Joseph Malone, the final defendant in the November 2020 Philly Mob Racketeering case, has now plead guilty to racketeering conspiracy and loan sharking charges.
Malone appeared before Federal Judge Barclay Surrick Thursday afternoon along with his attorney William Brennan to enter his plea.
Malone, the former father in law to one time Mob Underboss Steven Mazzone, plead guilty to racketeering conspiracy and loansharking charges, joining 13 other defendants who coped a plea in the much-publicized case that rocked the Mazzone wing of the Philadelphia Crime Family.
Malone, 73, is expected to be sentenced in the Fall to no more than a year and a day in prison, possibly house arrest or probation, His attorney says he suffers from several health-related issues.
The Malone plea now clears the deck for the Feds in the wide sweeping racketeering case that was highlighted by an inducted member of the Mob wearing a wire and recording a Philly Mob induction ceremony. That ceremony was attended by almost every high ranking wiseguy in the family. Several, including FBI proclaimed street Boss Michael Lancelotti, Consiglieri Joseph Ligambi, 84, and several Mob captains, were caught on tape. They were not charged.
Mob Boss Joey Merlino was not in attendance. He currently resides in Boca Raton, Florida. Several new members were inducted in what was supposed to be a secret ceremony.
The defense and the local wiseguys say the induction ceremony and being a member of the Mob by unto itself is not a crime.
Legal experts say the October 2015 induction ceremony tape could still come back to haunt other members of the organization who attended the ceremony and the post ceremony dinner, which was also recorded.
Malone’s plea comes on the heels of a plea from convicted New Jersey drug trafficker and Mob Soldier Joseph “Joey Electric” Servidio. He plead guilty three weeks ago to racketeering conspiracy and a drug charge stemming from the much-publicized 2020 federal racketeering case in which 15 Wiseguys and associates were indicted.
Servidio is already four years into a 15-year sentence on drug charges emanating from a New Jersey case that saw several other Wiseguys and associates take plea deals.
Servidio appeared in federal court Thursday for a change of plea hearing.
According to court documents obtained by Mobtalksitdown.com, he agreed to plead guilty to racketeering conspiracy and a drug count. Federal prosecutors and the defense then also agreed to a 10-year sentence to run concurrently with his New Jersey sentence, followed by five years of supervised release.
He will serve no additional time. He could have faced 20 years in prison if found guilty at trial.
Sources say Servidio has been steadfastly demanding a deal where his new sentence would run concurrently with his ongoing NJ drug sentence. He is currently housed in the Philadelphia Federal Detention Center pending the outcome of this case.
Another defendant in the case Louis “Louie Sheep” Barretta was also scheduled for a change of plea hearing Thursday in front of trial Judge Barclay Surrick.
Lawyers for former Philadelphia Mob Underboss Steven Mazzone and his co-defendants had filed court papers a few months back to have “Joey Electric” severed from their expected trial in federal court.
Mazzone took a plea deal from federal prosecutors last Thursday. He will be sentenced in October to 45 to 60 months in federal prison.
Mazzone’s prior motion came response to an order by trial Judge Surrick that shuffled the trial schedule and defendants for what was supposed to be the government’s upcoming September 2022 Mob case on racketeering conspiracy charges.
In a court order issued last month, Surrick moved Philly Mob Soldier and convicted drug trafficker Joseph “Joey Electric” Servidio from a July trial to the September trail date when he was supposed to be tried alongside Mazzone, his brother Salvatore “Sonny” Mazzone, Lou “Louie Sheep” Baretta and Mazzone’s former father-in-law Joseph Malone.
Sonny Mazzone has also now accepted a plea deal that could see him do less than two years in prison. Steve Mazzone is expected to do between 45-60 months in the case.
Lawyers has argued that Servidio’s inclusion at the defense table could prejudice the case against Mazzone and the others because Servidio is charged with drug offenses, Mazzone and the others are not.
The Mazzone defense team argued:
“The prejudicial effect of having the four defendants now tried with Mr.
Servidio, who is the only individual charged with participating in a Conspiracy to Deliver
Controlled Substances……is unavoidable,” the defense said. “Mr. Servidio
is presently serving a 15-year sentence imposed by the District of New Jersey on October
22, 2020 in United States v. Servidio…
“The evidence that will be presented at trial regarding the alleged drug distribution
of one defendant (Servidio) would ultimately cause the Moving Parties (the other four defendants) who are not charged with said counts to combat extreme prejudice,” the lawyers wrote to Judge Surrick.
Local wiseguys say there is widely felt concerns that some damaging, secretly recorded FBI tapes of Servidio and Philly Mob Captain Domenic Grande as well as previously convicted defendants could hurt Mazzone and the others’ chances at trial since they were not involved in those drug transactions.
Mazzone Defense attorneys John Moringolo and Lou Busico have previously said they plan to go ahead with a rigorous defense in the case. Servido had been set to be tried alongside up and coming Mob Captain Domenic Grande and two others on drug and other charges, but Grande has now plead guilty to racketeering conspiracy and drug charges and is expected to face 78 months in federal prison when he’s sentenced.
John Michael Payne, another defendant in the drug case has already plead guilty, the status of a fourth defendant, Daniel Malatesta, is still up in the air. He was set for trial July 5th.
The move comes weeks after the attorney for Servidio filed 2 new motions. one to dismiss the drug case against Servidio, the other to sever Servidio’s case from the upcoming trial with three other defendants, including Grande.
Richard Maurer, Servidio’s attorney, filed a motion three weeks ago to dismiss the drug case against his 61 year old client claiming the charges represent “double jeopardy” for Servidio who plead guilty to similar drug charges in New Jersey in 2020 and was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, a sentence above what the defense and prosecution had agreed to prior to sentencing.
Federal prosecutors have since responded to Servidio’s motion and denied this is a case of double jeopardy, claiming the charges in Philadelphia are “wholly different” from the case in South Jersey in which Servidio plead guilty and is serving 15 years. They urged the judge to deny Servidio’s motion to drop the drug charges.
Maurer’s 25-page motion to dismiss included side by side comparisons of the New Jersey drug counts against his client and the drug counts included in the November 2021 racketeering conspiracy indictment of Servidio and 14 others, including several high ranking Philly Mobsters. The comparisons appear to be almost exact.
Maurer went on to say that he believed the judge who sentenced Servidio almost certainly saw these current drug charges in the pre-sentence report prepared for Servido’s New Jersey case and decided to depart upward and sentence Servidio to 15 years instead of the 12.5 requested by the defense and supported by the prosecution.
“A side-by-side comparison of the Superseding Indictment filed in this action,
with the detailed Presentence Investigation report prepared for the DNJ Action,
reveals a degree of factual overlap between the two cases that is extraordinary,” Maurer wrote.
“Evidently, Servidio’s District Judge in the DNJ Action (the Honorable Robert B.
Kugler) previously considered everything alleged against Servidio in this action,
and sentenced accordingly, imposing a 180-month sentence when even the Office
of the United States Attorney (as confirmed by its plea agreement with Servidio in
the District of New Jersey) recommended no more than 151 months.”
Maurer further stated:
“As explained by former Circuit Judge Richard Posner, “the purpose of the
Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause is to prevent the Government from
harassing people by prosecuting them for the same conduct that was the subject of
a prior prosecution.” United States v. Calabrese, 490 F.3d 575, 577 (7th Cir. 2007).
Unfortunately, that is exactly what the Government has elected to do with Servidio
in this action – prosecute him for the same conduct for which he accepted
responsibility and then received a 15-year sentence in the DNJ Action. This is not
constitutional or fair.”
“Instead of obliging Servidio to stand trial on July 5, 2022, this Court should
allow him to continue serving a sentence that will not expire until December of
2030, and dismiss all claims made against Servidio in the Superseding Indictment
with prejudice,” Maurer added.
In addition to the motion to dismiss the case against Servidio, Maurer filed a second motion designed to sever Servidio’s case from the three other defendants he is set to stand trial with this summer, including Grande.
“A review of the Superseding Indictment, sequenced by the dates of all the
allegations against Servidio, confirms that he is not alleged to have done anything
with, for, or in furtherance of a conspiracy between Servidio and the other Group 1
defendants,” Maurer wrote in his motion to have Servidio stand trial alone if he does in fact go to trial.
Servidio is now being held at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia awaiting pretrial hearings and the trial. He was trandferred here last month from a low security Federal Correctional Institution in Elkton, Ohio joining 1,400 federal inmates in Northern Ohio.
Servidio is doing his 15 year sentence on federal drug charges after he got caught up in an FBI undercover drug sting in 2018. He plead guilty expecting 10-12 years in prison, instead he got hammered by a federal judge with that unexpected 15 year bid.
In November 2020, Servidio found himself indicted again on drug and racketeering charges in Philadelphia with 14 other wiseguys and associates.
Servidio, who’s been housed at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia, was first sent packing to Oklahoma City the main transportation hub for the Bureau of Prisons.
The moves came as Servidio and his attorney just started to get discovery and prepare for a drug conspiracy, racketeering trial all the way back here in Philly.
The wise guys like to call the long and winding BOP road trips to your final destination, “Diesel Therapy”. Servidio is not set to be released from Elkton until December of 2030, barring another conviction and more possible prison time on his new federal charges.
The new 7-count Philly indictment charges Servidio and rising star Mob Captain Domenic Grande with being part of a drug conspiracy distributing meth and pills. Court papers indicate there are several incriminating undercover FBI tapes that could be used against them at trial. There are also drug sales to undercover law enforcement officers in that case.
Federal Judge Robert Kugler, who sits on the bench in Camden, hit the 59 year old North Jersey wiseguy, who claimed he “made his bones” when he was just 19, with added time back in October. He cited Servidio’s role as a leader of the drug conspiracy and threats of violence captured on tapes during the FBI investigation.
Servidio’s lawyer, Marco A. Laracca, argued strenuously for a 10 year sentence citing his clients medical difficulties and his early decision to plead guilty and not go to trial. Federal prosecutors had asked the judge to impose a 12.5 year sentence, but Judge Kugler added the extra prison time.
Servidio has already served over 2.5 years on the sentence after he was held on bail.
Servidio was picked up back in March 2018 on cocaine and methamphetamine charges.
Servidio is alleged to be part of a North Jersey crew headed by longtime Mob Capo Joseph “Scoops” Licata, who was acquitted in 2012 in a case involving retired Philly Mob Boss Joe Ligambi and his nephew, Philly Mob Captain George Borgesi.
Servidio was charged along with mob associates Michael Gallicchio, Salvatore “Sam, Sammy Tubs” Piccolo and Carl Chianese, all of whom also plead guilty. The case was put together with the help of former mob soldier turned cooperator Anthony Persiano who made tapes of the conspirators along with an FBI undercover agent.
Chianese, 80, just got 10 years in prison after he plead guilty to charges he helped distribute crystal meth and pills containing heroin or fentanyl. He and Servidio allegedly sold pills to undercover FBI agents at several locations in South Jersey. Chianese has also been charged in the Philadelphia drug and racketeering case.
Piccolo, 68, was sentenced in November 2019 to 12.5 years in prison. Piccolo was not charged in the recent Philly case.
Persiano captured Servidio on tape saying “We need something legitimate. I’m a criminal. Everything I do is criminal….I got to get out of it.”
Servidio was also heard talking about prosecutors using tapes versus eyewitnesses in criminal cases.
“The things you can’t beat are the tapes with you saying it,” Servidio said, according to FBI documents filed in court.
He was also heard bragging to Persiano and the undercover agent, saying “there’s nothing better than making money. I make money everyday, illegally.”
Persiano also plead guilty to charges back in February 2019. He has yet to testify in any courtroom. He has not be sentenced on those charges .
