The article appears to be as baseless as the site\u2019s recent claim that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo planned to ban cigarettes as a measure to control the coronavirus. Nevertheless, the Merlino story was retweeted by attorney Jordan Sekulow, the son of one of Trump\u2019s top lawyers, Jay Sekulow.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the allegation of Pennsylvania ballot-fixing and subverting American democracy for cash that has offended Merlino. But he is peeved about the assertion that he \u201cmight just be willing to flip on Biden \u2014 in primetime Congressional testimony \u2014 if President Donald J. Trump is willing to issue the longtime mobster a full expungement of his decades-long criminal record.\u201d<\/p>\n
My client categorically denies all the allegations and Joey would rather die than ever be a snitch,\u201d<\/strong> said Meringolo.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nYou should be careful who you call a rat.<\/p>\n
\u2018Legitimate Businessman\u2019<\/h2>\n
These days, the “Dapper Don” bears a passing resemblance to Humphrey Bogart. But he claims he is no longer the powerful Mafia boss of the 1990s who survived 25 assassination attempts and who controlled the Philly crime families\u2019 gambling, loan sharking, and extortion rackets.<\/p>\n
When he was tried for racketeering, extortion, gun-running, and fraud in 2018, he argued he had given up crime to open a restaurant in Florida, Merlino\u2019s, since closed. Subsequently, he went into the carpet-fitting business, he said.<\/strong><\/p>\nMerlino ultimately served two years for illegal gambling after the first trial ended in a hung jury. He is currently a free man.<\/p>\n
But he railed against the \u201cturncoat mobsters\u201d whose evidence put him in the slammer in 2018. After his sentencing, he quipped that the president had been right to suggest \u201cflippers\u201d should be outlawed.<\/p>\n
Merlino was referencing Trump\u2019s views at the time on his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who turned against the president after his arrest on tax fraud, bank fraud, and campaign finance violations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reputed Philadelphia Mob boss \u2018Skinny\u2019 Joey Merlino has been reluctantly dragged into President Donald Trump\u2019s ballot-fixing conspiracy. The former gambling kingpin, who once offered odds on his own trial, has been forced to denounce a story that he helped manufacture 300,000 illegal ballots in his native battleground state. The story first appeared in far-right conspiracy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":155711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Joey Merlino Denounces \u2018Crazy\u2019 Pennsylvania Ballot-Fixing Allegation<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n