East Coast Enterprise<\/strong><\/h2>\nMerlino was arrested in August 2016 with 50 other people who were alleged to be Genoveses, Gambinos, Lucheses and Bonannos, four of NY mob’s \u201cfive families\u201d \u2013 men with names such as “Tony the Cripple,” “Mustache Pat,” \u201cMuscles,\u201d “Tugboat,” \u201cNicky the Wig\u201d and \u201cBig Vinny.\u201d<\/p>\n
Authorities believe collectively they were an organization known as the East Coast LCN Enterprise, a criminal union formed from a pact between the four New York families and Merlino\u2019s Philadelphia Mob.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors claimed their crimes included extortion, loan-sharking, illegal casino-style gambling and sports gambling, credit card fraud and health care fraud.<\/strong><\/p>\nBut Merlino denied being the boss of the Philadelphia outfit, claiming that after leaving prison he retired from his life of crime. He began running an Italian restaurant in Florida called Merlino\u2019s, which he said cooked his mother\u2019s recipes. The restaurant closed in 2016.<\/p>\n
Despite having hours of secretly recorded tapes at their disposal, the prosecution failed to convince the jury of Merlino\u2019s guilt earlier this year. Defense lawyers told jurors they were being misled by \u201ccompromised turncoat mobsters\u201d who had testified against their client to save their own skins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Philadelphia Mob boss Joseph \u201cSkinny Joey\u201d Merlino appeared in court on Friday to plead guilty to a charge of illegal gambling. The guilty plea will help the dapper don avoid a retrial in a racketeering case that ended up with a hung jury in February. Merlino can expect a prison term of up to 16 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":76680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Mobster Joey Merlino Pleads Guilty to Avoid Retrial, Offers More Sports Betting Advice<\/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