Attorney for gangster linked to Genovese family says he doesnt represent rats
An attorney for a Springfield mob associate has made an unusual request of the federal government: Tell the public his client is not an informant.
In the charged world of organized crime, this is a particularly damaging label.
Springfield
attorney Daniel Hagan on Wednesday filed a letter in the public docket
of a pending extortion case against Anthony J. Scibelli on behalf of his
own client, David Cecchetelli, identified as “witness #5.″
Cecchetelli, 52, is a defendant in an unrelated illegal gun possession case
pending in U.S. District Court. He has historical ties to the local
faction of the Genovese crime family and a previous bookmaking
conviction.
“Placing
in public filings, information which can be used to derive Mr.
Cecchetelli’s identity, and where the context could lead the public to
conclude that Mr. Cecchetelli is a government informant or cooperating
government witness, these filings have the potential to subject Mr.
Cecchetelli and his family to serious harm,” Hagan wrote in an Aug. 19
letter to federal prosecutors and Scibelli’s defense attorney.
“What
is especially alarming here is that Mr. Cecchetelli is not a government
informant or cooperating government witness and never has been,” the
letter continues.
Scibelli,
51, was charged last year with collecting on a $5,000 extortionate
debt. Investigators say Scibelli beat the unnamed informant in a parking
lot in June of 2019, and threatened to pummel another of the informant’s relatives with his wife’s walker.
Scibelli
has pleaded not guilty to the charge. His attorney, Nikolas
Andreopoulos, has argued in court hearings and written pleadings that
the alleged victim in the Scibelli case, “Victim 1,” was not a victim at
all but a compulsive gambler who tired of paying local loan sharks. The
alleged victim told investigators he paid up to $36,000 in interest but
could never get out from under the debt.
He
began wearing a body wire at the behest of the FBI and state police to
several meetings with Scibelli over six weeks in the spring of 2019,
according to court records. In one unfortunate instance, someone forgot
to shut the microphone off and the informant wore a “hot mic” for more
than 24 hours, lawyers have said during hearings and in court filings.
In
a recent motion, Andreopoulos quoted the unnamed informant as saying he
and his brother would take control of Springfield’s rackets once his
rivals went to prison.
Hagan
has lobbied the government to publicly confirm Cecchetelli is not the
informant and is merely on its witness list as a coincidental bystander.
“I
don’t represent rats. So if there was something to it, I wouldn’t be
representing Mr. Cecchetelli,” Hagan said when contacted for comment.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston declined comment, citing the ongoing nature of the case.
Scibelli was released to house arrest after spending weeks behind bars in 2019. His pretrial restrictions have since been relaxed. No trial date has yet been set.
https://www.masslive.com/news/2020/08/i-dont-represent-rats-attorney-for-springfield-mob-associate-asks-for-unusual-redress.html
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