Colombo attorney scoffs at racketeering charge

In his closing argument in Manhattan federal court yesterday, Chris Colombo's attorney Jeremy Schneider acknowledged that his client has run a successful gambling business but insisted that there was no evidence of an extended criminal enterprise or of any attachment to the mob, according to a story by Oliver Mackson of the Times Herald-Record.

Federal prosecutors charge that Chris Colombo and his brother Anthony were engaged in gambling, loansharking, extortion and bribery, as part of a racketeering organization they dub "the Colombo Brothers Crew." The prosecutors claim that the brothers used the perception of an attachment to the Mafia family once ruled by their late father, Joseph Colombo, to terrorize their victims.

"He has wire rooms," Schneider admitted. "He has customers dying to lose money. Does it make any sense that he would hurt his customers?"



Related MobNews posts:

• Colombo had 'hook' in state prosecutor 01-29-07
• Colombo judge rules against the M-word 01-23-07
• Colombo admits gambling, denies intimidation 01-19-07
• Colombo's sons head to trial this week 01-16-07
• Colombo son objects to use of crime family name 11-30-06

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North London gang boss jailed

Terry Adams, 52, reputed leader of a North London, England, gang known as the "A-Team" is now behind bars after a 10-year investigation that could have cost law enforcement as much as $95 million (US), according to a report by Ian Hepburn of the U.K. Sun.

Adams (right) reportedly admitted to conspiring to hide the proceeds of illicit enterprises. He faces up to 14 years in prison.

The underworld organization is believed responsible for the deaths of 23 people, while it engaged in drug-trafficking, gambling and money-laundering.

Mafia killing conviction could be overturned

Anthony DeSimone, 40, could be freed from prison due to a federal judge's ruling this week, according to an Associated Press report published in the Boston Herald.

U.S. District Judge Charles Brieant said that, during DeSimone's 2000 trial, the Westchester County NY district attorney's office failed to turn over important evidence to the defense. That evidence pointed to the guilt of another party, noted Brieant.

DeSimone was convicted of killing college student Louis Balancio, 21, during a gang fight on Feb. 4, 1994, outside the Strike Zone bar in Yonkers NY. The fight reportedly involved the Tanglewood Boys gang, an organization believed to be affiliated with the mob. Balancio was stabbed at least a dozen times.

Lucchese Crime Family figures were associated with the crime and were believed to be working to silence witnesses. Anthony and Alfred Santorelli were convicted of aiding DeSimone after the killing.

It took three years for prosecutors to secure an indictment against DeSimone, and then another two years to track him down. He turned himself in to Yonkers police in November 1999, according to the New York Times. DeSimone was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Judge Brieant threw out the conviction in 2005. A federal appeals court later reinstated the conviction but asked Brieant to review the material prosecutors withheld from the defense.

Brieant has allowed prosecutors just 20 days to win a stay from an appeals court in order to keep DeSimone in prison.