MONDAY IS A HUGE DAY FOR MERLINO

Monday morning in Manhattan Federal Court is going to be a huge day for "Skinny" Joey Merlino. Monday begins the cross examination against John "JR" Rubeo. 

 Last week the jury heard a lot of evidence, mainly consisting of Rubeo's allegations that Joey Merlino was a part of a criminal conspiracy and more.  He tried to draw the line between Merlino, Parello, others and the medical fraud.  It included several audio tapes which included Merlino discussing "how easy it was to kill someone."  As well, there were photos from the Christmas time party in which the FBI funded.

In the photo you could see Merlino and others sitting around a table eating a $1,000 dollar a plate meal.  How this even happened what that the FBI wanted proof that those alleged were meeting to discuss mafia business, mainly the medical opioid cream.  The FBI gave Rubeo $30,000 to fund the dinner for the sole purpose of catching everyone involved.  There are problems however with Rubeo's testimony already.

For starters on the audio tape you can hear Joey Merlino strictly say when prompted about the medical cream say "I' ain't getting involved in that stuff."  It goes directly against what Rubeo has been saying all along.  To make matters worse perhaps for Rubeo is when asked why he chose to testify he came right out and said "because I don't want to do jail time."  That opens a can of worms in so many ways, I could sit here for the next twelve days and comment on that statement alone.

If one were to ask how Rubeo's testimony thus far has damaged Merlino, it's hard to say.  Joey outside of court was smiling and said "I think it's going good so far," when asked about the case thus far.  This is what makes Monday really important for Merlino.  His attorney Edwin Jacobs is going to hammer Rubeo on everything from those tapes being incomplete to his background.  It's like going to be the biggest part of this trial, and I will be there.

If I was going to make it easier to understand, and I made this reference on my radio show the other day(MOB TALK RADIO) but it's like the 7th game of the Stanley Cup finals, you are down a goal with 5 minutes to go, and you're double shifting your forwards to try and tie the game before time expires.  Then you'll take it into overtime and hopefully win.  It's going to be very important for Merlino's attorney's to knock holes in Rubeo on all fronts.  If they can simply show the jury that Rubeo has tailored his testimony at the behest of the FBI, who I might add has been highly suspect in this entire investigation then it's a win win for Merlino.  The problem is, sometimes juries look at an informant as giving what's called a "deathbed confession."  Simply meaning, the person giving the testimony is already in deep and will serve jail time, so why would he lie?  I know how this works personally and is one of the reasons I took a plea so many moons ago.

The FBI misconduct alone is something I expect to be a big highlight.  Jacobs will want to know why many of these tapes were deleted or amended, or in some cases edited.  They almost are fighting three fronts here.  They are fighting the FBI misconduct, the tailored testimony of someone about as reputable as a dead fish on the pavement, and assertions made by other rats who have tons of domestic violence issues.

For Merlino to roll the dice and say "fuck off," to a 46 month prison term, he has to be ready to roll his dice this coming week in Manhattan.  This is the biggest part of the government's case against Merlino and I expect some fireworks as far as conflicting information and assertions.  For Merlino the time is now.  If they cannot knock Rubeo back on his hind legs(cause he's a dog) it could mean big trouble for Merlino. 

We will keep you updated as this moves forward....