Son of Colombo boss rallies community support after prison sentence
The arts community in Saugerties, NY, has rallied in support of Carmine “the Snake” Persico’s son Michael Persico, who was just sentenced to five years in prison.
Michael, 60, is beloved in the Catskills town — where his Brooklyn-based family has owned property for 40 years — for donating a building as a visitors center, providing space for art shows and hosting Chamber of Commerce mixers on his 54-acre estate.
“Michael Persico is kind of a hero up here,” Jennifer Dragon, of the Cross Contemporary Art gallery, told me. “He was instrumental in turning this town around. He bought buildings, fixed them up and created housing.”
Jen Hicks, who owns two commercial buildings, said, “He’s an enormous patron of the arts, and he’s done a lot for the village.”
Carmine, 83, the onetime head of the Colombo crime family, is serving a 100-year sentence on racketeering charges. Michael’s brother Alphonse “Allie Boy” Persico, 63, is serving a life sentence.
Michael copped a plea to a single count of “extortionate extension of credit” in 2012, expecting a sentence of three to four years.
Instead, despite 200 letters in support of leniency, Chief Judge Dora Irizarry gave him five years in Brooklyn federal court.
“To us it doesn’t seem fair, they’re making him pay for the sins of his father and his brother,” Dragon said.
Several people shed tears when the stiff sentence was handed down. Dragon said, “All of us are like, ‘No! You can’t do that to Mike.’ ”
http://pagesix.com/2017/08/01/support-swells-for-colombo-familys-michael-persico/
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