November 10, 2016 This Week in Gang Land
By George Anastasia

Unknown Racketeering Defendant Linked To The Mob, Mulch And Medicare Fraud In Three States

Gang Land Exclusive!Bradley SirkinIn the pecking order of the racketeering indictment of 46 mob-connected defendants with ties to five crime families now pending in Manhattan Federal Court, Bradley (Brad) Sirkin would appear to be a minor player.

His name appears next to last in the long list of defendants from five states and he earns little more than a passing reference in the 32-page indictment that charges him and all the others with racketeering conspiracy.

"He's stayed under the radar," a law enforcement source said.

But the former Staten Island resident has some major league mob connections from New York to Florida, said that same source.

One of them is Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino, the Philadelphia mob boss and co-defendant in the New York case. Another, according to New Jersey investigators, is Bonanno crime family capo Peter Lovaglio. The three men are all 54 years old.

Joseph MerlinoThe Lovaglio connection has surfaced in an ongoing probe by the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation (SCI) that focuses on the mob's latest incursion into the Garden State's trash industry. As acting SCI director Lee Seglem said in opening comments at an SCI hearing in May, "Profiting from society's refuse has always been part of the mob's twisted business model."

At that hearing, the SCI reported that a Sirkin company, Jersey Recycling Services, was playing fast and loose in the poorly regulated recycling industry in order to dispose of more expensive and sometimes toxic waste materials.

Sirkin's alleged partner in Jersey Recycling was identified by the SCI only as a "Bonanno crime family capo." But sources have told Gang Land that it is Lovaglio, a hard drinking Staten Islander charged with assault with the intent of causing serious injury after he allegedly smashed the owner of a restaurant bar in the face with a cocktail glass last November. His last federal prison stretch, for a multi-million dollar fraud scheme, ended in March of 2015.

Over the years, the SCI has been in the forefront of targeting and rooting out corruption and mob influence in the trash and landfill business and its reports have resulted in tighter controls and more stringent licensing. But those controls don't apply to the recycling industry and, the SCI contends, the mob has literally and figuratively driven hundreds of trash laden trucks through that loophole.

Peter LovaglioThe SCI focused on a landfill in Palmyra, NJ, just outside of Philadelphia, where Sirkin set up operations in 2012. The landfill was licensed as a recycling operation and was permitted to accept 20,000 cubic yards of grass clippings, branches and weeds that would be converted and resold as mulch to landscapers and suburban homeowners.

Instead, the SCI found, the operation took in 380,000 cubic yards of construction debris – concrete, rebar and potentially carcinogen-contaminated soil.

Andrew Cliver, the SCI's lead attorney said Sirkin "operated under the cover of legitimacy" while flaunting the permit and licensing procedures designed to keep criminals out of the landfill business and to protect the environment.

The SCI investigation established that Sirkin would make monthly trips to Staten Island from Boca Raton, FL, and while up north he would visit the Palmyra operation. At the same time, according to federal indictments in Manhattan and in Tampa, Sirkin was a player in a massive medical insurance fraud scam involving prescription compound creams that, Florida authorities say, resulted in $157 million in fraudulent insurance company reimbursements.

Pasquale ParrelloIn the New York indictment, Sirkin is charged with health care fraud with eight others, including Merlino and Genovese capo Pasquale (Patsy) Parrello, the central figure in the case. Sirkin, like all the defendants in both Manhattan and in Tampa, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

But he's remained silent on the recycling investigation where no charges have been brought but where the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has shut down his operation.

When SCI officials said they intended to subpoena Sirkin to testify at the May hearing, his lawyer told the SCI that if called, Sirkin would exercise his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and decline to answer any questions. No subpoena was issued.

Frank GilletteAnother reputed mob associate, Frank Gillette, also 54, was called to testify, but cited his fifth amendment rights and refused to answer any questions posed by Cliver, the SCI attorney. Gillette, described as a "dirt broker" with ties to Lovaglio, was a key figure in an alleged illegal dumping operation where trash from a Bronx construction site ended up on the waterfront in the Clifford Beach section of Old Bridge, NJ.

Had Sirkin taken the witness stand, authorities would have asked him about a $50,000 check written by Lovaglio and carried on the Jersey Recycling books as a "shareholder loan" that investigators say has never been repaid.

An SCI investigator also testified that "Gillette and a Bonanno capo" were reported to be "partners with Sirkin and met with potential customers" to arrange business for Jersey Recycling. SCI investigators also said Sirkin had links to the Luchese organization in New York and to Merlino.

John RubeoHis relationship with Merlino began when both were in a halfway house in Florida. Sirkin, according to a memo filed in federal court, had been serving time following a conviction for wire fraud, conspiracy and money-laundering. Merlino was finishing up a 15-year sentence for racketeering.

After they were released Sirkin was Merlino's "constant companion…in Florida," according to an SCI investigator. "He drove (Merlino) everywhere and frequented high end business establishments."

That was the SCI's reserved way of referring to restaurants nightclubs and cigar bars where Merlino and his entourage were regulars. Sirkin was a part of that group. And so was John (J.R.) Rubeo, a Patsy Parrello associate who wore a wire for the FBI and who recorded hundreds of conversations in Florida and New York that are now part of the racketeering case.

No Reservations At Skinny Joey's Florida Restaurant

Merlino's WineglassIf you picked up a snazzy Merlino's wineglass on your last trip to Boca, don't throw it away. It may soon be a collector's item. It looks like Joey Merlino is out of the restaurant business.

Reports from Boca Raton, where his posh, eponymous nightspot was located, indicate that the restaurant is closed and the property is for sale. In June, Skinny Joey denied a Miami Herald report that Merlino's had gone belly up. He insisted that his joint was shutting down for the summer season and would reopen in the fall.

Who knows? That may have been the plan. But that was before the racketeering indictment that snared him and 45 co-defendants for being part of what federal prosecutors have dubbed an East Coast LCN Enterprise.

Merlino's Joey MerlinoWhen Merlino made bail back in August – friends and family posted real estate to back the $5 million get-out-of-jail ticket – his lawyers said he would be working to get his restaurant ready for the fall season.

But according to sources, Merlino's financing has dried up.

Merlino was apparently hoping to tap Florida buddy Wayne Kreisberg for a new infusion of cash for the restaurant. But like Bradley Sirkin, Kreisberg has his own problems. He is a co-defendant in both the New York racketeering case and in the medical insurance fraud and money-laundering indictment in Tampa.

Other potential financial backers have apparently shied away because of the uncertainty surrounding Merlino's future.

Joey, of course, didn't own the restaurant. As a convicted felon, he is barred from having a liquor license. Instead he lent his name and some of his mother's recipes to the enterprise and was on hand to meet and greet.

It was a good hang while it lasted, but Merlino has more pressing problems.

Edwin JacobsLike coming up with the cash to pay his high-powered lawyer Edwin Jacobs Jr.

Regarded as one of the top criminal defense attorneys in the area, Jacobs has successfully defended both Merlino and former Philadelphia mob boss Joseph (Uncle Joe) Ligambi in protracted battles with the feds .

But the Atlantic City-based attorney doesn't come cheap.

Word on the street is that the price tag is $250,000 up front and then a weekly stipend that could double the price once the trial gets under way in Manhattan. Expenses for hotel accommodations and meals would also be part of the package.

Merlino is said to be depending on members of the Philadelphia crime family to kick in for a defense fund. Reports are that a "fund raiser" is in the works. There have been grumblings, however. Some of the guys from downtown who were routinely sending cash to Merlino while he was living in Florida were surprised to learn that Joey had other sources of income that he neglected to mention.

Wayne KreisbergThe indictment puts him in the middle of a mob-run bookmaking operation involving professional gamblers and tens of thousands of dollars in weekly action. Details are sketchy because the feds in Manhattan have thus far offered a vaguely written account of the charges as they pertain to Skinny Joey. That may be a reflection of the nature of their case or it could be the curtain raiser with a stronger, superseding indictment waiting in the wings.

In terms of the gambling charge, was Merlino taking the action or placing the bets? Or both, as some sources say. Was he extorting gamblers? Or was he, as he had done frequently in Philadelphia, "guzzling" bookmakers?

Guzzling is a term used by Merlino and several associates to describe a scam in which they used straw parties and fake names to place bets, collecting when they won and "disappearing" when they lost.

Bookmakers in Philadelphia used to run when they saw Merlino coming because of his reputation as a no pay. Guzzling was a way for him to stay in the game.

Bradley SirkinThe indictment also hints that Merlino was in on the highly lucrative medical insurance scam involving compound creams that required prescriptions and that sold for thousands of dollar per tube. Not too many of his Philadelphia associates knew about the scheme and few, if any, shared in the windfall. Again, the New York indictment offers little detail, but the Tampa case involving both Kreisberg and Sirkin details a money-laundering and insurance fraud scam in which, it is alleged, more than $600 million was billed and more than $157 million in fraudulent reimbursements were paid by insurance company victims.

Was the scam that is alluded to in just one paragraph in the New York indictment similar or the same as the scam in the Tampa case? If so, what was Merlino's piece of that action?

Those are the kinds of questions being asked in underworld circles in Philadelphia where Joey's wheeling and dealing have once again given his top associates agita.

Ronald PreviteThey've seen it all before.

They shake their heads, roll their eyes and chalk it all up to Joey being Joey.

Ronnie Previte, the mobster-turned-government informant who helped the feds convict Merlino and six associates of racketeering charges in 2001, said it best.

"Joey's agenda on Monday is to get to Tuesday."

Get the money, spend the money. Have a good time.

Previte wore a wire for the FBI for more than a year back in the late 1990s, helping the feds make a case against Merlino, then mob boss Ralph Natale and a dozen other members of the organization.

The fact that Previte, a former ally of Merlino rival John Stanfa, was able to get close to Merlino and Natale after Stanfa and his crew were indicted, says a lot about economics in the Philadelphia underworld.

Merlino's RestaurantMoney trumps all.

Previte said he always brought an envelope stuffed with cash to meeting s with Merlino and Natale. It was his tribute payment, part of his street income, he would tell them. In fact, it was money supplied by the FBI to maintain Previte's street cred.

In the pending case, it looks like mob associate turned government informant J.R. Rubeo played that same card. Merlino is street smart and a survivor. Over the years, two Philadelphia mob bosses and a major drug kingpin wanted him dead. He's outlasted them all. But money often clouds his vision.

His restaurant was supposed to be his way to ease into a leisurely retirement. But those who know him say Joey just can't stop being Joey.

Bookmaker Fights Long Odds In His One-Man Battle With The Feds

Gary BattagliniGary Battaglini admits he's a bookmaker, but insists he's not a mobster.

Convicted along with three made members of the Philadelphia crime family back in 2013, the soft-spoken 55-year old has waged a one-man battle to have his conviction overturned.

And it looks like he at least has a shot.

Battaglini won the first round when his trial judge, Eduardo Robreno, agreed with his argument that his court-appointed trial attorney was ineffective by failing to file a notice of appeal. Battaglini filed most of the papers in that legal process on his own, but is now represented by another court-appointed attorney as his case goes up to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. That panel has already rejected motions by his three convicted co-defendants, mob underboss Joseph (Mousie) Massimino, capo Anthony Staino and mob soldier Damion Canalichio.

Judge Eduardo RobrenoWhile that would seem to make Battaglini's move a long shot, the fact that he has gotten this far suggests that it would be unwise to rule him out.

Battaglini, who was sentenced to 96 months on racketeering and gambling charges, has argued that his conviction was tainted by an anti-Mafia prosecution in which the feds played fast and loose with the rules.

The three lead defendants in his case, then-mob boss Uncle Joe Ligambi and mob capos George Borgesi and Joseph (Scoops) Licata, were acquitted, although Ligambi and Borgesi had to be tried twice before the feds folded their cards.

In granting Battaglini the right to file what amounts to a delayed appeal, Judge Robreno sent the other issues raised by the mob associate along to the Third Circuit.

Joseph MassiminoBattaglini has pointed to his trial lawyer's failure to challenge the credibility of one witness against him and to block the admission of tapes from another government cooperator who was not called as a witness.

The questionable testimony, according to Battaglini, came from Michael Orlando whose stint on the witness stand during the trial was interrupted when he was hospitalized in the midst of his court appearance.

Other defense attorneys described Orlando as a drug abuser who was saying whatever the government wanted in order to avoid prosecution for his own criminal activities.

In the motion that he filed, Battaglini contended that from the witness stand Orlando was "free to weave any tale attendant to a smorgasbord of uncorroborated assertions, including that Battaglini was a bookmaker and loanshark...and that Battaglini boasted to the witness his mob association." He also argued that his defense failed to make a distinction between a $5,000 debt Orlando owed to mobster Steven Mazzone and a $500 "legitimate" loan that Orlando owed to Battaglini.

George BorgesiBattaglini said the evidence showed that he only "advised" Orlando to pay the mob debt and that the $500 loan "was a legitimate debt having nothing to do with mob activities." He also pointed out that while Orlando claimed to know Battaglini, Orlando failed to identify him on three different occasions while on the witness stand.

And the cooperator who made tapes but was not called as a witness had recanted his pro-prosecution testimony, Battaglini contends, a fact that the government had neglected to tell the defense until very late in the game.

Battaglini, who already has three years in to his eight-year sentence, has not been shy about attacking his prosecutors. In addition to his appeal motions, he also filed a civil suit on his own from prison alleging that his chief prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Labor 3d, and FBI Agent John Augustine had withheld and distorted evidence that could have resulted in his acquittal. Battaglini sought $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. The suit was dismissed as baseless shortly after it was filed. But you can't blame him for trying. He's got plenty of free time on his hands these days.