http://www.bigtrial.net/2013/02/uncle-joe-six-associates-guilty-in-mob.htmlTuesday, February 5, 2013
Uncle Joe Beats Rap, Three Associates Guilty in Mob Trial
By George Anastasia
for Bigtrial.net
After 21 days of deliberations, Philadelphia mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi wound up with a hung jury on racketeering conspiracy charges.
The jury also hung on racketeering conspiracy charges for George Borgesi, who is Ligambi's nephew, and Ligambi's top associate, Anthony Staino.
Joseph "Scoops" Licata was acquitted on racketeering conspiracy charges.
They were the lucky ones.
The jury convicted three mobsters of racketeering conspiracy: underboss Joseph “Mousie” Massimino, mob soldier Damion Canalichio, and mob associate Gary Battaglini.
The jury returned a finding of either not guilty or undecided on most of the remaining 52 counts in the case. On the undercard, only Anthony Staino was convicted on two counts of loansharking involving an undercover FBI agent.
The big question that remains now is whether the government will retry Ligambi, Borgesi and Staino on racketeering conspiracy, the most serious charge in the case.
The verdicts announced this afternoon were greeted with cries, moans and shouts of anger by family members and friends who crowded into the 15th floor courtroom of Judge Eduardo Robreno, who had presided over the 10-week trial.
Ligambi, 73, was also charged with gambling, extortion, fraud and obstruction of justice charges. If convicted, he would have faced a 10- to 20-year prison sentence that would have effectively ended his reign as Philadelphia mob boss.
The other defendants were charged with related gambling, loansharking and extortion charges. But the most serious offense, and the one that carries the heaviest sentence, was the racketeering conspiracy charge that topped the 52-count indictment first handed up in May 2011.
Ligambi and four of his co-defendants, underboss Joseph “Mousie” Massimino, 62, capos Joseph Licata, 71, and George Borgesi (Ligambi’s nephew), 49, and mob soldier Damion Canalichio, 42, have been held without bail.
Two other defendants, mob soldier Anthony Staino, 54, and mob associate Gary Battaglini, 51, have been free on bail during the trial.
Ligambi, if he had not wound up with a hung jury, would have been the fifth Philadelphia mob boss convicted of racketeering in the past 25 years. Two of those mob leaders, Nicodemo “Little Nicky” Scarfo and John Stanfa, remain in prison. Another, Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino, was released last year after serving a 14-year sentence . The fifth mob boss, Ralph Natale, became a cooperating witness and pleaded guilty to racketeering charges tied to murder, extortion and drug dealing. He also was sentenced to 14 years in prison and was recently released.
If Ligambi had been convicted, mob watchers had been speculating that the power vacuum might have been filled by Skinny Joey Merlino. Merlino, 50, has been living in Florida since his release. He has indicated to friends and associates, however, that he has no desire to return to South Philadelphia.
Several top Merlino associates who were conivicted with him, are also free and have been identified by law enforcement authorities as still active in the underworld. That group includes mob leaders Steven Mazzone and John Ciancaglini. But both have maintained a low profile, opting according to several sources, to concentrate on making money rather than making headlines.
Another factor in the Philadelphia underworld is the return of several members of the Scarfo organization who close to 25 years in jail following their convictions for racketeering in 1988. Scarfo, 83, is one of the last of 16 defendants convicted in that case to remain behind bars. His release date, according to prison records, is 2033. In effect, he is serving a life sentence.
Mob boss John Stanfa, convicted in a 1995 racketeering case, was literally sentenced to life and has no chance to return to power.
The convictions announced today capped a tumultuous jury deliberation process that took up 21 days over a four-week period. Two jurors were replaced by altenates during deliberations, one became ill and the other admitted to prior negative knowledge about a defense witness.
Whether that second juror tainted the jury panel could be one area for defense appeals. The judge denied a defense motion for a mistrial over that issue during deliberations.
Defense lawyers are expected to appeal on several grounds, but that process could take several years and offers no immediate relief for those convicted.
Several of those defendants may also have more serious criminal problems connected to the unsolved gangland murder of John “Johnny Gongs” Casasanto in 2003.
A key suspect in that case, mob soldier Anthony Nicodemo, was arrested in December for the shooting of a South Philadelphia man. Nicodemo has been held without bail pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for Feb. 20 in Common Pleas Court.
Nicodemo is charged with murder conspiracy and related offenses in connection with the gangland-style slaying of Gino DiPietro, who was gunned down on a neighborhood street corner on the afternoon of Dec. 13. His arrest has sparked speculation that law enforcement authorities will pressure him to cooperate and tell what he knows about the Casasanto murder in order to help himself in the pending murder case.
No one has been charged with the Johnny Gongs hit, but authorities believe it was tied to underworld unrest at a time when Merlino and Ligambi were sharing power. Authorities would like to link both mob leaders to that shooting and have mentioned several other mob figures, including Canalichio, as individuals who may have knowledge about what went down and why on the night Casasanto was shot in the back of the head.
He was found sprawled on the floor of his rowhouse kitchen, leading to speculation that he knew those who killed him and let them into his house.
Philadelphia Police homicide detectives have a substantial file on the murder case and have interview potential witnesses. Investigators have a theory about how the murder took place and who was involved, identifying two shooters and a lookout. But to date they have not had strong enough evidence to make any arrests.
Sources say, however, that either Nicodemo or Canalichio could provide that information. The question posed by one law enforcement source was “Who goes first?”
