to stab him right in the forehead with this thing,' referring to an ice pick type device," Richardson wrote. "In June 2013, Galati, members of Galati’s family and associates, including his cousin Anthony Valenti, had dinner with Tuono and Tiffany Galati at a restaurant in Northfield, New Jersey. During dinner, Galati took Tuono into the kitchen and threatened to kill him. Thereafter, Johnson and Mathews advised Tuono that if Galati was to instruct them to kill Tuono, they would follow through with the request."

Another document indicates that on the night of the shooting, Matthews and Walker were told that if there was a girl with Tuono, she should not be harmed. Tiffany Galati, who is expected to be called as a witness, was standing next to Tuono as three bullets were pumped into his body.

She was not hit.

Now estranged from her father, she has given a statement to authorities and both she and Tuono have been interviewed in detail. They are no longer a couple, according to sources, but both may be used by the prosecution to build its case against Galati.

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

POSTED BY GEORGE ANASTASIA AT 3:51 PM
TRIAL: GALATI MURDER FOR HIRE CASE

Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/09/galati-prepares-for-trial-may-take-stand.html#Dce7jUX3dIkst8Qf.99

More trouble for wannabe mobster Galati?

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Friends describe Ronald Galati as infatuated with the gangster lifestyle. His garage in So. Phila. first attracted officials´ attention as a place where wiseguys could get jobs after prison.
Friends describe Ronald Galati as infatuated with the gangster lifestyle. His garage in So. Phila. first attracted officials' attention as a place where wiseguys could get jobs after prison. David Swanson/Staff/American Collision photo

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WILLIAM BENDER, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER BENDERW@PHILLYNEWS.COM, 215-854-5255
POSTED: Friday, September 12, 2014, 3:01 AM


A KINGSESSING man involved with mob associate Ron Galati's alleged insurance-fraud and murder-for-hire schemes quietly pleaded guilty yesterday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.

Jerome "Rome" Johnson, 45, pleaded guilty to two counts each of attempted murder, witness intimidation, conspiracy and related charges connected to the case against Galati, a South Philly auto-body-shop operator with ties to reputed mob boss Joseph Ligambi and his nephew George Borgesi.

The case is under court-ordered seal, but yesterday's development could signal more trouble for Galati if Johnson agrees to testify against him in Philadelphia.

Galati, 63, a "GoodFellas"-quoting wannabe mobster, has been charged in three separate cases and could spend the rest of his life in jail. He allegedly hired Johnson and two bush-league hit men to kill his daughter's boyfriend in Atlantic City, as well as a body-shop operator in Philly who he believed had testified against him, and the operator's son.

Galati's trial on the New Jersey charges is set to start next week in federal court in Camden. His daughter's boyfriend was shot last year, but survived; the other two hits weren't carried out. Johnson and two alleged gunmen are expected to testify against Galati in Jersey.

"I would say there's a 99.9 percent chance he will be star witness No. 1, 2 or 3," Galati's lawyer, Anthony Voci, said of Johnson.

In May, Galati and dozens of associates were busted for an alleged insurance-fraud scam. Prosecutors say they perpetrated a "staggering amount" of fraud at American Collision & Auto Center, the shop at 20th and McKean streets that Galati had operated.

Galati's shop earned about $1.8 million through a city contract it landed in 2011 to fix cop cars and other vehicles. The city stopped sending cars there in December after the Daily News reported on the contract and the latest criminal allegations.

- Staff writer Wendy Ruderman contributed to this report.


Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/201409...xy23fgMovvYC.99

Hit plot trial begins in Camden

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Friends describe Ronald Galati as infatuated with the gangster lifestyle. His garage in So. Phila. first attracted officials´ attention as a place where wiseguys could get jobs after prison.
Friends describe Ronald Galati as infatuated with the gangster lifestyle. His garage in So. Phila. first attracted officials' attention as a place where wiseguys could get jobs after prison. David Swanson/Staff/American Collision photo

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JULIA TERRUSO, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Tuesday, September 16, 2014, 1:50 PM
POSTED: Tuesday, September 16, 2014, 9:33 AM


The trial opened today in the case of Ronald Galati, a South Philadelphia auto shop owner and alleged mob hanger-on charged with orchestrating a hit on his daughter's boyfriend.

Galati, 64, faces 15 years in prison if convicted of the attempted murder and conspiracy charges in U.S. District Court in Camden.

Andrew Tuono was shot three times in Atlantic City in November, 2013, as his then-girlfriend, Tiffany Galati, stood by his side, but survived the attack.

In his opening remarks, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Richardson called it a "simple case."
"He wanted Mr. Tuono dead and he hired ... hit men to do it," the prosecutor said.

Richardson said the hit men, who have pleaded guilty, are expected to testify against Galati and will say they were promised $20,000 each to kill Tuono.

Defense attorney Anthony Voci told the jury that no physical evidence ties Galati to the shooting.

The first witness called by the prosecution was Atlantic City Police Officer Matthew Rogers who testified that 10 seconds after he heard shots he saw two males running toward his police cruiser on Carson Avenue.

Rogers said he drew his gun and ordered the men to stop but they blew past him. He ran after them and caught up with the heftier of the two, Ronald Walker.

Within the next 15 minutes, Walker would name the second fleeing suspect and explain what was going on: that they'd been hired by Galati to shoot Tuono, the officer said.

Richardson earlier described Tuono, 35, and Galati, 64, as friends until Tuono started dating his daughter.

The would-be assassins had tried to corner Tuono elsewhere to no avail, Richardson said.

Then on Nov. 30, 2013 Galati told the men "The boat is on the other side," meaning Tuono was at his Atlantic City residence. The hit men drove to Atlantic City with a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol, Richardson said.

Their only instructions were to kill Tuono and if there was a woman with him, to leave her unharmed, Richardson said.

Defense attorney Voci called the shooter, Walker, a liar, who misled police from the beginning, including about who actually shot Tuono and where the gun was.

"The government is going all in on words," Voci said in his opening.

Voci hinted Tuono had other problems and is expected to argue Tuono was targeted over gambling debts and drugs.

Four of Galati's family members, including a cousin and his daughter-in-law, attended the first day of the trial.

Galati, who has been in custody since his April indictment, wore a white dress shirt and took occasional puffs from an inhaler during the testimony.

This is one of three cases currently pending against Galati. He is also facing murder for hire charges in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court and is charged with a large-scale auto insurance fraud scheme in federal court in Philadelphia.

The murder-for-hire charges in Philadelphia involve the same two alleged hit men as in the Tuono case. In that case, prosecutors say the men were after an auto shop owner and his son who were Galati rivals, but never went through with the plan after the shop closed.

Walker was expected to take the stand Tuesday afternoon.

Follow @JuliaTerruso on Twitter for updates from the trial.


Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaki...efKpyTiY5AKc.99

Trial begins for man with mob ties in Atlantic City murder plot
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Posted: Tuesday, September 16, 2014 6:48 pm
By LYNDA COHEN Staff Writer
Subscribe to Lynda Cohen on Facebook


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An alleged mob associate went on trial in Camden federal court Tuesday on charges he tried to have his daughter’s boyfriend murdered in Atlantic City.
Click here!
Ronald Galati Sr., 63, faces four counts, including murder for hire and conspiracy to commit murder for hire in the Nov. 30, shooting in Atlantic City. He allegedly agreed to pay Ronald Walker and Alvin Matthews $20,000 each to carry out the killing.
Co-defendant Jerome Johnson is also on trial, facing the same charges as Galati. He is additionally charged with transporting a firearm for use during the commission of a felony, transferring a firearm for use in a violent crime and possession of a firearm by a previously convicted person.
The victim — identified only as Victim 1 in court papers — was shot three times in the abdomen, but survived. The Associated Press has identified him as Andrew Tuono.
Galati is an alleged associate of convicted mobster Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino. But, the judge previously ruled that there can be no mention of the defendant’s links to organized crime.
Walker, 48, of Philadelphia, and Matthews, 46, of Brookhaven, Pa., previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy and weapons charges. Walker was the shooter, according to the charges.
Contact Lynda Cohen:
609-272-7257
LCohen@pressofac.com
@LyndaCohen on Twitter
© 2014 pressofAtlanticCity.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Alleged hitman details plot in Atlantic City


Friends describe Ronald Galati as infatuated with the gangster lifestyle. His garage in So. Phila. first attracted officials´ attention as a place where wiseguys could get jobs after prison.
Friends describe Ronald Galati as infatuated with the gangster lifestyle. His garage in So. Phila. first attracted officials' attention as a place where wiseguys could get jobs after prison. David Swanson/Staff/American Collision photo


JULIA TERRUSO, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Tuesday, September 16, 2014, 7:08 PM


On the car ride to Atlantic City, Ronald Walker inspected the .25-caliber semiautomatic he had specifically requested for its small size and quiet shot - perfect for the task at hand.

"We were going there to do a hit," Walker, 49, testified in the murder-for-hire trial of Ronald Galati, an alleged mob associate who owned a South Philadelphia auto shop now belonging to his son.

Walker, a career criminal, answered questions Tuesday on the first day of the trial in Camden federal court, identifying Galati as the man who agreed to pay him $20,000 to kill Andrew Tuono, then-boyfriend of Galati's daughter Tiffany.

Walker nonchalantly recalled the night of Nov. 30, 2013, when, he said, he shot Tuono four times as Tuono left his Atlantic City apartment with Tiffany Galati. Tiffany Galati, 33, was not injured, and Tuono survived the attack.

"From what I understand, he was having a problem with a guy, and he needed it taken care of," Walker said. "He wanted me to kill the guy, he wanted him dead, but he didn't want it to come back on him."

So desperate was Galati to get rid of Tuono, Walker testified, that Galati promised big payoffs and persistently gave the three hit men information about Tuono's whereabouts, instructing them to kill any witnesses - save, of course, his daughter. Walker described ranting phone calls in which Galati repeatedly said he wanted Tuono dead.

Walker is one of three hit men who pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire related charges in the federal case. All three are expected to testify against Galati. If convicted in U.S. District Court of attempted murder and conspiracy, Galati faces 15 years in prison.

It's one of three pending cases against Galati, 64. In Pennsylvania, he also has been charged with murder-for-hire and insurance fraud.

Defense attorney Anthony Voci cautioned jurors against convicting his client solely on the testimony of criminals.

"The government is going all in on words. There is not a shred of physical evidence that ties my client to this crime," said Voci, who is expected to argue that Tuono was targeted because of unpaid gambling and drug debts unrelated to Galati.

Assistant District Attorney Jason Richardson went through Walker's rap sheet for nearly five minutes. It includes 17 arrests and multiple convictions over 20 years. Walker said that he was not promised anything in exchange for his testimony but that he hoped it brought him a lighter sentence. Given his record, he's facing life in prison.

Walker had been out of jail 14 months when he was introduced to Galati at American Collision & Auto Center, near 20th and McKean Streets in South Philadelphia.

Walker said the two initially had a falling out because Walker didn't agree to bury Tuono after killing him. He said Galati eventually gave in and agreed Walker could do the job without a burial.

Walker, and codefendants Alvin Matthews and Jerome Johnson, tried to find and kill Tuono on numerous occasions, according to Walker's testimony.

Then on Nov. 30, 2013, Johnson got a call from Galati in which Galati said "the boat is on the other side," Walker said. The hit men understood that to mean Tuono was at his Atlantic City residence, he said.

As the couple were leaving the apartment in the 600 block of Carson Avenue around 6:30 p.m., Walker and Matthews approached.

"I said, 'Don't run.' He looked at me, and I said it again, 'Don't run. You know what this is about,' and he said, 'Oh, shit,' and went to run," Walker said. "I shot him."

Tiffany Galati, according to Walker, "didn't make no noise, didn't scream, she got in her car, backed up and rode away."

Galati also faces unrelated murder-for-hire charges in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court and is charged in Philadelphia federal court with a large-scale auto insurance fraud scheme involving frozen animal parts used to fake accident scenes.

The murder-for-hire charges in Philadelphia involve the same two alleged hit men as in the Tuono case. In that case, prosecutors say the men were after a rival auto shop owner and his son but never went through with the plan after the shop closed.

Galati has been described by law enforcement sources as a mob "hanger-on" or wannabe who has helped made members with jobs and money.

In court Tuesday, he wore a black toupee and white dress shirt, listening stoically to the testimony and occasionally taking a pump from his inhaler.

Galati's nephew, brother-in-law, a first cousin and his son's fiancee attended the hearing but declined to speak to the media.

The trial, before a jury of 12 women and two men, is expected to last at least two weeks.

jterruso@phillynews.com

856-779-3876 @juliaterruso


Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/201409...54DyevSMXlc2.99

Of all the stuff ive read on the philly mob guys the one thing i take from it is that the federal system out there is beatable, so whatever they say in these articles you really cant go by it.
I have no idea if this guy will have any chance of beating it but relying on career criminals as your witnesses is not the winning formula.

Botched hit, bad toupee

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Ronald Galati, 64,a convicted fraudster who ran a South Philly auto-body shop, wanted his daughter´s boyfriend dead, according to federal prosecutors in New Jersey.
Ronald Galati, 64,a convicted fraudster who ran a South Philly auto-body shop, wanted his daughter's boyfriend dead, according to federal prosecutors in New Jersey.


WILLIAM BENDER, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER BENDERW@PHILLYNEWS.COM, 215-854-5255
POSTED: Wednesday, September 17, 2014, 3:01 AM


"THE BOAT IS on the other side of the water."

That's the code phrase that reputed mob associate Ron Galati allegedly used last November to inform a ragtag crew of hit men that his daughter's boyfriend, Andrew Tuono, was in Atlantic City.

Galati, 64, a convicted fraudster who ran a South Philly auto-body shop with a lucrative city contract, wanted Tuono dead, according to federal prosecutors in New Jersey.

The mistake was allegedly hiring Ronald Walker.

Tuono survived. Walker and another would-be hit man were busted and pleaded guilty.

Now they're cooperating with the government in the murder-for-hire case that could put Galati behind bars for the rest of his life.

Walker, 49, a burly wiseass with a jaw-dropping rap sheet, testified yesterday that after he received Galati's boat-in-the-water command, he polished off his Church's Chicken meal then headed to Atlantic City to kill Tuono.

"He had a problem with a guy and he needed it tooken care of," Walker said of Galati. The payoff was supposed to be $20,000 for the Tuono job, he testified.

When Tuono and Galati's daughter, Tiffany, exited Tuono's home on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Walker walked up wearing a surgeon's mask and holding a Colt .25-caliber handgun. Walker said he told Tuono not to run, although he admitted under cross-examination that Tuono was going to get shot either way.

"I didn't feel like chasing him," Walker said. "It didn't make a difference if he run or didn't run. I just wasn't in the running mood."

Walker told Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Richardson that he shot Tuono three times, pulling the trigger until he ran out of ammo. But he and a co-defendant, Alvin Matthews, only made it to the end of the block when they ran directly into an Atlantic City police officer. Walker fell - a couple of times - and was arrested. He originally blamed the shooting on Matthews, who was apprehended soon after.

Galati, a wannabe mobster with a toupee straight out of Morrie's Wig Shop, shifted uneasily in his chair as Walker identified him as the man who ordered the hit. But Galati's attorney, Anthony Voci, plans to argue that Tuono was involved in the drug trade and other activities that could have made him a target.

"There is not a shred of physical evidence that ties my client to this crime," Voci said, adding that Walker is not a credible witness: "If Ronald Walker told me that my name is Anthony Voci and today is Tuesday, I'd ask for a mirror and a calendar."

The jury is not expected to hear about Galati's mob connections - or the insurance-fraud and murder-for-hire charges he's also facing in Philadelphia - but prosecutors have said in pretrial motions that Galati spoke with reputed mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi when Ligambi was in prison, and that he also made "frequent payments" to Ligambi and his nephew George Borgesi.

Law-enforcement officials conducting surveillance spotted Ligambi at Galati's shop, American Collision & Automotive Center, at 20th and McKean streets, shortly after Ligambi was released from prison in January.

But Galati's family says the feds got it all wrong. Lots of people could've wanted Tuono dead.

"My cousin is a very, very nice man. A wonderful person. He is a good sport," Galati's first cousin said outside the courtroom. She asked that her name not be printed because of her husband's line of work, which she did not disclose.

The family also insists that Galati isn't involved with the mob. But one guy apparently isn't convinced.

As Walker began testifying yesterday, a curious onlooker walked into the courtroom and quietly took a seat near the back. It was mob prosecutor David Fritchey, chief of the Organized Crime Strike Force in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia.




Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140917_Botched_hit__bad_toupee.html#X4vU1plKedhbqqa0.99

this guy is toast all 3 of the hired hitters are testifying against him. love how the a.d.a from philly poped into to Camden like he popd into the nicodemo trial just trying to start some waves. why did this guy think he needed 3 hitmen wtf. and he tried to have 4 guys murder in this day in age he's a fucking phyco whats he gonna say against merlino? atleast joey didn't pay guys to hit guys.

Keep in mind this guy can only roll IF he has anything to bring to the table.

And he's LOW on the pecking order. Realistically what can he offer up?

With Nicodemo up shit creek I'd be surprised if the feds would even take this guy's calls.

ya and he prolly a great con artist that the wiseguys know he can get them a few bones but dont really have him know what the family is doing

A Murder-For-Hire Plot That The Bard Would Love


By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

It sounds like the plot from a Shakespearean play, but with a decided South Philadelphia twist.

A father, upset because his daughter is dating a man he neither likes nor trusts, sends two henchmen to kill the unwanted suitor. If Shakespeare had written the story, the assassins would have carried swords or daggers.

Ronald Walker said he used a .25 caliber semi-automatic pistol.

Walker took the stand this afternoon during the opening day of testimony in the murder-for-hire trial of Ronald Galati, a South Philadelphia auto body shop owner with a checkered criminal past that includes alleged organized crime connections.

But neither Galati's past nor his suspected mob ties are expected to figure in the trial. Instead, the case will focus on the allegation that last year Galati, 63, hired three men to kill Andrew Tuono who was dating Galati's daughter Tiffany at the time.

Tuono survived the hit and is listed as a potential witness. So is Tiffany Galati.

"It's a simple case," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Richardson said in his opening statement to the jury of 10 women and two men this morning. "Mr. Galati wanted Mr. Tuono dead." The reason, Richardson said, was also rather mundane. "Mr. Galati didn't like Mr. Tuono."

Testimony and evidence in the trial, which is expected to last about two weeks, may provide a more complicated and convoluted explanation for the Nov. 30, 2013, shooting in Atlantic City that left Tuono bleeding from bullet wounds to the stomach, back and hand.

"I shot four times," Walker, a stocky 49-year-old with an extensive criminal record for drug dealing, assault, attempted murder and robbery, told the jury. "They said I only hit him three times."

Asked why he stopped shooting, Walker replied, "Because there weren't no more bullets."

Walker said he was hired by Galati and promised $20,000 for the hit. He said Alvin Matthews, a boyhood friend, was with him during the shooting and that another longtime friend, Jerome Johnson, had set the murder up at Galati's request. Both Matthews and Johnson, like Walker, have pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire and conspiracy charges and are cooperating with the government. They are also expected to testify.

"This is a case about people, family and relationships," Anthony Voci, Galati's defense attorney, told the jury in a comment that hinted at the soap opera like nature of the case. How much the jury hears about Galati's strained relationship with his daughter and the reasons why he allegedly wanted Tuono killed may depend on whether Tiffany Galati is called as a witness.

What the jury won't hear is testimony about Galati's alleged criminal relationships with Johnson, Walker and Matthews. All three are accused of playing similar roles in another murder-for-hire case pending in Common Pleas Court. In that case, Galati is charged with ordering the murders of two rival auto body shop owners, a father and son, who he suspected were cooperating in an insurance fraud investigation that had targeted him.

Galati, his wife, his son and a dozen others, including the son of mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi, are also under indictment in Common Pleas court in a multi-million dollar insurance fraud case. Johnson, Matthews and Walker allegedly damaged cars as part of the fraud scheme. Authorities say Walker and Matthews were also involved in arson at Galati's behest.

But Judge Joseph Rodriguez, based on motions filed by Voci, said none of that information can be used in the current trial because it has nothing to do with the attempted murder of Tuono.

Galati, jailed since his arrest in the case, said little as he sat at the defense table next to his lawyer. In his opening statement, Voci told the jury there "was not a shred of physical evidence" tying his client to the case. Voci is expected to argue that there were other reasons why Tuono was targeted, reasons that had nothing to do with Galati.

The government's case, in fact, is built almost entirely on the word of Walker, Matthews and Johnson. Voci is expected to use his cross-examination to challenge the credibility and motivation of those witnesses and to raise questions about their involvement and Tuono's involvement in the drug underworld.

Walker and Matthews were arrested within minutes of the shooting and quickly gave up Johnson and Galati to law enforcement. Johnson eventually opted to cooperate as well. All three are expected to tell basically the same story.

Walker said Galati wanted Tuono dead.

"He said he had a problem with a guy and he needed it taken care of," Walker said, adding that Galati often talked in riddles and that at one point he told the auto body shop owner, "Say what you mean."

"He said he wanted me to kill the guy. He wanted him dead...but he didn't want it come back on him."

Walker said Galati at first suggested that they bury Tuono's body, but Walker balked. He said he eventually agreed to carry out the hit, but not dispose of the body. He said Johnson took him to two different locations in South Philadelphia where Tuono was believed to be staying, but that the target was not there either time.

Finally, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, he said was driving in a car with Johnson when a call came in from Galati informing them that Tuono was at the townhouse he owned in Atlantic City. Walker said he had Johnson drive him to a few drug deal deliveries that day and that they stopped at a Church's Fried Chicken restaurant for lunch before heading down the Shore to carry out the hit.

Prosecutors displayed surveillance camera shots from the fried chicken store that showed both Johnson and Walker placing orders at the counter that day. Matthews, Walker said, joined them for the trip to Atlantic City.

He said Johnson dropped them off near Tuono's Carson Avenue townhouse. They waited on the darkened street and up an alley for several minutes before Tiffany Galati and Tuono walked out the door.

Walker said he had been told by Johnson, "do not touch the girl."

Walker told the jury that Matthews called out to Tuono, "Yo, my man. I wanna talk to you."

"About what?" Tuono replied, according to Walker who said he then walked up to the target, pulled a gun and told him, "Don't run."

Tuono ran, Walker said, and Walker opened fire.

Tiffany Galati showed little emotion, Walker said when questioned by Voci. In fact, he confirmed an earlier statement he had made to police that "She just stood there as if she knew what was going on."

Tuono, lying on the ground bleeding, yelled for her to "call 9-1-1, call the police," Walker said. Instead, he told the jury, she got into a BMW that was parked in front of the townhouse and drove away.

Walker said he and Matthews began to run from the shooting scene, but when they turned a corner they saw a police officer pointing his gun and ordering them to stop. Instead, they kept running. Walker said he tripped and stumbled and that the police officer quickly caught up with him.

Matthews was arrested within minutes a few blocks away.

Both men began cooperating almost immediately. Walker admitted that at first he told authorities that Matthews was the shooter, but he said he later changed his story and admitted he was the one who fired the shots.

Walker said he did not know Tuono's name and did not ask Galati why he wanted him dead.

"It wasn't my business to know why," he said.

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

POSTED BY GEORGE ANASTASIA AT 6:41 PM
TRIAL: GALATI MURDER FOR HIRE CASE

Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/09/a-murder-for-hire-plot-that-bard-would.html#iCH2ULQVa7MCuDsj.99

There is a rumor floating that Uncle Joe is Galati's silent partner in his auto body shop too which explains why Uncle Joe was caught by law enforcement surveillance going to Galati's auto body shop immediately upon release from Federal Lockup and also explains why Galati put so much money into Uncle Joe's prison commissary while he was locked up for two years beating the Feds twice....

Ligambi's son I think.

No Ligambi's son was indicted with Galati for insurance fraud-I'm assuming they staged an accident/damage and collected $$$ on it.

The rumor is that Uncle Joe was Galati's silent partner in the auto body shop, maybe someone here from the neighborhood can further elaborate on the rumor of Uncle Joe being Galati's silent partner?

I just saw Ligambi on the street corner in center city, about an hour ago. He ain't at the trial in camden, that's for sure.

Nicky-

Where in center city? Who was he with? How was he dressed (court attire, casual wear, a Rodney Pete Eagles Jersey, etc)?

Well I wonder if she's single I'd run away with her in witsac ...Hell I'll have pizza water preztels and bagels shipped from the phl nj ny area..Tiff if you read this holla

Center City is in the center of the city it boarders south phila and west phila. Joe was casual wear my friend worked at a high end store in center city Boyd's. Ligambi ain't rocking some eagles russel athhetlic sweatsuit that's for sure...

I put my money on Galati walking away from this with no charges. These guys are a bunch of goons and Galati's daughters boyfriend was in debt with these guys. They went to rough him up and it turned ugly and now they're trying to pin it on Galati. The feds need to go over the terrorists and stop wasting more tax payers money. This is getting ridiculous in Philadelphia. These guys must be hurting for funding over there. Honestly it doesn't sound like a strong case to me and I think Ronnie walks.

@ Red LOL I know I was only JKin around...

I was hoping you were joking. I was on my way to lunch when I saw him. I didn't stop and ask for an autograph. Just happened to notic who he was from all the pics i've seen of him.

Well I'd love to take your action so I can put my kids thru college you wanna parlay Nicodemo n Grande too?

Regardless they've buried this guy and him crossing state lines making the federal case twice as strong the guy has 3 or 4 open fukin cases...and apparently no ones come to his side no ones taking care of his family their body shop will lose it's license if it hasn't been transferred already to someone else's name.

Galati's daughter is sexy.

Pic or it ain't true

Go to Page 2, pal.

Some reason it wasn't showing up yesterday.

Yea I agree, no wonder he is shooting at folks

At Galati trial, a tangled tale of heartbreak and retaliation


Ronald Galati, 64,a convicted fraudster who ran a South Philly auto-body shop, wanted his daughter´s boyfriend dead, according to federal prosecutors in New Jersey.
Ronald Galati, 64,a convicted fraudster who ran a South Philly auto-body shop, wanted his daughter's boyfriend dead, according to federal prosecutors in New Jersey.

JULIA TERRUSO, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Tuesday, September 23, 2014, 11:49 AM


A year before Tiffany Galati's boyfriend was shot and wounded at her side in a hit prosecutors say was orchestrated by her father, she texted one of the alleged hit men to hurt a previous boyfriend.

"I need you to do something," Tiffany Galati texted Jerome Johnson in a 4 a.m. text message in 2012. "Anything," Johnson replied.

Johnson, 45, a longtime friend of Ronald Galati, reluctantly testified in Ronald Galati's murder-for-hire trial, mumbling yes and no answers with lengthy pauses in between attorney questions and his answers.

"Please do me that favor please. . . . I'll pay whatever, I don't care. Gotta be done," Tiffany Galati said in another text message. "Just make sure my kid ain't around him when it happens, please that would be traumatizing."

Johnson was the third of three hit men to take the stand and testify that in November 2013, Ronald Galati offered to pay each $20,000 to kill Andrew Tuono, Tiffany Galati's boyfriend at the time.

Testimony on Tuesday provided a glimpse into the Galati family's drama and revealed Johnson was not a random hired hit man but a close friend to both Ronald and Tiffany. Johnson asked Ronald Galati to be godfather to his daughter and was a confidant to Tiffany Galati during relationship problems.

Johnson pleaded guilty to orchestrating the attack on Tuono at the behest of Ronald Galati. He admitted to dropping off Ronald Walker and Alvin Williams in Atlantic City the night of Nov. 30, 2013, who then shot Tuono three times. Tuono survived.

Tiffany Galati, 33, described by Williams as "gorgeous" and "a beauty you don't forget," was in the middle of a custody dispute with her former boyfriend, Jeffrey Capuano, and the father of her son when she started dating Tuono, according to testimony.

In November 2012 she texted Johnson and in the early morning two-hour-long conversation said her ex-boyfriend's father had intimidated her at the auto shop, and claimed that her ex was heavily involved in the drug trade and refused to take their son to the doctor. She said she wanted full custody and was filing a restraining order against her ex's father. She said Tuono had left her because of the drama.

"I never felt like this before, I been dating since I was 15. I know he's the one," Tiffany Galati said of Tuono in a text. "He just hurt me so badly by walking away."

Defense attorney Anthony Voci read the text messages for Johnson who dismissed the subtext in the message and said he "never hurt anybody." Johnson said Tiffany had "maybe" asked him to beat the ex up.

On direct examination, Johnson said Galati didn't like Tuono dating his daughter and didn't like the couple living in Atlantic City. According to Johnson, Galati called Tuono "funny looking," and said he wanted to "poke his eyes out." He said Tuono was involved in selling and taking pills.

Johnson said it was Ronald Galati who wanted Tuono dead and who asked him to orchestrate the attempted murder.

The trial continues this afternoon.

jterruso@phillynews.com

856-779-3876

@juliaterruso


Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_je...637mpgUF0fMd.99

She doesn't seem, QUITE as sexy now, however I would still hit on her ferociously and most likely get turned down.....

But what the hell is wrong with her. You'd have to be an idiot with a death wish to get involved with her.

She just created reasonable doubt for her father, good girl

I think she wanted the baby daddy fucked up. Not the new guy who the dad tried to off/whack/whack off.

she doesnt seem to fear getting involved in the gangsta life, I'm guessing this isn't something that happened over night there must have been a reason the baby daddy quit being with her and now she wanted him killed.....she may be a little off her meds or rocker

^^^ true

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

Details Of A Bloody Family Feud Surface At Galati Trial
By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

The father sat at the defense table facing a murder-for-hire charge that could land him in prison for the rest of his life.

The daughter sat on the witness stand, offering testimony that could help the government put him there.

Ron Galati, the 64-year-old South Philadelphia auto body shop owner, and his daughter, Tiffany, 31, squared off in federal court in Camden today in a bloody and twisted version of family feud.

Galati is charged with hiring hitmen to kill Tiffany's boyfriend Andrew Tuono back in November. But her testimony, which included her eyewitness account of the shooting, covered a dysfunctional family dynamic that stretched back several years and that Tiffany Galati said shattered her relationship with her father, her mother Vicky and brother Ron Jr.

The shooting of Tuono, she said, was a violent and extreme extension of her father's overly protective and authoritarian approach to parenting. Her father always came between her and whomever she was dating, she explained. He wanted her to break up with Tuono with whom she had begun living. When she refused to end the relationship, she implied, her father decided to end it for her.

"There were bullets flying," she said of the night when she and Tuono were confronted by two gunmen allegedly sent by her father. "I had never been shot at before."

Dressed in black slacks and a long gray sweater over a black shirt, her dark hair parted in the middle and flowing over both shoulders, Tiffany Galati appeared both angry and determined as she testified for the government.

Her father sat quietly at the defense table, showing little emotion but occasionally whispering in the ear of his defense lawyer. Galati, who has two other cases -- including another murder-for-hire charge -- pending in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia, has been held without bail since his arrest late last year. He had pleaded not guilty and his lawyer has implied that Tuono was shot for reasons that had nothing to do with Galati.

That Tiffany Galati believed her father had orchestrated the attempt -- Tuono survived -- was clear from her direct testimony and from several asides she voluntarily offered in response to questions from both Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Richardson, the prosecutor in the case, and from defense attorney Anthony Voci Jr.

When Voci questioned her about a custody dispute she had with another boyfriend who is the father of her six-year-old son Jeffrey, Tiffany Galati conceded that her son lived with his father. But that, she said, was only because her father refused her request for money to hire a lawyer to fight the issue.

"I asked him for money to help me get custody because I was living in New Jersey," she said. "He said he couldn't help me...but he had twenty thousand for the shooter."

Ronald Walker, who testified that he was one of the men Galati hired to kill Tuono, said Galati promised to pay him $20,000 for the hit.

Testimony in the trial, which began last week, is expected to conclude tomorrow. Closing arguments could come Thursday or Monday (there is no trial session on Friday). It appears that Galati will not take the stand in his own defense. Voci told Judge Joseph Rodriguez his case would take less than a day. Galati's testimony and cross-examination, were he to take the stand, would extend the defense case beyond one day.

The Galati family riff, detailed in Tiffany's testimony, included confrontations and angry text and email exchanges surrounding occasional attempts to mend fences. Tuono, who took the stand this afternoon, acknowledged that he frequently clashed with Ron Galati and sometimes with Galati's wife and with Ron Jr.

They had all been friends at one time, he said, but once he started dating Tiffany, the relationship deteriorated. He admitted that he left phone messages in which he called Vicky Galati "a piece of shit."

"Those types of arguments happened frequently before I got shot," he said. But he denied making an angry phone call to Vicky Galati in May of this year, even after Voci confronted him with a taped recording of the expletive-laden message from May 4.

Tuono had told the jury he made the call in an attempt to "make peace" between Tiffany and her mother. The taped phone message, however, did not sound like a peace offering.

"Tiffany was constantly crying," he said of his then girlfriend's relationship with her family.

"They were fighting so bad it was unbearable," he said at another point.

Tiffany Galati admitted under cross by Voci that in August 2013 she sent a graphic text photo first to her brother and later to her parents. The photo, not shown to the jury but described by Voci, was a picture of the residue of a miscarriage Tiffany Galati said she suffered.

The photo was of a partially developed fetus in a toilet.

Tiffany Galati said she blamed her father for her miscarriage because of the stress he had put her under.

The jury also was read the email message Ron Galati Jr. sent his sister in reply.

In part, it read, "Do me a favor Tiff, don't text me shit that has to do with you and Drew...You want to know how I feel about it? I think it's the best thing that could happen to you."

Tiffany Galati responded via text, telling her brother, "Consider me dead. Lose my number."

In reply, Ron Galati Jr. wrote, "Tell me this. What was your intention?...Do you want sympathy. You don't talk to anyone...A picture of a dead fetus. It's sick."

Tiffany Galati said the photo, texts and messages were indicative of how badly her relationship with her brother had become. She said they were once very close, "best friends," but that her father had turned her brother against her and Tuono.

Tiffany Galati and Tuono are no longer a couple, but they were a tandem today. Tuono, 35, took the stand immediately after Tiffany Galati stepped down and provided another account of the night of the shooting. The jury has heard from the two hitmen, Tiffany Galati and Tuono. All have told basically the same story.

Tuono said he and Tiffany were on their way to dinner that Saturday night. They walked out of his townhouse on Carson Avenue in Atlantic City and were confronted by two men. Tuono said he told Tiffany to keep walking and to get to their car. He said he turned and was shot in the hand. He then began to run away from Tiffany to draw the gunman's fire. He said he heard a shot, then felt a burning sensation in his hip and then another in his back.

Tiffany got in their BMW and drove away. The gunman and his accomplice fled on foot and were arrested almost immediately. They quickly agreed to cooperate and told authorities Galati had hired them to kill Tuono.

Tuono testified that as he lay bleeding in front of his home, he told the first police office on the scene that Galati was responsible. But in a bizarre twist, Tuono said immediately after he was shot and as he lay bleeding, he called two close friends on his cell phone and left each the same message: "I just got shot. If I don't make it, I'll be looking over you."

Tuono was rushed to the hospital and underwent emergency surgery that night.

Tiffany Galati said she also called friends from her cell phone as she drove away from the shooting scene. She admitted that when she was later questioned by police, she gave somewhat conflicting information, at one point saying she believed "cops had shot Drew (Tuono)."

"I was very confused," she said when Voci raised those points during cross-examination. "I was scared and nervous. I'd never been shot at before...I don't know what I said. I was shaken up."

When Voci suggested that no one was actually shooting at her -- Walker had testified earleir that he was told "not to hurt the girl" -- Tiffany Galanti just shook her head, and from the witness stand, looked at her father.

"There were bullets flying," she said. "Who's to say one wouldn't ricochet and hit me?"

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

Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/09/details-of-bloody-family-feud-surface.html#5OMGh7gHrdRcCy0f.99

Picture of Andrew Tuono in link below:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_je...etaliation.html

At Galati trial, a tangled tale of romance and retribution


JULIA TERRUSO, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Wednesday, September 24, 2014, 1:07 AM
POSTED: Tuesday, September 23, 2014, 11:49 AM


A year before Tiffany Galati's boyfriend, Andrew Tuono, was shot in a hit in Atlantic City that prosecutors say was arranged by her wannabe mobster father, she asked one of the same hit men to rough up an ex-boyfriend.

"I wanted Jeff beat up," Galati, 33, said while testifying for the government in her father's murder-for-hire trial in federal court. "Not killed. I'm not a murderer."

"Unlike my father, who actually had bullets firing at me," she added with a scathing look toward the defense table, speaking directly at Ronald Galati, "I just don't know how you can do that to your own kid, or even put me up here."

Ronald Galati is on trial before Judge Joseph Rodriguez in Camden, facing murder-for-hire and attempted-murder charges that could land him in prison for 15 years.

Galati, an alleged Philadelphia mob associate who owns an auto shop in South Philadelphia, is also facing insurance-scam and unrelated murder-for-hire charges in Philadelphia.

In a critical day of testimony that lifted the curtain on a sordid inner drama, the jury heard from Tiffany Galati; her then-boyfriend, who was shot three times but survived; and Galati's right-hand man, Jerome Johnson - one of three admitted hit men who were to be paid $20,000 each for the job.

The three hit men who pleaded guilty in the Camden case also have pleaded guilty in the Philadelphia murder-for-hire plan, which targeted a rival auto shop owner but was never carried out. They are expected to testify against Ronald Galati there, too.

Prosecutors have said that Galati was incensed because he did not want his daughter dating someone he had considered a friend and that the two had moved away from Philadelphia to Atlantic City along with his grandson.

She was working at an Atlantic City spa at the time of the shooting.

On Tuesday, the jury of 12 women and two men heard from Johnson, who testified that Galati was behind the Nov. 30, 2013, hit. He also admitted that Tiffany Galati had asked him to beat up Jeffrey Capuano, her former boyfriend and the father of her son, in November 2012.

In text messages - read in court by defense attorney Anthony Voci in an apparent attempt to discredit her testimony against her father - she asked Johnson to hurt Capuano:

"I'll pay whatever, I don't care. Gotta be done. . . . Just make sure my kid ain't around him when it happens, please, that would be traumatizing."

Tiffany Galati admitted wanting Capuano hurt but said she never wanted anything to happen to Tuono.

"I loved him; I still love him," she said of the 35-year-old Tuono. The two split up in May.

In nearly three hours of testimony, Tiffany Galati, clad in black Spandex pants, gray sweater, and gold sandals, her tone often sarcastic, said she had not spoken to her father since two days after the shooting.

She said she blamed two miscarriages on the stress she said her family caused her when she broke up with Capuano and started dating Tuono.

So horrifying was her relationship with her family that she texted a photo of a fetus in the toilet to her brother, sister, and father after a miscarriage in August 2013.

She testified that her brother replied that if it was Tuono's baby, it was "for the best."

Compounding that was an ugly custody battle with Capuano over their now-6-year-old son, and a restraining order she filed against Capuano's father. She said her father still took Capuano's side.

In retaliation, she refused to let her father see his grandson while she had custody, even when Ronald Galati showed up in Atlantic City about two weeks before the shooting.

"My father hurt and betrayed me," Tiffany Galati said.

"Your father loved little Jeffrey to the exclusion of all things and all people?" Voci asked.

"Yeah, he probably loved him more than me," she responded.

Tuono, 35, wearing jeans and a black dress shirt, and sounding diffident at times, testified that his relationship with Ronald Galati rapidly deteriorated once he started dating Tiffany Galati.

He said Galati threatened him, quoting lines from the mobster movie Goodfellas and making jokes about a meat grinder at the restaurant where they were eating, just a few weeks before he was shot.

Voci raised questions about Tuono's involvement with drugs, hinting they could have been the real reason he was shot. Tuono said on the stand that he had only ever taken prescription pills and testosterone enhancements from GNC. He said he had never seen the men who shot him before.

Tuono was shot in a hand, a hip, and the stomach. He told Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Richardson that he tried to dial 911, to no avail, and called a few friends to say goodbye. Tiffany Galati also never called 911, saying that she was shocked and confused, and that police responded shortly thereafter anyway.

"Tiffany's standing there like she's frozen. I'm like, 'Tiff, get out of here. Call the cops,' " Tuono said.

Two days after the shooting, Tiffany said she called her father and asked for $8,000 for an attorney to help her get primary custody of her son.

"He wouldn't help," she said. "But he had $20,000 to give to shooters." She said her father told her, " 'Leave me alone, I'm going to jail in 30 days for life. You're dead to me,' " and hung up.

When asked how she felt about her father now, she said, "He's my father; I still love him." At that, Ronald Galati wiped his eyes with a tissue and took a sip of water.

As his daughter exited the courtroom, Galati turned around in his chair and waved goodbye. Tiffany Galati walked out of the double doors, flanked by two U.S. marshals.

The trial continues Wednesday, when the government is expected to rest its case.



jterruso@phillynews.com

856-779-3876 @juliaterruso


Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_je...KMbdlG5dc5f1.99

OK, now we know this crazy broad is texting pictures of her dead fetus in the toilet.....Run, Run away as fast as you can!!!

Tiffany Galati is Cosa Nutsa To the core. And this Tuono guy should be shot at for staying with this girl.

But guys, we all know why he's with her. The crazy ones are the best between the sheets.

I think she may be taking crazy to a whole other level with the pic of the fetus, and then the new boyfriend for going along with that, if any of it is true is just very very far out there past AC that is the middle of the atlantic ocean crazy

Now seeing the pic of her bf, Tuono, I'd bet most of you guys have a decent shot at being the next victim of crazy.

I'm thinking about running off with her, because crazy is better then being normal.. You know what normal is carm ? It's the setting on a washing machine,,,and hell the only thing I launder these days is my spider man costume

She does appear to be single at the moment so there is that as well, maybe Fox29 or 6ABC philly can do there own edition of the bachelor Oregon avenue version

What a bunch of idiots. Galati his daughter, her ex, her ex ex bunch of idiots. Now she's testifying for the government. A joke of a case. Guy is barely mobbed up otherwise he wouldn't of hired losers to do the hit. Lot of press for nobodys

Yeah there's a lot of rumors floating around about him. Some of these guys aren't as significant as you think they would be in their geographic area's. It's not the days of Scarfo when if someone disagreed with you or disrespected you, or somehow got involved in a bad business deal even a legit one like real estate these guys aren't killers. A few are but technology and LE has killed a lot of there shit especially haven't all their rackets laid out in detail 25 years ago. That doesn't help the organization when an employee/member leaves and goes public with trade secrets or counter surveillance tactics etc etc

Are these shooters from the north or west philly area?

A previous post/ article mentions Galati's daughter working in a "spa" in Atlantic City. Anyone have any information on that?

This chick is nuts bad news. She might have planed this hole thing. Seems like her and the black guy had a thing. Perfect frame job but why would. She put her mom and brother threw it. This bitch wants to be on mobwives

I wonder if the "spa" she works at in AC has you leaving with a happy ending....

I heard she gives the tooth

She likes the BBC !!!

Wow, that bitch is crazy!!!

http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/09/what-jury-knows-and-doesnt-know-in.html#more

All the latest.

The Tuono guy has to be the oldest looking 35 year old I've ever seen.

I thought the same thing. He's not the best looking guy, that's for sure.

Yeah Tuono looks like s*it.....Here is the above article copied and pasted.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

What The Jury Knows, And Doesn't Know, In the Galati Trial

Tiffany Galati
By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday morning in the murder-for-hire trial of South Philadelphia auto body shop owner Ron Galati.

A jury of 10 women and two men will likely begin deliberations later in the day. Galati's future is in the balance. The 64-year-old wannabe wiseguy, who opted not to take the witness stand, faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted. A sentence near the top of the guideline would be tantamount to life.

If the jury convicts, Galati's daughter Tiffany, 31, will be the witness who sealed his fate.

If the jury acquits, or can't make a decision, Tiffany may also be the reason.

The tart-tongued South Philadelphia princess was one of the last witnesses called by the prosecution in the weeklong case. She spent nearly three hours on the stand, largely supporting the testimony of three other key witnesses who said Ron Galati had hired them to kill Andrew Tuono, Tiffany's then boyfriend.

Tuono, 35, was shot outside his Atlantic City home on Nov. 30 of last year. He survived the hit and also appeared as a witness.

But the consensus from those who have followed this case is that the verdict will revolve around whether the jury accepts Tiffany Galati's version of the family dynamic at play when Tuono was shot.

Ron Galati's lawyer, Anthony Voci Jr., has done a masterful job challenging the credibility of all the government witnesses. But he may have been most effective in raising questions about the motivation of Galati's daughter.

Voci is expected to revisit that issue one more time Monday morning when he and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Richardson, the prosecutor in the case, offer their closing arguments to the jury.

That Tiffany Galati was estranged from her father was never in dispute. That "Drew" Tuono was shot three times by Ronald Walker with assistance from Alvin Matthews and Jerome Johnson also was a given.


Andrew Tuono
Why Tuono was shot is the question on which the outcome of the case hangs.

Richardson told the jury in his opening statement on Sept. 16 that this was a "simple case." And the evidence and testimony he put before the jury tried to keep it that way. Ron Galati, he said, was upset that his daughter was living with Tuono. He wanted her to break up with him and when she refused, he hired Walker and the others to have him killed.

Johnson, according to the government's theory, was the expeditor who set the hit in motion. Walker testified that Johnson drove him and Matthews to Atlantic City on the night of the shooting and provided the .25 caliber semi-automatic that he used to pump three bullets into Tuono. Walker also said that Galati promised to pay him $20,000 for the hit. Matthews was supposedly in line for a car.

But through a pointed and relentless cross-examination, Voci was able to punch some holes in the prosecution case. Most damaging was Tiffany Galati's admission that she had at one time solicited Johnson to harm another of her boyfriends, the father of her young son Jeffrey. From the witness stand she said she wanted her son's father beaten up, but not killed.

The implication that Voci was trying to plant was that Tiffany had tried to use Johnson earlier and that the Tuono shooting may have been a second act in the same bloody play. The fact that Tiffany Galati drove away from the Tuono shooting without calling police and a comment from Walker that she appeared to know what was going to happen the night he shot Tuono further underscored the scenario Voci wants the jury to at least consider.

Reasonable doubt can lead to an acquittal or a hung jury. Either would be a victory for Galati.

Tiffany Galati's character was also laid bare through her testimony. Again, on cross examination, she admitted sending her brother and parents a text photo of a fetus in a toilet, the residue of a miscarriage she said she suffered as a result of the pressure and tension her father had put her under because she was living with Tuono.

The couple has since split.

Tiffany Galati testified that she suffered two miscarriages, both pregnancies with Tuono, during the tumultuous period when they were living together and while her father was allegedly plotting to end their relationship and Tuono's life.

Evidence and testimony has provided the jury with a look at a bloody and bitter South Philadelphia soap opera. Voci is apparently counting on the women on the jury to see Tiffany Galati for what he contends she is -- a spoiled, manipulative princess who always got her way. There is a theory in the less than scientific speculation surrounding jury selection that women, rather than men, are more likely to question the motives and credibility of a woman witness.

The Galati camp was clearly happy when the jury panel chosen to hear the case included 10 women.

But to buy into the defense story that jury will have to ignore the heart of the government's case. The prosecution has not held any of its witness up as shining paragons of decency. Walker, Matthews and Johnson all have criminal records. Walker is an admitted drug dealer.

They are not upstanding citizens, but they are the kind of people you would seek out if you were planning a murder. That's part of the prosecution argument.

The question that Richardson is expected to ask the jury is a simple one that goes to the core of what he has said is a simple case. Why would Walker, Johnson and Matthews all lie about Ron Galati's role in the murder plot? Once they decided to cooperate -- and Walker and Matthews did that a short time after they were arrested on the very night of the shooting -- why would they fabricate a story about who hired them?

If Tiffany Galati was behind the hit and Walker and Matthews were looking to cut a deal, why wouldn't they have given her up that night instead of her father?

That's what the jury will have to wrestle with.

What the panel doesn't know is that Ron Galati is awaiting trial in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia in a separate murder-for-hire case that also involves Johnson, Walker and Matthews. In that case, Galati is charged with targeting two rival auto body shop operators -- a father and son -- whom he correctly believed were cooperating in an insurance fraud investigation in which he had been targeted. (He and 30 others were subsequently indicted.)

The jury has not heard any of the details of the alleged Philadelphia murder plot, a plot that authorities say was set in motion on Galati's orders by Jerome Johnson, a plot that was to be carried out by Walker and Matthews. Sound familiar? The hit never took place because the rival body shop operators had closed their business before Walker and Matthews could make a move on them. But the conspiracy alleged in that case is almost identical to the plot laid out in the Tuono shooting.

Voci, in a move that changed the dynamic in the Tuono case, filed a pretrial motion to bar any mention of the other murder-for-hire case, arguing that it might unduly prejudice the jury. Judge Joseph Rodriguez agreed.

When the jury begins deliberations early next week its members know that Tiffany Galati once tried to solicit Johnson to harm a former boyfriend. What they don't know is that Ron Galati is charged with orchestrating a second murder-for-hire plot using the same group of conspirators who, Richardson says, played kill roles in the shooting of Tuono.

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

Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/09/what-jury-knows-and-doesnt-know-in.html#myfXbJCMAGVjbwOB.99

Yes. We have got to consider the people that don't want to expand energy by clicking on a link. I almost pulled a hernia doing that.

So thanks for the wall of text.

I bet after being involved in this fiasco.

Closing arguments: Galati trial to turn on testimony from hit men


Ronald Galati, 64, a convicted fraudster who ran a South Philly auto-body shop, wanted his daughter´s boyfriend dead, according to federal prosecutors in New Jersey.

Ronald Galati, 64, a convicted fraudster who ran a South Philly auto-body shop, wanted his daughter's boyfriend dead, according to federal prosecutors in New Jersey.

The only evidence tying Ronald Galati to the shooting of his daughter's boyfriend is the testimony of three men, all career criminals, who say Galati hired them to do it.

It's up to a jury whether to believe them.

"This is a simple case, simple facts. The defendant, Ron Galati, wanted Andrew Tuono dead," U.S. Assistant District Attorney Jason Richardson said in his closing argument today in federal court in Camden.

Richardson reiterated in a 30-minute summation how the three hit men - Ronald Walker, Jerome Johnson and Alvin Matthews - all testified that Galati sent them to shoot Tuono in Atlantic City. The three have pleaded guilty in the case and are facing life in prison. Tuono was struck three times while walking with Tiffany Galati from his apartment to a car with Tiffany Galati but survived the attack.

Galati, an alleged mob associate, is on trial on murder-for-hire and attempted-murder charges that could land him in prison for 15 years. He also faces murder-for-hire charges in Philadelphia and insurance scam charges in Philadelphia. No testimony about Galati's friendships or connection to the Philadelphia mob was admissible in the trial.

Galati's attorney Anthony Voci delivered an animated hour and 20 minute argument in which he emphasized the lack of any physical evidence against his client.

"The government delivered one gigantic 'say so,' " Voci said. "You got a say-so case; you got three crumbs with criminal records who are all looking at life in prison."

Voci told jurors to consider the questions that went unanswered - such as whether Tiffany Galati could have been involved. A year earlier, she had texted with one of the hit men, Johnson, about beating up a previous love interest. Police and the hit men had described her behavior that night as strange. She never called 9-1-1; she got into her car and drove away.

Voci also questioned why a drug dealer with whom Tuono had gotten into a fight a week before the shooting hadn't been investigated. Both Tuono and Walker dealt drugs, according to testimony.

"Why didn't anyone look into that connection?" Voci asked. "I'm the government I'm closing that door, so I can't get up here and start poking holes."

Voci also challenged the motive presented by the government - that Galati was angry that Tuono, a friend of his, had started dating his daughter and that he became incensed when Tuono and Tiffany Galati moved to Atlantic City with his grandson.

"He took Tiffany away? Yeah, to New Jersey where she'd been working for nine years. It's Atlantic City. It wasn't like she was on the other side of the planet." Voci said.

In his summation, which came first, Richardson preemptively dismissed the suggestion Tiffany Galati or a drug feud may have been behind the shooting.

"If it were a rival drug dealer why would they leave a witness alive. Why wouldn't they touch the girl? Does that make sense?" Richardson asked.

Ronald Galati "set the chain in motion, he set the ball rolling, they were his instruments, and you can see his intent all through this case," Richardson said.

The government will have the chance to rebut the defense summation, and then the jury of 12 women and two men will be charged after lunch.

The courtroom was packed with family and friends of Galati, including his son, Ronald Jr., and wife, Vicky. Tuono sat in the front row apart from the Galati crowd, flanked by agents from the prosecutor's office.

Tiffany Galati did not attend.

jterruso@phillynews.com


Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_je...MBFiRYy3GyH3.99

Galati guilty on all counts

Thanks Jose

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_je...re_in_N_J_.html

Wonder if he will roll on joey for the Schuylkill expressway hit on stanfa

That seems kind of far-fetched now,I mean what does he say Joey came to me to cut out holes in his van and then Joey says no I didn't.Then what,seems like it would be almost impossible to prove.

Exactly. Not to mention the statute of limitations is up on that. Unless they can fold it into a Rico predicate. Even that is far fetched considering it was almost 20 years ago. He has nothing on Joey.

The guy isn't going to Rat he can't bring anything to the table.

He knows alot of stuff it may be hearsay but he employed a bunch of the s philly guys out of prison... he was probably around when things were talked about..... but niccodemo is the main one having ppl on edge in s philly

You say people you mean 3 people on edge..that's it. Galati's bs might not be enough to make a good case against anyone

It's a alot more than 3. Nicodemo opens his mouth and you can say bye bye forever to alot of those guys.

Nicodemo must know about Turchi, Long John, Johnny Gongs. They all happened while he was around. Feds are gonna make him tell everything, IF (IF, IF, IF) he rolls. No one knows if he will. He may just do the time.

And all the people that have been involved in the murders or whatnot....and for uncle joe it adds to the rico case

Yeah, think it's pretty much a given that Nicodemo has enough to put a lot of guys away for life. Not sure you can say the same about Galati.

And the word on the street is that Nicodemo was the actual triggerman for both Long John Martorano and the Johnny Gongs hits....

To further embellish, now follow me here-Nicodemo and Johnny Gongs were the two trigger men for the long john martorano hit, then Nicodemo got the orders to hit Johnny Gongs and he supposedly hit Johnny Gongs with Damion Canalichio, who is currently serving 11 years from 2011 bust fallout! (ALLEGEDLY, WORD ON STREETS IN SOUTH PHILLY) Nuts....