Judge again denies Gambino mobster Joseph Lombardi's request to visit his New Jersey 'shelter'
Gambino wiseguy Joseph Lombardi (center) leaves Federal Court in Brooklyn on Wednesday, after judge again denied request to visit 'animal shelter' in Old Bridge, N.J.
A Gambino gangster who claims he runs an animal rescue shelter has landed in a federal judge's doghouse.
Brooklyn Federal Judge Dora Irizarry is keeping reputed soldier Joseph Lombardi on a short leash, twice rejecting his requests to travel to New Jersey so he could "attend to" the shelter in Old Bridge, N.J.
The judge was clearly piqued by defense lawyer Vito Palmieri's initial letter, which was improperly filed and contained multiple misspellings of her name marked in pen, according to court papers.
Yesterday, Irizarry denied the request again after Assistant U.S. Attorney Whitman Knapp raised questions about whether the shelter even exists.
Knapp said he contacted an official with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Middlesex County, who reported that a sprawling recycling plant is located at the address Lombardi provided for the purported shelter.
The SPCA official toured the grounds and found no sign of the shelter - only trailers scattered around the sprawling grounds. The plant manager never heard of Lombardi and recalled only an occasional stray dog or cat wandering around.
A New Jersey law enforcement source told the Daily News that the only licensed animal shelter in Old Bridge is the one operated by the town.
Lombardi, charged with extorting a loanshark victim, is free on $1 million bail and not permitted to leave the state.
If Lombardi is an animal lover, he shows little compassion for people who don't pay what they owe:
"If I find out you get any more money, I'm gonna come to your house for my money, you f----d me, okay? You're a piece of s--t, and I will f--k you back, don't worry about that," Lombardi barked in a secretly recorded conversation.
Lombardi's lawyers did not return calls for comment.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/the_mob/2011/02/10/2011-02-10_mobster_barking_up_the_wrong_tree_judge_again_denies_gambino_goons_request_to_vi.html
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