Husband of Drita from Mob Wives tv show pleads guilty to federal gun charge
Lee D’Avanzo, the husband of “Mob Wives” star Drita D’Avanzo, has pleaded guilty to federal gun-possession charges, the latest twist in the case that began with a raid of the couple’s posh Pleasant Plains home last year.
Lee,
52, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm while being a convicted
felon on Friday in Brooklyn federal court, just one month after he
pleaded not guilty to the same charge.
Federal
prosecutors hit the Staten Island man with the charge in January after
officers from the New York Police Department and the Narcotics Task
Force of the Office of the Monmouth County Prosecutor raided the
couple’s home at 226 Woodvale Ave. on Dec. 19 and found two loaded
firearms, according to the criminal complaint.
The
officers recovered one gun, a loaded .38-caliber revolver, on the top
cabinets above the refrigerator in the kitchen, while the other firearm,
a loaded 9 mm, was found under the mattress in the master bedroom of
the South Shore home, the complaint alleges.
James Froccaro, Lee D’Avanzo’s lawyer, did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Lee
D’Avanzo is scheduled to be sentenced on July 10, and will remain in
custody until then, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern
District of New York told the Advance/SILive.com
He is facing between 37 and 46 months in prison.
INSIDE THE RAID
During
the raid, officials said cops also found hydrocodone, a pain killer,
and alprazolam, an anti-anxiety medication, as well as “two scales,
ziplock bags used for the purpose of unlawfully packaging a narcotic
drug, a sum of United States currency and multiple cellular phones” in
the house, the Advance previously reported.
Shortly after the raid, D’Avanzo was arrested with his wife, Drita, the star of “Mob Wives."
Both
faced charges on Staten Island of criminal possession of a controlled
substance, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a
firearm and endangering the welfare of a child.
On Feb. 21, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon dropped all charges against the couple.
"[Drita] was not the target of the search warrant,” said Assistant District Attorney Matthew Gamberg.
Following
“a thorough review of this case,” prosecutors decided to drop charges
“in the best interest of justice,” said a statement from the office of
McMahon.
“Based
on the initial evidence, Mrs. D’Avanzo and her husband, Lee D’Avanzo
were both originally charged by our office with weapons possession and
related charges following the execution of a search warrant at their
family home,” the statement said. “After further review, the United
States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York superseded
our case and indicted Lee D’Avanzo for the alleged possession of the
firearms.”
Lee D’Avanzo was also arrested a couple of weeks later in connection to "Operation on the Ropes,” a
year-long investigation that busted a total of 24 people in a ring that
allegedly distributed marijuana and infused THC into popular candies in
New Jersey, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni
announced at the time.
In
that case, he was charged with fourth-degree conspiracy to possess
marijuana and fourth-degree possession of marijuana in excess of 50
grams, Gramiccioni said in a press release.
It is not clear what role exactly Lee D’Avanzo played in the scheme.
The wife was not charged in the New Jersey case.
NOT HIS FIRST CONTACT WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT
It wasn’t the first time Lee D’Avanzo had contact with the criminal justice system.
In
2008, he was arrested in “Operation Turkeyshoot," when four suspects
were allegedly caught trying to break into the vault of a bank in New
Springville. The evidence indicated that Lee and other suspects
attempted to gain access by drilling through the walls of a neighboring
building, according to Advance archives and documents previously filed
in court by federal prosecutors.
Lee
was on federal probation at the time for similar crimes and he pleaded
guilty. He was sentenced to 36 months to five years in state prison.
In
2003, Lee was sentenced to 62 months in federal prison on a conviction
of racketeering for multiple robberies, marijuana distribution,
loansharking and money laundering.
In
that case, he was identified by prosecutors in court documents as a
member of the “New Springville Boys, a racketeering enterprise with
connections to the Bonanno organized crime family.”
https://www.silive.com/crime/2020/03/mob-wives-hubby-lee-davanzo-pleads-guilty-to-federal-gun-charge.html
Those 2 r a mess. Drita..as a mother getting into fist fights n going to a womans home n beating her up over a parking space..a mother n grown woman..she's got problems..then that jerk she's married to acts like hes12..can't stay outta trouble..great parents..a mess.
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