By Matthew Russell Lee
SDNY COURTHOUSE, March 4 – In the rackeeting trial of Joe Cammarano and John Zancocchio in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York the afternoon of March 4 ended with government witness Stephen Sabella being questioned about racist Facebook posts and a scar his step-brother left on his head. Stephen Sabella testified that the defendant John Zancocchio gave him a black eye and a broken tooth and stole his busienss from him, some $2 million in all.
"I can't stand him," Stephen Sabella said. But he went beyond that, and posted on Zancocchio's daughter's Facebook wall insults against her bi-racial daughter. He called Zancocchio himself a "stuttering MF-er;" Zancocchio's lawyer referred to "my client's disability." He cross examined: you know her from Bella Mama Rose, right? She's a good person, right? Judge Alvin Hellerstein sustained an objected by Stephen Sabella managed to work into his response, yes she is a nice person. He said he wasn't sure how Facebook worked, how many people saw his posts.
A liquor salesman posted a photo with Zancocchio calling him a classy guy; Stephen Sabella replied online that he was surprised, unless the salesman meant a thief and robber. When Stephen Sabella was beaten up a second time outside his home he decided to cooperate with the government. But, he admitted, he continued with a gambling book and some drug sales, "just marijuana," he said. Asked if his father was arrested in Florida for cocaine he followed Judge Hellerstein's sustaining the government's objection and did not answer.
Still one wondered how this might hurt his credibility with the jury, one of whose members told Judge Hellerstein that Stephen Sabella's name was mis-spelled in the transcripts that were passed out to the jurors. Stephen Sabella explaining his own calls was one thing - but another government witness was asked to authenticate a series of calls about "meet you in twenty minutes," "I can't hear you I'll call you right back" and the like. At one point classical hold music came one and Judge Hellerstein quipped, Is Mozart a part of this case? Cammarano's laughed followed suit, saying "I object." Perhaps the music was Vivaldi.
Judge Hellerstein's is a classy court room, where he has waxed poetic of defendants like Norman Seabrook and Murray Huberfelt, why do good people do bad things. The phrase has yet to be heard in this trial. Earlier on March 4, the government put on the stand an expert on La Cosa Nostra, to whom the defendants objected without avail. He described a system in which proposed new "made men" must be circulated to all of the five families to see if there is any objection, akin to the silence procedure in the UN Security Council with its five permanent members. Because of the high level of incarceration, a previous rule of new members only being allowed in to replace deceased one has been waived - each year, each family can bring in an additional two members. Similarly, the requirement that made men be 100% Italian has been changed such that only the father must be Italian. He said surveillance of wakes is "of incredible value to law enforcement.. The understanding is visual, a hierarchy, you put the dots together." And slowly, perhaps too slowly, in this SDNY courtroom, the dots are being put together. Back on February 28, beyond testimony by the Business Integrity Commission now looking in sham unions, the head of security for the Peninsula Hotel certified the one-night stay of Zancocchio for a mere $295, saying the normal rate was $795. Zancocchio's lawyer on cross established that the three other couples staying at 700 Fifth Avenue in the Peninsula that night each paid with their own credit card, including yesterday's carting witness William Cioffi. Then a retired NYPD detective Kevin Hui, now with FSA Capital, came on to describe his surveillance of a one story building next to a car wash on March 22, 2015. Thus are cases built - or not. On February 27 Cioffi described in great detail how demolition debris was dumped on a construction site on Staten Island. There was a price war on such dumping, and a company called Silver Star stopped paying. And so the witness or rather his wife signed checks to the site's owner; the witness signed a non prosecution agreement and now testified again Cammarano today in a sweater and Zancocchio whose last name he said he never knew. TD Bank handled the funds; the Peninsula Hotel was a place to stay overnight in Manhattan. The trial is motoring along, the prosecution said. Even ending the week on Thursday at 4 pm, the government's evidence will conclude next Wednesday. But what might the defense have up its (sweater) sleeve? Earlier on February 27 Judge Alvin Hellerstein disallowed several of the questions of Zancocchio's lawyer John Meringolo. Judge Hellerstein has told the jury to be sure not to read anything written about the case or broadcast, presumably including Periscope live-streams. Two audio captures of initial government witness Lovaglio were disallowed, one with U.F. a/k/a Unidentified Female a/k/a "my ex-fiance" as the prosecution said Lovaglia called her. There will be ten to twenty more minutes of cross, ten minutes of re-direct. Judge Hellerstein has requested a glossary of names, or a chart with photographs like "before the age of automation." But the prosecution and defense couldn't agree to what should go in the chart. The chart or easel or something like it will be part of summations. For now the trial continues: watch this site. When Lovaglio described his current eight year New York State jail sentence he recounted being insulted by the step son of the owner of a sushi restaurant owner on Staten Island. "I assaulted him with a glass," Lovaglio deadpanned. The man's eye no longer works, and he would not accept money to make the criminal complaint go away. Now Lovaglio is suing his NYPD handler for telling him not to take a lesser plea, for assuring him he wouldn't do a day in jail. He is in a "private detention facility." Judge Hellerstein wanted to know what they meant. It's a private prison.
Later in the morning, after several audio tapes Lovaglio recorded while wearing a wire for the government were played, he was asked to confirm that the Bonanno crime family used hand signals to refers to some people: an ear tug, the chin, and for the named defendant Joe Cammarano, a hand sweeping over the top of the head. Why, Judge Hellerstein asked.
"Because he has nice hair," Lovaglio shrugged. Cammarano and some sitting behind him laughed, seemingly with pride. Listening to Lovaglio try to get associates to talk for his audio recorder, one wondered if the jury will wonder if he isn't playing them, too. But if he lies he loses the prospect of the Fed's helping him on the racketeering he's pled to, with the 5K letter. Watch this site. On February 26 when Lovaglio described a loan of $200,000 at four percent a week and mentioned a "Johnny Sideburns" whose photograph was put on-screen for the jury, Judge Hellerstein had two questions. "Where are the sideburns?" he asked. There were none in the photo.
"We just give nicknames," Lovaglio said. When Hellerstein said that a weekly interest rate of four points was 100% a year, Lovaglio deadpanned, I think it's more, Judge. And so it is: not unlike the payday loans that the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issettling on without restitution...
