MERLINO WALKS, FOR NOW, AS HE SHOULD.

I should have written this a few days ago, but I wanted to have a fresh viewpoint from everything I witnessed and took in during the three plus week Joey Merlino trial.  I wanted to wait for the pundits to speak to see what the general opposition had to say about the case.

Considering I don't take stock into what beat writers and mob writers like Jerry Capeci write, I still wanted to see what others said before I spoke.  That being said lets begin.

To begin with, I take issues with some of the things Jerry Capeci has said.  I'm not always going to agree with others opinions, but I usually respect them as Jerry has been around for thirty some years already doing this.  It doesn't mean his opinion is any less or anymore valid then the next guy.  What I do is very different from them.  I have always been an outspoken critic of the media and especially the government when it comes to "mob cases."  It's not because everyone is innocent and minding their own business until the government comes along.  That's not the case at all.  Where I draw the line is at government misconduct, and I've seen it way too many times for me not to speak out against it in this case.

According to Capeci, he laid out the verdict count numbers. I'm not saying he's lying, I'm saying he doesn't know for 100% certainty because he said "sources."  Sources means I heard from this guy who heard from that guy.  So, he may be close, but I don't think it's exact.  The other facet I want to discuss it Jerry writing as if he's actually been at the trial.  He was there for two days.  One day he stayed for ten minutes and left.  The second, he was lambasted by the judge for refusing to stand when the jury exited the room.  Jerry usually swings for the fences for the FBI.  Rarely does he give any other perspective that someone may actually not be guilty.  All that being said, he does what he does, and I do what I do.

To me a jury count isn't something I put stock in.  I also don't believe in the impartial jury system either.  I never have.  It's flawed, always has been, but it's the system in place whether I like it or not.  To me if it was 11-1, 9-3 for conviction doesn't matter to me.  It was not unanimous, and that's all that matters in a case like this.  It doesn't mean Joey was guilty.  If he was, we'd be writing a different article here.

The million dollar question is will the government retry this case?  It's hard to say.  They didn't win clear cut, and they also got convictions on some 46 of 49 defendants.  If the numbers are closer to Capeci's assertion it would tell me that the government will retry the case.  The judge said that March 6th will be the cutoff to arrange a new trial date, if the government chooses.

All Merlino had to do, and yes an acquittal would have be fantastic, but all he has to do is get one person to see Rubeo and the government for what they are in this case. Full of shit.  I sat and listened to the testimony of Rubeo and Kreisberg, and neither one was honest.  In fact they both tell two different stories completely.  How anyone could sit there and buy anything they said was laughable.  It went from a trial of no evidence to Joey Merlino is a "mob boss."  According to whom? Rubeo? Kriesberg?  The government?  If you were in attendance, which I was, you would have seen that the government who calls themselves mafia experts claimed Merlino was a captain in the Genovese crime family.  So either they have no idea what they are doing, or someone forgot their mafia decoder ring for the day.

There was not a single piece of evidence that made me say, "yeah Joey did this or that."  Trust me I was looking for that as much as everyone else in the room.  At best we are talking about circumstantial evidence which is a leap or stretch for the government.  This was not a simple case for the government at all.  For everything they brought, Edwin Jacobs dismantled.  For everything Rubeo said, his past actions and current actions refuted.  For everything Kriesberg said, his own admissions destroyed himself and his reputation.   Taking that away for one minute, let's ask this question.  Without Rubeo and Kriesberg and Lovaglio is their any evidence?  No.  The majority of the evidence the govenment showed was flawed and based on the direct testimony of informants.  Men who said they "didn't want to do a day in jail."  Keep in mind we are talking $157 million in medical fraud, yet no doctor, no patient was indicted or arrested.  Why?

Even looking further into the relationship between Merlino and Rubeo, Merlino never once fucked Rubeo over or did  anything to cause that fracture of a friendship.  It was simply Rubeo got caught selling drugs and realized he didn't want to go to prison so agreed to hook Joey into this mess on behalf of the government.  Name me another case where an informant spent 98 of 114 days undercover without having to report to the FBI?   Explain to me how tapes went missing, how conversations were wiped.  Explain to me how Rubeo broke rules non stop in accordance with his cooperation agreement and was never held responsible.  Explain to me how texts never showed Merlino admitting or talking about crimes.  Explain to me why Kriesberg said "I never had any dealings with Merlino. I saw him once in a bar, taking money, in a dim lit bar."  Explain to me how or why Kriesberg never mentioned Joey Merlino once in the medical cream drama. Explain to me why one FBI agent was fired and one was reprimanded for behavior overseeing this case. Explain to me how Rubeo lied non stop to the government, prosecution, and was never held accountable.  These are important facts,

Rubeo tried in vain to insert Merlino wherever he could.  The fact is, Rubeo belonged to Pasquale Parrello.  Parrello was on tape telling Rubeo to leave Merlino alone, don't go near him.  As if to say Joey is not apart of this, not apart of this life.  It was Rubeo who brought Parrello into this mess, and it was a Parrello and Rubeo operation, not a Merlino operation.

On tapes, and there are some tapes nobody has heard, where Rubeo is saying some seriously nasty stuff about people, and sadly the judge wouldn't allow them.  Judge Sullivan continuously said "JR Rubeo is not on trial here,"  but he should be.  If the government is going to allow rats to do this sort of thing everything they say and do should be admissible because it's a character check, and Rubeo, Lovaglio and Kriesberg failed on every level to appear credible.

I will cover the rest of this in depth on the radio tomorrow....but as I said I give you the facts and you can decide for yourself.  One thing is clear, this was not a slam dunk, and the government may likely try again, but Rubeo is a dead end for the government.