PHIL NARDUCCI RELEASED FROM PRISON

Phil Narducci is home after doing a short stretch for pleading guilty to extortion.  In total Phil did just shy of nine months, doing his time in Brooklyn, New York's infamous MDC.   Brooklyn MDC is not known for exactly one of the nicer facilities one could end up.

Phil was sentenced last year to one year and one day for his alleged role in the shaking down of a terrorist turned informant named Rahbie.   We have discussed this case at volume, and it was one of the worst miscarriages of justice I have ever seen in a federal case, right next to the case of Joey Merlino a year prior.  While both cases were different, Phil's was perhaps one of the most egregious cases I have ever seen the government bring against a defendant in my life.

In that particular case, the amount of evidence against the informant versus that of Phil slid the scale way to the left. The governments case was that Phil had lent money to Rahbie, and when Rahbie got behind on his payments, Phil approached him twice, it would get physical, then it was alleged that Phil's co-defendant in the case Joe Gallo went to visit said informant.

The problem with the governments case, and there were plenty, was that Rahbie was actually a Lebanese national, with ties to Hezbollah.  He was actually sentenced to death in Lebanon, and one would have to logically assume he ended up in this country for giving up information on others.  It's also worth noting that this informant had lied on his visa paperwork, making the issue even more disgusting on all accounts.   To make matters worse, Rahbie was getting loans from others, and attempting to get loans from others.  In my possession I have tapes of Rahbie attempting to solicit money from two south Philadelphia residents, because his "mother needed to have surgery."  It was the same line of bullshit he fed Phil and his wife Gina.   Gina owns a legit lending company, and Rahbie even signed paperwork, for the loan.   A lawsuit was actually filed prior to Phil's case in an effort to recoup the money.  Also on these tapes, was the informant discussing Phil openly, saying that "I don't have any problems with him, he's a good guy, never ever had any problems with him. He never threatened me or touched me," which went against everything he not only told the government, but also against his direct proffer session. 

It wasn't just money Rahbie was attempting to procure.  He also was selling drugs, and pimping himself out to men in south Philadelphia.   From what I was able to uncover just a month after Phil was sentenced was that Rahbie was a degenerate gambler, who was way behind and was trying to borrow as much as he could to facilitate paying people he owed.  He also at the same time was feeding those alleged facts to the feds.   Rahbie would never testify, as the governments case took a lot of heat due to the work of Phil himself and his attorney.  The sheer amount of evidence against this informant was staggering.  The problem was, John Han, U.S. Attorney fought hard to stifle the evidence against Rahbie.  They felt if the jury heard the word terrorist it would somehow jade the jury pool.   Things against Rahbie would not be able to be used, and the case then, just became a joke in every sense. 

Phil was convicted of the Frankie "Flowers" D'Alfonso murder, then acquitted on  retrial. but the jury could in fact hear about those allegations, and with Phil only being out of prison after a 30 stint, the problem was that if the government could use his past, allegations and all against him, then how could he fight an even scaled case if the government and the judge presiding over the case wouldn't allow the informants past to be used against him?  The system is designed to fail those defending themselves.  The government has a blank check, and can use whatever they can afford at their disposal, and even if Phil fought and got a mistrial the government could bring him back again and again and again.   It's designed that if you cannot afford a real attorney, your fucked, and if you can, and you get a mistrial you gotta shell out another quarter of a million dollars.  It's rigged.  It's always been that way.    This is the only reason why Phil took a plea.  For what it's worth the government doesn't do anyone any favors.  The mere fact they were taking a case against a guy with a past, who was looking at serious time, and essentially gave him a fresh one across the face, is something to take notice of.  The same thing happened in the Joey Merlino case.  They were soft cases, and sometimes the best result is to just get your time over with and move on.  For Phil, I backed his decision then, just as I do now. 

Where Phil goes from here is anyone's guess, but I have a feeling, he will return to Chicks and just do what he's always done, which is bust his ass, mind his business and move on with his life.  I said this before, I saw Phil there all week, busting his ass.  He was never not there working.  So I never believed anything the government said, and as those facts came to light, I agreed with him he got fucked, there is not other nice way of putting it.  Phil is out, he's home, and it's my hope people just leave him be.