Bonanno Hitman Turned Rat Sentenced To Extra Time For Pizzeria Fracas
An ex-Mafia hitman who once ran the defunct Goomba's Pizzeria in Palm Coast was sentenced Thursday to another three years in prison on top of the 10 years he must already serve, closing the cases against the man dubbed the "calzone mobster."
Joseph Milano, aka Joey Calco, ex-Bonanno crime-family member, leapt into the national news in January 2009 when a security camera at his Goomba's Pizzeria captured him grabbing a pistol and jumping over a counter in a confrontation over a calzone with a pair of customers. Milano, 42, was accused of pistol-whipping one man and beating another.
On Thursday, Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano sentenced Milano to serve three years in prison in the Goomba's fracas. But first Milano must finish the 10 years from a conviction last year of being a felon in possession of a firearm stemming from a domestic disturbance in Palm Coast.
Milano, in shackles and an orange jail jumpsuit, winked at his father on Thursday as he was led into the courtroom.
"Good afternoon, your honor," Milano said to the judge.
"Good afternoon," Zambrano replied.
Milano pleaded no contest to a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which was reduced from aggravated battery with a firearm. Milano also pleaded no contest to possession of a firearm by a felon.
Zambrano found Milano guilty of the charges and, as part of the plea, sentenced him to three years on each to run at the same time.
"Thank you, your honor," Milano said at the end of the hearing.
As he was taken away, Milano nodded toward his father sitting in the courtroom. A deputy took Milano's fingerprints and then swabbed his cheeks for a DNA sample, as is routine.
Milano is being held in the Flagler County jail. The U.S. Marshals Service has a hold on Milano for violation of probation on a federal murder conviction.
The 13 years Milano will spend in prison for all his Flagler County cases is close enough to the 15 years prosecutors had offered him as a plea deal earlier, Assistant State Attorney Scott Westbrook said. Had Circuit Judge Kim C. Hammond not sentenced Milano last year to 10 years in the other case, prosecutors would not have agreed to the three years, Westbrook said.
"If it wasn't (for) the prior case we would not have been able to resolve this without a trial," Westbrook said after the sentencing.
Milano just wanted to put it behind him, Assistant Public Defender Regina Nunnally said afterward.
"He just wants to get it over with, get it done," Nunnally said.
Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Possession of a firearm by a felon is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Prosecutors dropped a charge of aggravated assault with a firearm as part of the deal. It carried a 15-year prison sentence. They also reduced charges of unauthorized possession of a driver's license, a third-degree felony, and obtaining a driver's license by fraud. Each of those was reduced to a second-degree misdemeanor count of possession of two driver's licenses. Milano pleaded no contest to the misdemeanors and Zambrano found him guilty and sentenced him to time served.
Milano said little on Thursday. But at his sentencing last year, Milano said when he got out of federal prison he ended up in Palm Coast working in the tile business with his father until the construction boom fizzled. Then he opened the pizzeria in a Publix shopping center on Belle Terre Parkway north of State Road 100. Milano said he worked 14-hour days, seven days a week.
Things unraveled quickly after Jack Kilburne and Richard Capie walked into Goomba's to complain about a $7 calzone. Milano grabbed a gun. He was accused of pistol-whipping Kilburne and beating Capie.
In another twist, Kilburne told deputies investigating the fracas his name was Richard Phinney. Investigators later said Kilburne was apparently trying to avoid an arrest warrant for nonpayment of child support. Kilburne was placed on four years' probation after pleading no contest to fraudulent use of identification.
Milano said last year he had "cooperated against five organized crime families in New York City and put away 50 wise guys."
He said he had a gun for protection against Mafia enemies who might want to run him through a woodchipper.
And he lamented his loss.
"Everything I worked for . . . everything I worked for coming out of prison, do the right thing, is gone, " Milano said.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/flagler/2011/01/21/sentencing-closes-cases-of-former-hitman.html
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