Volatile mob associate busted for mailing threatening letters fires own attroney
It did not go well for a wiseguy who tried to act as his own lawyer Thursday in Brooklyn federal court.
Battista "Benny" Geritano was serving 12 years in state prison for a 2012 stabbing at a Brooklyn bar when the feds indicted him for mailing threatening letters.
The reputed Gambino associate is charged with allegedly using the mail in February to commit extortion — but Brooklyn federal prosecutors didn't get much farther in talking about the case because Geritano had to be removed from the courtroom.
"He's fired. I'm representing myself," Geritano said about Michael Sporn, his court-appointed defense lawyer for the day.
"We have a few wrinkles," Sporn told Magistrate Judge Viktor Pohorelsky.
When Geritano insisted on finding out the names of the clerks in the room, Pohorelsky said that wasn't something he needed know.
Actually it was, said Geritano.
"You're in my court," Geritano said, adding he was a "sovereign Christian male."
He tried handing a handwritten note when Pohorelsky told him not to. The magistrate asked the marshals to remove Geritano.
"No, it's better we do it now," he protested when at least three marshals swarmed. Geritano wriggled a little and they shoved him out the room.
Geritano refused to be fingerprinted or processed, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsay Gerdes — who also had Geritano's stabbing case when she was with the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.
Geritano, 44, faces up to 20 years on the federal charge.
When Geritano was produced a second time, he insisted he was going to be his own lawyer. "He's not my attorney, he's fired," Geritano said of Sporn again.
The case is on for a second crack at an arraignment on Tuesday.
In 2011, Geritano was busted for allegedly stabbing pizza chef Mark Iacono in a fight over a woman. The charges were dropped when Iacono and Geritano didn't agree to testify.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/mob-boss-fires-lawyer-alleged-extortion-case-nyc-court-article-1.3177363
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