By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE, May 31 – Two and a half months after Joe Cammarano and John "Porky" Zancocchio were acquitted on racketeering charges, their co defendant Eugene Castelle on May 31 was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy and running a gambling business but acquitted of attempted extortion. Castelle faces sentencing on September 20.
The three counts were read to the jury on May 30 by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein.
Before the charge the government's summation said that Castelle had been paid as a carpenter although he didn't show up for work, so that his powers with the Luchese family, with their headquarters in a social club in the Bronx showing venue, could be used.
The jury, in their side room of Hellerstein's 14D, as of 11 am on May 31 had at least one question: they wanted the Pennesi testimony read back.
Here's what the US Attorney's office announced after the jury verdict: "Between 2012 and January 2018, CASTELLE acted as a soldier in the Luchese Family of La Cosa Nostra, often referred to as the Mafia. CASTELLE used his position in the Luchese Family to receive thousands of dollars, over multiple years, from a large-scale illegal sports betting business operating through off-shore websites in Costa Rica. CASTELLE protected the business from other members of the Mafia, used threats of violence to collect debts owed to the business, and extorted the bookmaker for annual payments of “tribute.” CASTELLE also committed other racketeering acts, such as holding a “no show” job as a carpenter at a construction project where he was paid a carpenter’s wages for many months without ever settting [sic] foot on the jobsite."
The count Castelle was found not guilty on, Attempted Extortion," was set forth by the government on May 1 as: In or about 2015, Eugene Castelle, a/k/a "Boobsie, unlawfully and knowingly... used threats of force and economic harm to collect and attempt to collect payment from an individual in return for protection for physical and economic harm from members of La Cosa Nostra, a nationwide criminal organization." Not guilty. More on Patreon, here.
In the days before the trial on May 20 Castelle's lawyer wrote to Judge Hellerstein to allow cross examination of "CW-2," saying that "in 1989, CW-2 shot and killed a young man who made the mistake of dating CW-2's girlfriend... The government now concedes that the deceases romantic rival not only did not pull a gun, but he did not even have a gun." The docket is full of redacted documents; some are simply sealed in full (as took place on May 31 in the UN bribery case that, also, should be considered racketeering - at and even by the UN). For background, see Jerry Capeci's Post and GanglandNews piece, here.
Midday on May 31 before the jury returned with its two out of three verdict it was otherwise quiet on the 14th floor of 500 Pearl Street.
Likewise the charging conference was a strangely intimate proceeding in a large courtroom; some glanced over at Inner City Press like, What are you doing here? But as Judge Edgardo Ramos said openly in the recent college basketball case, charging conferences are open to the Press and public. And Inner City Press covered the Cammarano trial delay, and his one closely through exhibits.
Castelle's lawyer Gerald J. McMahon objected to the use of the word racketeering in the charge; Judge Hellerstein said the word is used in the statute. McMahon repeated cited Judge Sands' treatise on sentencing, on topics ranging from prior perjury like Mr. Romano to which way inferences should be drawn. Judge Hellerstein said, "I don't charge there, I think it's confusing."
Judge Hellerstein grew philosophical, recounting that after 38 years in private practice he has put in 20 more years as a judge. We've covered him recently presiding over a multi lawyer pre-trial conference, swatting down objections and speaking with candor - as on the afternoon of March 5 ended with a government witness authenticating audio tapes he recorded in his pizzeria which, it seemed, one of the defendants was trying to take from him. He said he preferred Vinnie TV over Joe C. and Porky - who smiled and waved when his name was mentioned - but that he tried to get along with them, including by going to Porky's restaurant Bella Donna. He said that all the made guys were there on Fridays.
Like a happy hour, commented Judge Alvin Hellerstein, to some laughter including among the jury. (Later Judge Hellerstein would stay to hear and grant a motion to dismissed a sexual orientation discrimination and retaliation claim against SUNY. Such is the schedule of a Federal judge.) The trial was wrapping up - and ultimately resulted in acquittal: on March 13 the jury acquitted the two of racketeering and conspiracy to commit extortion charges. Gina Castellano, the lead prosecutor, had said they "worked together and with other members of the mob to commit crime after crime — extortion, loan-sharking, drug dealing, assault and fraud. These two men led a sophisticated criminal organization that took whatever they wanted from whoever they wanted through intimidation,” she said. But unlike with the Millbrook Houses in The Bronx, for example, this prosecution didn't work. We'll have more on this. March 5 had ended with 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.
