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News and Features about Organized Crime, Mafia and La Cosa Nostra taken from National and Local News Sources. In an attempt to get you this type of coverage in a timely manner we can not be responsible for the content of the following material. |
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6-23-00 Gaming, sharking raps for Scarfo Jr. June 23, 2000
by Kitty Caparella The son of jailed mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo and another man were indicted yesterday on charges of running an illegal North Jersey gambling and loan-shark business. Arrested early yesterday morning were Philadelphia mob soldier Nicodemo "Nick" Scarfo Jr., 35, of Newark, N.J., and Frank Paolercio, 31, of Union, N.J. Scarfo and Paolercio were partners in Merchants Services, of Belleville, N.J., where authorities said the sports gambling business operated. Merchants Services sells and leases credit-card-transaction machines to businesss. Each was charged with one count of running an illegal gambling business from early 1996 to July 1999, conspiracy and collection of extension of credit through extortionate means. In 1999, the FBI executed two search warrants of the business during two of the heaviest betting periods: On Jan. 13, four days before the Jan. 17 title games for the National Football Conference and American Football Conference. The winners, the Denver Broncos and the Atlanta Falcons, played in Super Bowl XXXIII. On July 12, the eve of Major League Baseball's All-Star Game, before the American League beat the National League, 4-1, at Fenway Park in Boston. During the searches, the FBI confiscated "voluminous" evidence of gambling and loansharking on Scarfo's computer, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald Wigler said. Scarfo and Paolercio were charged under the federal statute that requires "five or more" participants who "conducted, financed, managed, supervised, directed or owned" a business that earned more than $2,000 in any single day. "An alleged bookmaking operation with only two people? Where's the hierarchy?" asked a source close to the case. Wigler would not say if others would be charged. Wigler told U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh, in Newark, that both men were involved in organized crime, but did not identify any crime family. Scarfo's attorney, Don Manno, pointed out that his client was in jail until July 1998, nearly 11/2 years after the government said the conspiracy started. Scarfo was serving a 13-month sentence for pulling a knife, threatening, and attempting to stab William Morton, the manager of the Deja Vu bar, in Atlantic City, on March 24, 1996. At the time of the bar fight, Scarfo had been on parole after pleading guilty to state racketeering charges for possession of gambling devices, said Manno. In asking for $200,000 bail, Wigler said that as soon as Scarfo got out of jail, he "immediately got back into the swing of things" in the gambling ring. Manno and Wigler disputed whether Scarfo'a criminal history was extensive. The judge set bail at $75,000 for Scarfo. Poalercio's bail was set at $100,000. His attorney, Richard Roberts, said he had asked for reduced bail. If convicted, Scarfo faces at least nine years in prison, and Poalercio faces five years, under federal sentencing guidelines.
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