NYC council member praises Bonanno family gangster

NYC council member praises Bonanno family gangster

  June 23, 2018    Dapper_Don

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A Queens city council member is going to bat for a convicted loanshark whose crew allegedly threatened to take batting practice on an unfortunate debtor.

Council member Eric Ulrich, a Republican, says Robert Pisani — who’s awaiting sentencing on a charge of conspiring in 2012 to collect an unlawful sports gambling debt — “really is a good guy.”

Pisani is also “a kind person, devoted family man and and a selfless individual,” Ulrich wrote to Brooklyn Federal Court judge Dora Irizzary.

Ulrich doubled down when the Daily News asked him why he wrote such a friendly letter on City Council letterhead for a neighborhood crook. “I’d write two letters if I could,” Ulrich said.

The feds say Pisani, 45, a reputed Bonanno family associate, deserves a 21-month prison sentence on the conspiracy charge, to which he pleaded guilty in November. He’s up for sentencing next month.

Prosecutors say Pisani had been running an illegal sports betting business since 2005.

According to them, other wiseguys told a debtor he’d have to pay Pisani to avoid getting socked with a baseball bat.

Pisani might not have known of the batting practice threat, prosecutors said. Either way, the guy gave the goons approximately $6,000.

During his plea, Pisani said he was part of an “enterprise.” Prosecutors said that “enterprise” was the Bonannos, but Pisani’s lawyer disputed the characterization.

Ulrich’s letter — one of more than 80 supporting Pisani — said the defendant deserves a break partly because he was a big help to his Broad Channel neighbors after Hurricane Sandy in 2012, even though his home and business “were devastated by the storm.”

And in 2015, Ulrich said, Pisani sent food to the nurses’ station at Jamaica Hospital as Ulrich’s little girl recovered from an accident.

When Ulrich found out Pisani was the kind caterer, he offered to pay for the food. Pisani told him to donate the money to charity instead, Ulrich said.

Ulrich wrote his constituent “will accept responsibility for this offense.”

The councilman wrote his letter on behalf of the alleged wiseguy in February. It was made public in Brooklyn Federal Court earlier this month.

Campaign finance records show that in June 2016, Pisani donated $250 to Ulrich. In October 2016, his wife chipped in another $100.

Pisani is mixed up in another case stemming from misdemeanor sex harassment and abuse charges in Queens Criminal Court involving allegations that he put put one of his deli employee’s hands on his penis.

The feds say Patricia Adams, publisher of “The Forum,” a local newspaper, leaned on the woman’s father to dissuade her from testifying in the Queens criminal court case.

Adams owed money to the Bonannos, and threatened a hit piece on the accuser, the feds say.

Pisani’s trial in the sex harassment case is scheduled for Monday. Adams is expected to plead guilty to a federal charge next week, court papers say.

Pisani’s lawyer said Ulrich’s letter speaks for itself. He declined to comment on the sex harassment and abuse case.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-councilman-ulrich-says-alleged-mob-associate-good-guy-20180622-story.html