Genovese gangster seeks early prison release due to coronavirus
Longmeadow gangster Ralph Santaniello has joined the ranks of scores of other inmates across the country vying to cut their prison terms short over coronavirus concerns.
Santaniello, 52, is nearing the end of a five-year prison term
for extorting a tow company operator and a gambling debtor in 2013 as
he portrayed himself as the new face of the New York-based Genovese
crime family in Western Massachusetts.
Santaniello
was already just weeks away from leaving the Loretto Federal
Correctional Institute in western Pennsylvania, according to court
records.
He
has been jailed at the facility along with high-profile inmates
including Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign
advisor. Manafort is serving a 7-year sentence
for convictions on a series of charges including tax evasion, failing
to report foreign bank accounts, witness tampering and unregistered
lobbying for foreign interests. The 71-year-old disgraced lobbyist filed
his own appeal to shorten his sentence over COVID-19 fears last week.
During
a telephonic hearing before Worcester U.S. District Judge Timothy
Hillman Tuesday, an attorney for Santaniello focused his argument on the
fragility of Santaniello’s daughter, who has suffered from a rare
disease since birth.
“Massachusetts
itself along with Chicago is the coronavirus hotspot of the country
right now,” argued his defense attorney, Daniel D. Kelly. “He could lose
his daughter.”
Kelly told the judge Santaniello is set to be released to a pre-release center in Ludlow on May 12, at any rate.
“He
will be released to a halfway house 21 days from today,” Kelly said,
appealing to Hillman to instead release his client early to his parents’
house in Longmeadow right away.
U.S.
Department of Justice Trial Attorney Marianne Shelvey opposed
Santaniello’s motion for early release, and was quick to point out that
Santaniello may be barred from living with his parents because his
father, 81, also is a convicted felon.
“Talk to me about that, what’s going on there?” Hillman interjected.
“Amedeo
Santaniello is an associate of the Genovese crime family. He’s been
convicted in both federal and state court for gambling and similar
crimes to this defendant,” Shelvey responded.
The elder Santaniello’s last prison sentence came after illegal gambling convictions in 1989.
Ralph
Santaniello pleaded guilty to shaking down Springfield towing czar
Craig “CJ” Morel for $20,000 after discovering Morel previously paid
slain mob boss Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno tribute payments for city contracts
until Bruno’s murder in 2003. Santaniello and co-defendant Giovanni
“Johnny Cal” Calabrese approached Morel at his property in Hampden a
decade later, and demanded the money.
Santaniello
cuffed Morel hard on the side of his face to make his point, Morel told
police. Santaniello and his cohorts continued to cajole and terrorize
Morel for payments over several weeks; Morel agreed to wear a wire at
the behest of the state police and FBI during meetings with the men.
Morel also filed a statement opposing Santaniello’s early release, according to Shelvey.
Santaniello,
Calabrese and three others were arrested and charged in extortion
conspiracies in 2016. Santaniello received the lengthiest sentence, and
was described by Shelvey as the “enforcer, the fear and the violence”
within the slapdash Springfield crew.
Calabrese
has filed his own petition for early early release, also based on
COVID-19 anxieties within the prison system, court records show. He is
scheduled for release in late November and is serving out his sentence
in Kentucky.
In
addition to making the “compassionate release" argument, as it is
called within the federal sentencing system, Kelly said sending
Santaniello to a so-called step-down program doesn’t make practical
sense in the coronavirus era.
“Most
if not all the jobs he would be eligible for — in the restaurant
industry, et cetera — are going to be shut down for the foreseeable
future in this pandemic,” Kelly said.
Hillman took the matter under advisement, telling attorneys he will issue a ruling in short order.
https://www.masslive.com/coronavirus/2020/04/jailed-mob-figure-ralph-santaniello-seeks-early-release-over-covid-19-concerns.html
0 comments:
Post a Comment