Jury Still Out in NY Organized Crime Indictments

Even Henry Hill of Goodfellas fame has come out of the woodwork to add his two cents and trash the fourteen alleged Gambino crime family associates indicted in the Southern District of New York this week. The feds and Hill used the allegation of sex trafficking of a minor to discredit those indicted in popular opinion. I mean really – who doesn't hate the person that pimps a minor on Craigslist?


Somehow I seriously doubt that those indicted had much of a clue who Suzanne Porcelli sent to her Craigslist escort calls, yet seven of the fourteen people were indicted on the sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, and sex trafficking of a minor counts in the indictment. The news release and public statements of the federal agents lead one to believe that all fourteen defendants were involved in this alleged prostitution ring. It's likely that at least seven defendants had no clue who Porcelli is, and even more likely that an additional five were clueless.

Why would Gambino family associates play any part in a low-level Craigslist prostitution ring? I, for one, am not so ignorant as to believe that the Gambino family uses Craigslist to send out prostitutes. Get real, right? I'm pretty sure that these guys could come-up with something better than that.

It is a sure-fire method of turning public opinion in so far as organized crime or mafia members go. The feds had such a rough time with John Gotti Jr. – was it four trials that ended with deadlocked jurors? They decided that this time they're not messing around and went ahead and convicted the defendants in the court of public opinion. There's nothing like being accused of pimping a 15 year-old.

Someone in the crowd should have read Blueprint for an Escort Service; if they had they wouldn't have been on Craigslist and they wouldn't have worked with anyone under the age of twenty-four. Still, I don't buy it all hook, line, and sinker as most seem to from the comments on the forums. Henry Hill's statements to CNN were even more unbelievable – and Henry, I am sorry that I gave your book five stars. I felt bad for you because it was clear that you believed they intended to whack you, whether it was correct or not, but this recent crap is too much.

It is an unusual indictment in that all fourteen are supposed to be connected in this organized crime group, but only seven had the aforementioned charges. As indictments go it doesn't make much sense. I was tried on a conspiracy charge so I'd say that I'm familiar with the concept of a conspiracy. In a conspiracy it doesn't matter that you do not know some of the other parties charged, or that you didn't have specific involvement in a co-conspirator's alleged conduct.

Also at issue is the sex trafficking charge. I'd really like to read the complaint in its entirety and find out what specifically each defendant did that brought-on such an outrageous allegation. I must defer to the Lev Trakhtenberg case in NY and NJ to explain my very real doubt in federal prosecutors. Read The US System of Injustice to get my point.

Yes, I'd say that the jury is still out on this mess.