Long time Philadelphia Mob Associate Stephen Sharkey has reported to federal prison in Lewisburg, Pa.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the 52 yr old Sharkey just reported to USP Lewisburg in central Pennsylvania. The facility serves as a penitentiary and a prison camp. It houses over 800 inmates.
Sharkey, who’s served federal prison time before, was sentenced to 49 months in federal prison back in April after he plead guilty in September 2020 to multiple charges in federal court in Philadelphia.
An associate of current Philly Mob Captain George Borgesi, Sharkey entered his plea before Judge John Padova. He was facing a possible 70 to 87 months in prison.
Sharkey’s co-defendant in the mortgage scheme, Antonio Ambrosio, is also serving time at USP Lewisburg on charges related to the scam. He was sentenced to 17 months. He is due to be released from Lewisburg in June 2022. He too was named as an associate of Borgesi’s.
At his sentencing, Sharkey apologized to the court saying he wanted to pay “my debt to society.” He was scheduled to report to federal prison authorities back in August, but that was delayed.
“Sharkey’s greed impacted the lives and security of multiple families and his shameful actions had severe consequences for these innocent people,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbiter Williams. “Not only did he and his associate steal mortgage down payments, but he also sold a different family’s home right out from under them and pocketed all the cash. For his actions he will spend years in prison.”
“Real estate fraud was just the latest racket for Stephen Sharkey,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Driscoll. “He blatantly preyed on innocent victims here, destroying two families plans of buying homes and stealing a third person’s inherited property.”
Investigators say Sharkey was part of a scheme to steal down payments for homes from two different families, including his co-defendant Ambrosio’s own brother in law.. He was ordered to pay $296,000 in restitution.
Authorities also say that as soon as Sharkey received over $208,000, he immediately cut checks to ARMM Investments LLC, a company owned by Borgesi. It’s the first time investigators have publicly mentioned Borgesi in this case. He was not charged in the case.
Borgesi and Sharkey were convicted in an early 2000s racketeering case involving the Philly Mob and then Mob Boss Joey Merlino and a dozen others.
Sources say Sharkey was approached after the original charges were filed about cooperating with the FBI, but he swiftly rejected their offer. He is not cooperating with authorities. He disappeared from Mob circles just prior to the indictment after sources say he had a “falling out” with Borgesi over money.
He has not been seen in the company of any local wiseguys since the indictment.
Fellow Philadelphia Mob associate Antonio Ambrosio plead guilty in federal court back in August 2020 to charges stemming from a 2019 federal indictment on wire fraud, money laundering and identity theft charges.
Anthony “Mortgage”, as he’s called, allegedly worked alongside Sharkey, and was at one time a close confidant to Borgesi. Ambrosio was indicted along with Sharkey in 2019.
No charges were filed against Borgesi, the nephew of recently retired Philly Mob Boss Joseph “Uncle Joe” Ligambi who reportedly stepped aside in August 2019 at the age of 80.
Ambrosio plead guilty before a courtroom of masked up FBI agents to four counts in the indictment. He was facing 24-30 months in federal prison, but was sentenced to just 17 months after his attorney, Brooklyn lawyer John Meringolo, grilled one of the witnesses against Ambrosio and turned up some damaging new financial information against the witness
Ambrosio was also ordered to make restitution to his victims of $265,000.
Sharkey’s trial was put off several times while he considered a change of plea deal that did not include any cooperation with investigators. Sharkey was exposed to a longer prison sentence because of his past criminal record.
The indictment against Sharkey and Ambrosio, aka “Anthony Mortgage”, stemmed from a scheme “to defraud and to obtain money and property by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises.” One scheme allegedly involved approximately $208,000.
The indictment outlined how Ambrosio and Sharkey allegedly attended a meeting with the victim at a Staten Island gas station intending to return the money claiming a mistake had been made in the prior transaction.
Sharkey was also charged in connection with a second alleged scheme in Philadelphia that included identity theft.
Back in 2001, Sharkey pleaded guilty to his role in a gambling and extortion operation linked to former Philadelphia crime boss Joey Merlino. A judge sentenced him to five years in prison.
In April 2010, U.S, Marshals arrested Sharkey after he reportedly walked away from a Philadelphia work release program.
Ambrosio has faced criminal charges before in New York. He was never convicted on those charges.
Ambrosio’s Philadelphia plea deal does not include any cooperation with federal authorities.
Ambrosio is represented in this case by Meringolo who represented alleged Mob Boss Joey Merlino in a 2016 health care fraud and racketeering case in New York along with longtime defense attorney Edwin Jacobs.
A jury failed to reach a verdict in the case against Merlino, who later plead guilty to a simple gambling charge.
Merlino was serving a two year sentence when he was released in 2019 to a halfway house in Florida where he lives. He was later released to home confinement at the start of the Covid19 pandemic.
“Skinny Joey” finished his federal sentence July 27, 2020. He finished a year of supervised release last July and has returned to the Philadelphia area and the Jersey Shore twice since then.
