Merlino, who some law enforcement officials believe still oversees mob activity here, could be thrown back in prison if he loses his latest court battle. And the feds would love nothing more than to indict him on new charges. They even wired up an informant and sent him to Florida to try to get Merlino saying something incriminating on tape. But Merlino didn't seem particularly worried yesterday as a media scrum followed him out of the courthouse and across the street.
Looks like the Feds are doing everything they can to keep Joey close to home and on paper until after Nicodemo is retried which may not happen until January.
