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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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3-14-00 Reputed mobster to snitch: Sources say he'll testify vs. co-defendants. by Andrea Estes, Boston Herald Tuesday, March 14, 2000 Robert Luisi, the Philadelphia Mafia's reputed made guy in Boston, has turned informant and may testify against his crew members, here and in Pennsylvania, sources said yesterday. His lawyer wouldn't confirm Luisi, 38, caught on videotape selling cocaine to an undercover agent, had flipped. But the prosecutor handling his case, Ernest DiNisco, last week filed a motion asking for a delay in his and two co-defendants' trials because ``one of the defendants . . . has recently decided to cooperate with the government and will testify at trial against the remaining defendants.'' Last month, Luisi, of Medford, who had allegedly been moving up the ladder of the Merlino crime family, was transferred out of his jail cell at the Plymouth County House of Correction, sparking speculation he had turned cooperator. He was moved to the Essex County House of Correction, but has since been moved again, according to officials. He was set to plead guilty - in exchange for about a dozen years' incarceration - when he learned he was under investigation in Philadelphia for a host of additional crimes, including loansharking, money laundering, and even conspiracy to murder. Pennsylvania investigators traced a gun used to kill a man there back to Boston, sources said, and are looking to finger Luisi. Philadelphia federal authorities wouldn't buy into any plea agreement worked out with the U.S. Attorney's office here, his lawyer, John McGlone, had said, unless he turned snitch. Luisi was one of 11 alleged mobsters in three states, including three other local men, arrested in July for selling cocaine. Among them was Joseph ``Skinny Joey'' Merlino, the acting Philadelphia Mafia boss. Two local men, Robert Carrozza Jr., 36, of Winthrop, and Thomas ``Willie'' Wilson, 49, of East Boston, have also agreed to plead guilty. They allegedly helped their boss, Luisi, deliver kilos of cocaine. Wilson, who has been diagnosed with cancer since his arrest, changed his plea yesterday and will be sentenced June 19 to between 5 years and 10 months and 7 years. Shawn Vetere, 31, of East Boston, is the only defendant still planning to go to trial, although his lawyer yesterday told federal Judge Reginald Lindsay his client is also working on a deal. ``If this case goes to trial, we look forward to the opportunity to confront and cross-examine the cooperating witness in open court,'' said Vetere's lawyer, Michael Natola. In an FBI affidavit filed when he was arrested, Luisi was described as being ``in charge'' of all Merlino criminal activity in Boston, including drug trafficking, illegal gambling and loansharking. His father, Robert Luisi Sr., 56, was gunned down in the 99 Restaurant massacre in 1995, along with his son, Roman, 25, his nephew, Anthony Sarro, 32, and family friend Anthony Pelosi, 53. Father and son were said to have run separate crime gangs.
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