Judge scolds Genovese soldier for attending Bronx wake packed with mobsters
A reputed GENOVESE gangster indicted for racketeering was caught dead to rights in violation of his $750,000 bail — he was photographed hanging out at a Bronx funeral home packed with mobsters, authorities said.
But a judge gave the alleged wiseguy an earful, only to let the bail agreement stand.
Camera-toting FBI agents snapped photos of James Bernardone at a wake last March that was a Mafia who’s who and was attended by more than two dozen members of the Genovese and Lucchese crime families, including Lucchese boss Steven Crea, authorities said.
Bernardone claimed he was simply paying his respects to the deceased father of longtime neighborhood friends. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said the 45-minute visit amounted to a “flagrant” violation of a court order not to associate with mobsters.
Brooklyn Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis agreed that Bernardone could have paid his respects more quickly.
“A 45-minute visit means you either sat in a chair in the room with the coffin and prayed — or talked to people (you shouldn’t be talking to),” Garaufis said Wednesday.
The wake was for Anthony Villani, Sr., whose son Anthony, Jr., is a reputed Lucchese soldier, according to the prosecutor.
“Wakes and funerals are a fertile environment for the discussion of activities of organized crime,” Garaufis noted.
After delivering a tongue-lashing, the judge declined to revoke Bernardone’s bail and toss him in jail for the 45-minute lapse in judgment.
Bernardone, 46, the business agent for Local 124 of the International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades, is awaiting trial on charges of conspiring to extort a subcontractor on construction projects in Queens and Manhattan.
Camera-toting FBI agents snapped photos of James Bernardone at a wake last March that was a Mafia who’s who and was attended by more than two dozen members of the Genovese and Lucchese crime families, including Lucchese boss Steven Crea, authorities said.
Bernardone claimed he was simply paying his respects to the deceased father of longtime neighborhood friends. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said the 45-minute visit amounted to a “flagrant” violation of a court order not to associate with mobsters.
Brooklyn Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis agreed that Bernardone could have paid his respects more quickly.
“A 45-minute visit means you either sat in a chair in the room with the coffin and prayed — or talked to people (you shouldn’t be talking to),” Garaufis said Wednesday.
The wake was for Anthony Villani, Sr., whose son Anthony, Jr., is a reputed Lucchese soldier, according to the prosecutor.
“Wakes and funerals are a fertile environment for the discussion of activities of organized crime,” Garaufis noted.
After delivering a tongue-lashing, the judge declined to revoke Bernardone’s bail and toss him in jail for the 45-minute lapse in judgment.
Bernardone, 46, the business agent for Local 124 of the International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades, is awaiting trial on charges of conspiring to extort a subcontractor on construction projects in Queens and Manhattan.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mob-wake-trouble-wiseguy-bail-article-1.1377401#ixzz2WimC0PWH
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