Just because he looks like a mobster doesnt mean hes a mobster says lawyer for acting Bonanno boss

Just because he looks like a mobster doesnt mean hes a mobster says lawyer for acting Bonanno boss

  February 25, 2019    Dapper_Don

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Alleged Bonanno crime boss Joseph Cammarano Jr. is seen leaving the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse on Monday in New York.

Just because accused Bonanno crime boss Joseph Cammarano Jr. looks like he "stepped out of central casting for a mob movie" doesn't mean he's actually in the mafia, his attorney told a jury Monday in opening arguments of his racketeering trial.

Lawyer Jennifer Louis-Jeune urged jurors in Manhattan Federal Court to not believe the government’s “fanciful tales” about the mob, as Cammarano sat expressionless at the defense table.

“Once upon a time in a land far away there was this thing called the mafia … Once upon a time. Not now,” Louis-Jeune said.

“Looking like you stepped out of central casting of a mob movie doesn’t make you a member of one of those groups.”

John Zancocchio (c.) leaves the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse on Monday.

Cammarano, 59, wore a polka dot suit jacket with his hair combed back. His nickname, prosecutors say, is Joe C. He and his alleged consigliere, John "Porky" Zancocchio, 61, are accused of racketeering conspiracy.

After the trial ended for the day, the alleged crime boss joked about his attorney’s characterization of him. He said that when he was young all the guys combed their hair back and his just stayed that way. And, he said, “I got the map of Italy on my face.”

Cammarano was convicted in a 2007 case of strong-arming a Colombo mob wiseguy and spent 27 months in prison.

Now, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gina Castellano said prosecutors will prove that he and Zancocchio led “a sophisticated crime organization that took whatever they wanted from whoever they wanted.”

Owners and employees of a demolition company, a construction company and a Staten Island dump site would all testify about shakedowns by Cammarano and Zancocchio, Castellano said.

But the defense sought to focus on two mob snitches who will take the stand for the government. Louis-Jeune noted that one of the cooperators, Peter Lovaglio, was known as “Petey BS” because of his frequent lies.

John Meringolo, who is representing Zancocchio, noted that the government chose to use Lovaglio as a cooperating witness, even after he’d slashed a retired cop’s face in 2015.

“He takes the guy’s eyeball out and what is he rewarded with?” Meringolo said.

Lovaglio, 58, began his testimony later in the day and detailed his lengthy criminal record including convictions for money laundering, stock fraud and assault.

The other snitch, Steven Sabella, has made racist comments on Facebook about Zancocchio’s bi-racial granddaughter.

Meringolo admitted that his client had beaten up Sabella.

“My client did hit Steven Sabella. But he didn’t do it for the Bonanno crime family. He did it for the Zancocchio family!” Meringolo said.

“I understand some of you may say he shouldn’t of slapped the guy around a few times. But that’s not a crime in aid of racketeering!”

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-bonanno-trial-openings-20190225-story.html