Extortion defendant Richard Valentini is
shown here in 2016 after his arrest along with four reputed Genovese
crime family associates in 2016.
After accepting guilty pleas from two reputed mobsters accused in an
extortion case, a federal judge on Wednesday heard pretrial arguments
from another defendant, Richard Valentini.
Valentini is headed for trial next week. Four co-defendants have
already pleaded guilty to shaking down a Springfield tow company
operator for $20,000 and loan-sharking to gambling debtors and others.
Topics for argument included moving the trial from Springfield to
Worcester, and whether the dirty laundry of Valentini -- and the tow
operator, the government's star witness -- would be fair game at trial.
Also on the table was whether a state police captain would be
permitted to act as an expert witness on local organized crime figures
and their historic ties to the New York-based Genovese crime family.
Valentini, of East Longmeadow, was among five men arrested Aug. 4,
2016, for allegedly strong-arming the owner of C.J.'s Towing Unlimited
in 2013.
Co-defendants Ralph Santaniello, 50, Gerald Daniele, 53, Giovanni
"Johnny Cal" Calabrese, 54, all of Longmeadow, and Francesco "Frank"
Depergola, 61 of Springfield, have pleaded guilty in the case.
Santaniello and Depergola also pleaded guilty to loan-sharking charges
out of federal court in New York.
Valentini's lawyer, Jared Olanoff, has argued to U.S. District Judge
Timothy Hillman that his client was marginal at best to the C.J.'s
Towing extortion.
Valentini showed up once for 20 minutes during a single meeting on
Oct. 4, 2013, and never leveled a threat, Olanoff said. In fact, Olanoff
said, Valentini may not even deny at trial that C.J.'s owner Craig J.
Morel was extorted.
"(Morel) did hand over money to these men," Olanoff said.
"What is the defense?" Hillman asked.
"Do I have to tell you right now?" Olanoff answered.
"You don't," Hillman said.
Olanoff didn't.
Morel recorded 16 meetings on video and audio between October and November 2013.
Jury selection is set to begin Monday in Springfield. The following
is a summary of motion arguments in court on Wednesday and how Hillman
ruled.
Massachusetts State Police Capt. Thomas
Murphy talks on a cellphone outside the Springfield barracks in 2016
following the arrests of Richard Valentini and his co-defendants.
Mafia expert
The
government has moved to present as its first witness state police Capt.
Thomas Murphy as an expert in organized crime. Prosecutors said he will
bring jurors up to speed on the Greater Springfield Mafia landscape.
His proposed testimony will look back more than a decade, including the
interplay between Springfield and New York gangsters living and dead.
Morel has conceded he paid a "street tax" to late mob boss Adolfo
"Big Al" Bruno until Bruno was murdered in 2003. Santaniello and his
co-defendants sought to "pick up where Bruno left off" when they
ambushed Morel at his home in Hampden in 2013, threatening to behead and
bury him in his own yard if he didn't comply.
Significant to the historical portrait, according to the prosecution,
is that Genovese associate Gary D. Westerman was murdered and buried in
a backyard in Agawam weeks before Bruno was shot dead outside a
Springfield social club. The killings were part of a mob power play that
stretched all the way to Manhattan.
None of the current defendants were implicated in those cases.
Depergola was the sole eyewitness to Bruno's murder as his onetime
loyalist, however.
Westerman's body was turned up by law enforcement with the help of
informant Anthony Arillotta in 2010, and two trials over Westerman and
Bruno's murders ensued in federal court in the subsequent years.
Olanoff argued that Valentini had nothing to do with any of those
happenings and that Murphy's Mafia primer may unfairly sway a jury.
"So the curtain goes up, and Capt. Murphy gets on the stand? They may
as well just put 'The Godfather' on for the jury to watch," Olanoff
argued on Wednesday.
"All they're going to hear is New York, Genovese, this is what 'soldiers' do. This isn't a (racketeering case)," he said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Wagner said the jury may be lost without Murphy as an initial narrator to set the stage.
How Hillman ruled: For the government, with limitations.
What it means: Murphy will be allowed to offer
jurors a tutorial on Western Massachusetts gangsters' history with New
York Mafia figures. How much depth the tutorial will have remains to be
seen.
Richard Valentini is escorted by a trooper
outside the Massachusetts State Police barracks in Springfield following
his 2016 arrest.
Previous convictions
Olanoff
made a motion to exclude Valentini's 2005 conviction on illegal gaming
and loan-sharking charges, arguing the facts were too old. Specifically,
Valentini pleaded guilty to illegal gaming and collecting extortionate
debts. Santaniello was among his co-defendants.
Marianne Shelvey, a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of
Justice, said those reasons are precisely why jurors should hear about
the 2005 case.
"It's the same group of guys doing the same types of things," she told Hillman.
Whether defendants' previous convictions are revealed to a jury is a
hotly contested issue in many cases and is considered a pivotal point in
criminal trials.
Olanoff also took shots at Morel's past, which includes insurance
fraud and motor vehicle convictions, plus being fired as a Springfield
police officer in 1990.
Air dirty laundry on either side didn't look hopeful Wednesday based on a brief remark from the judge.
"Neither of you is going to be able to do it," Hillman said, though reserved his formal rulings until Thursday.
How Hillman ruled: For the defense.
What it means: A big win for Valentini. Jurors will only consider the 2013 evidence.
Rex W. Cunningham Jr., left, is arraigned in
Northampton District Court in 2016 in a separate loan-sharking and
gambling case. Also pictured is attorney Daniel D. Kelly.
A warning
Olanoff
made a motion to stop the government from presenting evidence that
Morel was forewarned that members of the "Springfield Crew," including
Valentini, were angling to extort him and "pick up where Bruno left
off."
Prosecutors also said in court that Bruno's successor, Arillotta,
attempted to extort Morel. But they didn't go into further detail.
Shelvey said Depergola and twice-convicted Springfield loan shark Rex
W. Cunningham Jr. warned Morel that Valentini and others were "coming
to collect" hours before Santaniello and Calabrese first showed up on
his land Sept. 30, 2013.
"Who is Rex Cunningham?" Hillman interjected.
"I'll leave that to the government. ... He's a Springfield person, is the best way I can put it," Olanoff said.
Shelvey described Cunningham -- who recently pleaded guilty in an
entirely separate loan-sharking case in Hampden Superior Court -- as "a
rackets, bookmaking individual."
A third person who allegedly warned Morel was not identified in court.
Hillman mused aloud that the warning may go to Morel's "state of mind" when the co-defendants approached him.
Shelvey said Morel told Calabrese and Santaniello during a recorded conversation: "I knew you guys were coming."
They responded: "Who told you that?"
"I'd rather not give that up," Morel said.
Olanoff argued that the foreshadowing amounted to "hearsay on top of hearsay" and should not be allowed.
How Hillman ruled: For the government.
What it means: Morel and investigators may testify that Morel received hints that he was about to be pursued as an extortion target.
The owner of C.J.'s Towing Unlimited, the
region's largest tow company and scrap yard, was targeted by mobsters
for "street taxes" in 2013. Defendant Richard Valentini argues he did
not profit from that.
Surveillance photos
Olanoff
made a motion to bar the jury from hearing about his client's
subsequent interactions with his co-defendants. Prosecutors said they
plan to chronicle Valentini's ongoing relationships with still images
gleaned from surveillance of him, his co-defendants and other alleged
Springfield Crew members over more than a year following the Morel
extortion.
"So what if he's meeting with people a year later? The extortion's over," Olanoff said.
"The surveillance photos show that the defendant did not just drop
off the face of the Earth," Shelvey responded, referring to the
defense's contention that Valentini was present for only one 20-minute
meeting with Morel.
How Hillman ruled: For the defense.
What it means: Jurors will only hear of Valentini's interactions with the Springfield Crew during the period of the alleged extortion in 2013.
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/12/through_last-minute_pretrial_r.html
0 comments:
Post a Comment