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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

these guys are toast

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

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

god forbid, right?

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

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

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

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

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

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

No verdict yet

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

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

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

MONDAY, JUNE 23, 2014

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They walk

Still no news on these two morons?

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

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

From ed scarpo's blog last night-

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

Is the jury working on Saturday?

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

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

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

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Verdict In FirstPlus Trial, But Deliberations Contniue



By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

they are fucking cooked, no way they get not guilty

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

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