Sicilian Mobster Pleads Not Guilty

Sicilian Mobster Pleads Not Guilty

  March 25, 2010    Dapper_Don

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Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Roberto Settineri, arrested earlier this month in Miami, FL pursuant to an alleged international Mafia sweep that ranged from New York, NY to Palermo, Sicily, "pleaded not guilty Thursday in Fort Lauderdale federal court to charges of obstruction of justice and money laundering" as reported by Jay Weaver for The Miami Herald:
Roberto Settineri, 41, the target of an FBI undercover operation starring now-convicted lawyer Scott Rothstein, will remain in custody, but plans to challenge the prosecution's move to keep him behind bars until trial. * * * FBI agents arrested Italian-born Settineri, a naturalized U.S. citizen who works as a Miami Beach wine wholesaler, in connection with Rothstein's $1.2 billion investment scam. Federal authorities also accuse him of being connected to the Mafia's Gambino and Colombo crime families in New York and South Florida. At the same time, Italian National Police officers flew to Miami and revealed charges accusing Settineri of belonging to the Sicilian Mafia and participating in a slew of violent crimes. Rothstein, who came to know Settineri through a Broward security company the Fort Lauderdale lawyer hired for protection, allegedly talked Settineri into shredding documents and laundering $79,000 in November from Rothstein's Ponzi scheme, according to an indictment. Rothstein wore a wire to record their conversations for federal agents.