It's an accepted fact the FED'S have a hard on for Merlino, going back to when he knocked off that armored car, then him beating the murder and drug dealing charges. His arrogant attitude doesn't help him either. The same goes for his boy Borgesi, they want to put his ass away for life too.

You have to give credit to Merlino and his inner circle when it comes to their ability to commit murders and get away with it so far, the latest Nicodemo debacle being the exception.

There is no doubt the FED'S play dirty when they really want to get someone. As mentioned earlier, they used some loophole to allow Burton Kaplan to testify in the Mafia Cops case, without his testimony tthey most likely don't have enough to take the case to court.