More often than not these organized crime indictments must be unraveled to understand what really transpired and what didn't. Prosecutors weave a web of deceit, especially when seeking the proverbial pat on the back from colleagues, superiors, and the general population in newsworthy cases. They must validate the entire investigation and prosecution from a time and money perspective. What better way to do so then to play on public hatred for pimps and sympathy for children?
Usually the real story has serious differences, and it looks like this is one of those situations. The big headlines stole the limelight in the latest: "Manhattan U.S. Attorney Charges 14 Gambino Crime Family Associates with Racketeering, Murder, Sex Trafficking, and Other Crimes." Of course the New York Daily News jumped on the bandwagon and switched it around a bit with the headlines: "Mafia Hits New Low: Reputed Gambino Mobsters charged with running Craigslist Prostitution Ring" and "Gambino Mobsters Charged with Running teen prostitution ring." Really?
So let's dissect this for a moment, okay?
As stated in my last post, I seriously doubted the story the way that it was presented. Sure enough we have had many with a reason to hate join-in on the allegations. The big attention grabber was Henry Hill on CNN with his accusation of the mob being involved in anything that makes a fast buck, and he included child pornography and pimping minors, but he backs this accusation with nothing whatsoever; just his own hatred.
And then there's Curtis Sliwa, a longtime Gotti hater that didn't get his way and see John Gotti Jr. convicted of charges in a case that he was the victim/witness. Sliwa revealed his anger after watching CBS 60 Minutes on April 11th. He blames the interviewer, Steve Kroft, claiming that he was "in awe of Gotti" and stating that Gotti "beat the rap on technicalities," which anyone that has observed the last three or four Gotti Jr. indictments and trials knows is false. Sliwa simply wasn't a believable victim/witness, probably because he has an obvious ax to grind. Jurors tend to disregard witnesses with vendettas.
The reality of the situation is that there are a total of 14 defendants indicted in the case and 7 out of the 14 are charged in relation to the Craigslist prostitution case, with feds admitting that the remaining 7 had nothing whatsoever to do with it. The evidence involves an informant that's been wired for six months, according to prosecutors. See Informants and Snakes if you need to develop a deeper understanding of what informants are capable of, but the title explains it well.
It sounds like the wired informant came through with evidence against 2 or 3 of the 7 indicted in the alleged prostitution ring. I say 2 or 3 as there isn't much talk about Suzanne Porcelli – she may not have known that the 15 year-old was going to her calls, or she may be playing let's make a deal; it is hard to tell at this point.
From my viewpoint it looks like the only ones involved in any way in the prostituting of a minor are two defendants: Steven Maiurro and Thomas Orefice. Not the big headline story that was originally presented, now is it? It sounds like Henry Hill's renegade drug dealing from Goodfellas.
If you've ever watched Goodfellas, you know that the Lucchese Family didn't appreciate Hill's drug endeavors to the extent that Hill believed they were going to whack him for it.
So much for big headlines and proverbial pats on the back.
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