A Stamford man who authorities allege is a Gambino crime family associate has been sentenced to five years in prison for loan sharking and illegally possessing ammunition.

Seventy-nine-year-old Nicola Melia was also fined $50,000 and ordered to forfeit more than $250,000 during his sentencing Monday in federal court in New Haven. He pleaded guilty in September.

Federal prosecutors say Melia made loans to a Fairfield County resident totaling about $155,000 beginning in May 2000. Authorities say the unnamed resident paid nearly $400,000 in interest, including about $250,000 in interest on a $10,000 initial loan.

Melia has two other convictions in the past 11 years. He was sentenced to four months in a halfway house in 2000 for tax fraud and got nearly three years in prison in 2005 for racketeering.

5 years ain't so bad for the money he was getting.

Should we put this guy on the "fast rising mafioso list?"

wasnt this guy in a capeci article or a previous article where they said this guy declined to be made into the gambinos? im like 99% positive the did

Here you go

Judge rejects $1 million bond request for mob figure

A federal judge rejected a $1 million request to release a reputed Gambino crime family connected loanshark adding that only "24/7 supervision" would protect the public from Nicola Melia.
"And that is not possible," said U.S. District Magistrate Judge Holly B. Fitzsimmons who released Melia on $5 million in 2004 only to be later told by federal investigators that Melia conducted meetings and loaned money in his then 96-year-old mother's nursing home room.
"I do not regard Mr. Melia as someone the court can trust," she said. "I can not fathom what conditions could be fashioned to protect the community."
Melia, 78, of Bushwood Road, Stamford, is expected to be indicted next week on charges of making extortionate loans and using threats to collect the money.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Chen said Melia has "hundreds of thousands in loans on the street ... his home functions as a bank for his loan-sharking activities. For him to go back there would be misguided."
The prosecutor said a search of Melia's home last week led to the seizure of 40 hollow-point bullets, papers and notes, which corroborate the loan-sharking business, a DEA badge, a switch blade, a billy club and cash.
The prosecutor said Melia is still on U.S. Probation supervision as a result of a 2005 racketeering conviction involving Gambino and Patriarca crime family figures that landed him a 33-month federal prison stint. The supervision does not end until September and most probably will result in it being violated, which could add more prison time.
In 2000, Melia did four months in federal prison for under reporting $150,000 on his 1994 return.
Because of these felony convictions, Melia is not allowed to possess a gun or ammunition.
Victor Sherman, one of Melia's lawyers, suggested that Melia be confined to his home wearing an electronic monitoring device after posting the equity in property he owns at 20 Bushwood Road and 36 Starin Drive, both in Stamford. The New York lawyer said his client suffers from numerous medical conditions, all of which are "life threatening."
Sherman said the arrest warrant alleges Melia lent $375,000 to an individual, but also told him "as long as I am alive no one is going to hurt you."
But Chen added that the recorded quote is preceded by the words "They got a big crew. They go in the house and kill people."
The borrower, who reportedly has a substance abuse problem, allegedly set up a burglary at Melia's home last fall in which the reputed organized crime figure and his wife were bound and gagged before the assailants fled with money and jewelry, Sherman charged.
Melia reportedly told federal authorities he turned down an offer to become a `made' member of organized crime.
The defendant's 39-year-old son, Philip, was arrested by Stamford police last week on assault and criminal mischief charges for allegedly beating one of the robbers.

http://fivefamiliesnyc.blogspot.com/2011/04/judge-rejects-1-million-bond-request.html

Nick Melia isn't a made guy in the American mob (Gambino family), and his boast about turning down his button was probably just that, a boast.

It was always rumored that he was made "on the other side," but not here. And by "the other side," I mean a Calabrian-Canadian cell of some kind, because his older brother Vincenzo was a heavyweight go-between between a Canadian-Calabrian cell and the Stamford area Gambinos from as far back as the '70s.

As far as the Connecticut Gambinos, he has worked with whoever the power of the moment happens to be. From Frank Piccolo to Tommy DeBrizzi to Tony Megale. He's been around the Stamford-Fairfield area forever, and he IS a major league shylock, so he has to pay "rent" to someone.

And I really laughed my ass off when someone posted "is he an up and coming wiseguy," because it was a funny line. But the truth is, his mother lived to be a hundred years old, and I understand that he takes right after her. So this may not be the end for him. If he comes out healthy, he'll hit the street again. It's just his way.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

PB:

For the past few years, Nick Melia, his brother Vincenzo, and other Calabrian organized-crime figures in Connecticut have been of great interest to me because of the links they have had to one particular Canadian 'ndrangheta clan in the Greater Toronto Area -- the Commissos -- and to Michele "Mike" Racco (died 1980) who lived in Toronto. Racco was seen as an influential 'ndrangheta figure in Canada and the US, and he commanded respect from disparate Italian organized-crime groups in both countries. I wanted to ask you some questions about these Connecticut guys and others, but first let me share some of my research. (Anyone else who wants to chime in or answer my questions, please do.) I should initially point out that American law-enforcement and intelligence-gathering units were quite instrumental in uncovering the roots of the Siderno Mafia in North America and how this group operated on this continent.

The excerpt below is from James Dubro's 1985 book Mob rule: inside the Canadian Mafia. This important book is part biography of Toronto-based Buffalo Family member Paul Volpe and part exposition of the Siderno Group in Canada. This excerpt has personal information about Vince Melia, illustrates his ties to 'ndrangheta figures in the cities of Toronto and Montreal, and gives a general outline of Melia's plot in 1981 to kill Nick Melia's troublemaking girlfriend at the time, Helen Nafpliotis. The part of the excerpt in italics appeared in italics in the book.

Vince Melia, fifty-five, a Sidernese mobster close to Mike Racco who had become one of the leaders of the Calabrese mob in Connecticut, contracted out to his Canadian counterparts to have his brother's troublesome girl-friend [sic] killed. Vince Melia was no stranger either to Toronto or to the police both in Canada and the United States. Melia had lived in Toronto for several years before moving to Connecticut. The following entry under Vince Melia's name appears in a U.S. Immigration intelligence report on the Siderno mob:

Melia, Vincenzo: born 29 April 1929, 32 Wakemore Street, Darien, Connecticut. During a conversation between Michele Racco, Toronto, Ontario and Domenic Torrente of Montreal, Quebec, it appeared that Torrente was having problems with Melia, and he wished Michele Racco to intercede in the difference. Racco, in a later conversation with Melia discussed the differences noted above. Melia stated that he told someone (probably Torrente) that Racco was to decide. A third discussion took place between Michele Racco and Joe Marterisano (phonetic), who informed Racco that he had received a call from Melia and was told to call Racco to be brought up to date on things.

Clearly Melia was well connected and a force to be reckoned with on the international mob stage.

So when Vince Melia contacted his ally Cosimo Commisso and asked him to send a hit man down to Stamford, Conn., to kill a hairdresser named Helen Nafpliotis, Cosimo Commisso named a price and readily agreed to provide a Canadian hit man. This was part of the hit-man exchange program between Canada and the States. Nafpliotis was having a messy affair with Vince's brother Nick, whose wife was in a jealous rage over the thirty-two-year-old, bleached-blonde hairdresser, and had already on one occasion gone after Helen with a hockey stick. More importantly, Helen had been an eyewitness to a Melia shooting. She had to go.
------------------------

Anyone wanting to learn more about the Nafpliotis murder plot and the aftermath should read Mob rule; Mafia enforcer by Cecil Kirby and Thomas C. Renner (a book that also is known under an earlier title, Mafia assassin: The inside story of a Canadian biker); and Police undercover: The true story of the biker, the mafia & the mountie by Mark G. Murphy -- these last two books will reveal a lot about the Commisso clan and its ties to 'ndrangheta figures in the US. Online, you can find information about Melia's appeal of his extradition at either http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/667/300/76737 or http://uniset.ca/other/cs5/667F2d300.html -- the information is identical on both webpages. Here are links to two newspaper articles, about the aftermath, that you'll find in Google News Archives:

Vincenzo Melia

Vincenzo Melia 2

Here are some of my notes about Vince's and Nick Melia's general movement in terms of migration:

*Vince, an Italian citizen, had moved from Siderno (Calabria) to Toronto. Then he moved to Stamford.
*Nick too had spent some time living in Toronto before moving to Connecticut.

Questions:

1. One of the individuals charged in the conspiracy to murder Nafpliotis was Gerlando Russo, identified in articles and books as Jerry Russo. Over the years, insofar as his name has appeared in articles in Connecticut-published newspapers, was his first name sometimes spelled "Gerry"?

2. Did being inducted into the 'ndrangheta, whether in Italy or in North America, preclude any Connecticut guys from being made into an American LCN family with outposts in the state? We all know how being made into more than one family is problematic if not supposedly impossible, but I'm asking about specific cases or a specific edict.

3. Were there any alleged 'ndrangheta guys in Connecticut with the surname Torrente or Larosa?

4. There was known 'ndrangheta activity in Stamford. Any activity in the following cities?

Meriden
Darien
Hartford
Bridgeport
Norwalk
Waterbury

Or was it a case of there being activity in one or two cities but that the 'ndrangheta guys were spread out among various cities in the state?

5. Which Connecticut newspapers have good online archives, including pay-per-article and other subscription services?

6. Which university or public libraries in Connecticut have good newspaper archives, regardless of whether the media are in digital, microform, microfiche, or hard-copy format?

Thanks in advance.

[quote=antimafia
5. Which Connecticut newspapers have good online archives, including pay-per-article and other subscription services?

6. Which university or public libraries in Connecticut have good newspaper archives, regardless of whether the media are in digital, microform, microfiche, or hard-copy format?

Thanks in advance. [/quote]

I don´t know if this link http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/advancedsearch.html
will help you out. But you might try it.

And also, I will try to help you out with question number 6 as well. But it may take some days because I will have to ask around. Stay tuned!

An Italian who doesn't care about the law? Shocking.

Woah 79 years old man? Why is that guy still an associate?

Thanks, HK. The link you provided will help. I already use one ProQuest service for research, and the cost to me is free when I log in with a Toronto Public Libraries card number. Using ProQuest to search the archives of the Hartford Courant will cost me, but this will be money well spent.

Antimafia, a friend in Connecticut sent me this email:

The Sterling Memorial Library at Yale is probably the best resource in the state. http://www.library.yale.edu/microform/

There is a Connecticut State Library in Hartford that serves as the "official" Connecticut library. That may be very useful as well (it holds the Hartford Courant and some other newspapers, as well as official federal and state government documents), though I suspect the microform collection is not the equal of Sterling. http://www.cslib.org/

For city newspapers (other than the Hartford Courant), it appears that the best bet is the public library in the city of interest. Generally, microfilm from local newspapers is held there.

/// Hopefully this will help you out.

If he hasn't earned good or committed murder, then what is the point of inducting him.

Thank you once again, HK. If I am not permitted access to these resources, I foresee in my near future taking a trip from Toronto to New Haven, after which I'll travel to Hartford.

Are you Italian? Because that was a really ignorant comment.

Lol

He's probably close to getting out, as they are usually in jail for a year of two before trial and get time served credits along with early release.

Anyone know for sure...

you've said shit just as ignorant as him

July 31, 2015

You actually took the time to go find that on the other thread then copy+paste it back over here I appreciate the dedication to me. And my reply was sarcastic but 'gangs don't sell drugs' was just stupid. That's it though im not doing this, say what you want I don't care i'm just not getting into one of these stupid arguments your notorious for stirring