Bigfella,

From Anastasia'a article from yesterday

"He fully understands the seriousness of such violations," the prosecutor argued. "John Ciancaglini was a co-defendant of Merlino’s in the instant case. Frank Fiore is a convicted fraudster. Bradley Sirkin, who is related to a capo in the Lucchese crime family, is also a convicted felon. In fact, by Merlino’s own admission in his memorandum of law, Merlino met Sirkin in a federal halfway house. Any suggestion that Merlino did not know that these were prohibited persons is patently unreasonable."