Former mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino cut a colorful figure as he strode into the Philadelphia federal courthouse Friday for his first appearance before a judge here in more than a decade.
Dressed in a floral tie and dapper suit, he threw a few needling jabs at the FBI agents who have tracked him for years, joked with gathered reporters and easily slipped back into the mouthy, media-friendly persona he'd cultivated as the head of the city's crime family.
"Can't wait to go to the parade," he quipped to the cameras on his way in to court.
For more than two hours, prosecutors and lawyers argued legal technicalities, studied dates on the calendar and argued about office procedure as U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick weighed whether federal authorities had missed their deadline to try to put Merlino back in prison.
The judge did not issue a ruling Friday, and said he would put off hearing evidence on any alleged probation violations until he reached a decision on the timing issue.
For his part, Merlino sat quietly at the defense table throughout. Asked afterward what he made of the last-minute attempt to put him back in prison, he said: "They're mental."
Well Joey still has his sense of humor despite the fact that the feds are doing their best to lock him up.
