JAN. 16th TRIAL DATE SET FOR MERLINO

For those that have been following the "Skinny" Joey Merlino saga for months, you will finally begin to see movement as the opening day of trial begins January 16, 2018 in Manhattan Federal Court.  Barring any unforeseen surprises it looks at if Joey is going all-in against the United States government. 

What we do know is this.  This entire case from the perspective of the government has been shrouded in anarchy, and that's the best way to describe it.  The first major problem the government has in trying Merlino is the "substantiated claims," by two informants.  The first issue is Rubeo himself.  John Rubeo has been chided by the government and the defense attorney's which includes issues with the FBI.  The issue is that the chain of evidence such as "recordings and tapes."  If your a little lost here is an explanation.  Anytime evidence is collected, albeit it wiretaps, videos or audiotapes, they way the evidence is handled is a big issue.  Take Donnie Brasco the film for example.  You would often see Donnie Brasco AKA Joe Pistone make audio tapes and hand them in as he completed them.  In the case of Merlino, these tapes were either A)Altered   B) Inconclusive  and or   C) Parts were missing.  Those are three big issues compounding the governments case against Joey.

The chain of evidence really has to be clear cut and the defense would like to know why large portions of the tapes are either erased or deleted.  It helps Joey more so that the tapes were not complete versions and leads people to speculate that Rubeo liked Joey and was trying to mitigate the damage to him in court.  While many speculate that's the issue, I would rather believe it was Rubeo's own involvement in these alleged crimes which is why parts are missing.  It's like claiming someone stole the Mona Lisa and you "had a tape of it," but lost it.  It just doesn't make any sense on any level.

Another aspect to this is that since the government realized their case might not be very strong they then enlisted the help of Pete "Pug" Lovaglio.  Whether or not Lovaglio is a detriment to Merlino or not, he's just another voice to try and corroborate what Rubeo has to say.  To make matters more suspicious the government doesn't want Lovaglio's or Rubeo's past of domestic assault brought up in court.  Both sides have been arguing about this issue.  The defense wants that information out because they want  to prove that the morality or the character of these informants are at least unsavory at best, the government's stance is that is really has nothing to do with the trial at hand, which is bullshit.  This is simply another way the government totes their rats, and wants to stack the deck.

It's not just the informants that are the problem.  Two FBI agents were in trouble at one point.  One FBI supervisor overseeing Rubeo has been suspended, for his actions in the evidence collection and for his services.  The other agent in question was investigated and found not to have "committed any wrong doing."  Obviously the government will look to suppress that information.   So with all of these facts where does this leave Merlino?

Unless another informant comes forward Joey has a hell of a shot at walking away.  The problems for the government won't go away here, and believe me they haven't wanted Joey Merlino off the streets permanently for a long time, much in the same way the government repeatedly went after John A. Gotti. They don't offer 46 plea deals when a case is strong.  Had Joey taken the deal he would have done probably a decade or so dependent on how many of the indictments he plead guilty to.  What is known is that Joey is going to do a serious stretch if found guilty.  The one thing that is for certain is that the governments case is seriously flawed as is the witnesses.  Joey has a great chance to beat this case based on a ton of different factors.  As Jan. 16th approaches I'm sure the leaks will begin and more facts will be known, but for now Joey is all in.